I'll bet you were pretty outraged when Nixon gave it to John Wayne.
After all, the Duke was just an actor who made movies and dodged the draft.
Right?
Oops. It was Jimmeh Carter who gave the MoF to the Duke.
Actually Wayne did not dodge the draft.
Here is story of Wayne’s status and what happened to him:
America’s entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status (classified as 3-A – family deferment). Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford’s military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after “he finished just one or two pictures”.[1]:212 Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[1]:220 and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[1]:213
U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application[33] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA, and had been accepted within the U.S. Army’s allotted billet to the OSS. William J. Donovan, OSS Commander, wrote Wayne a letter informing him of his acceptance into the Field Photographic Unit, but the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine’s home. She never told him about it. Donovan also issued an OSS Certificate of Service to Wayne.[34]