VietNow National Magazine
The Heroes Among Us
Photo: U.S. Army
The Medal of Honor is our highest military
award, but other than a vague idea, most
of us don't know much about it.
By Karen St. John
Of the two hundred and forty
Vietnam War Congressional Medal of Honor
recipients, only sixty are still living.
Which makes meeting three of them in November
of 2005 – all in the same room – at
the same time – quite remarkable.
But it was not just the honor of shaking
hands with Joe Marm, Ed “Too
Tall” Freeman, and Bruce Crandall
that was unexpected. What I saw in the
eyes of these three extraordinary men changed
my life forever.
Recipients of the Congressional Medal
of Honor were virtually ignored by our
country for well over a century. It was
not until 1999 that these thirty-four hundred-plus
heroes were finally brought into the national
limelight.
In 1998, John Hodowal, then chairman of
the Indianapolis, Indiana-based energy
company IPALCO Enterprises, read a New
York Times article about the annual meeting
of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
The article described the heroic deeds
of those who had earned our nation’s
highest honor.
John was so moved by their stories that
he approached IPALCO for help in finding
a way to formally recognize these
outstanding individuals. To everyone’s
amazement, the research indicated that
few Americans knew of this elite group’s
sacrifices. There was not even a memorial
to acknowledge them or their acts of heroism.
Time to correct a national wrong
Not only would John and his company bring
the medal’s
recipients to Indianapolis for recognition,
but they would build them a memorial.
The Medal of Honor Memorial, in Indianapolis,
was completed in 1999, with ninety-six
Medal of Honor recipients present. The
memorial consists of twenty-seven curved
blue/green plate glass panels, each between
seven and ten-feet tall. The panels display
fifteen conflicts, dating back to the Civil
War. Three other states quickly followed
suit with their own memorials: Riverside,
California; Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina;
and Pueblo, Colorado.
I live in Indianapolis, and visited
the memorial to see where “my” three
recipients were listed. As I walked toward
the glass panels of names, I thought about
the good old Iowa boy who started this
medal business back
in 1861.
The Medal of Honor
Iowa Senator James Grimes’s bill
of 1861was drafted to encourage efficiency
in the Navy. Medals were to be awarded
to those who distinguished themselves by
showing gallantry in action and other “seamanlike
qualities.” Signed
by President Lincoln, the bill authorized
the production and distribution
of these new Navy “medals of honor.”
In 1862, Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson
authorized a similar bill for the Army.
Its Medal of Honor would be awarded to
privates who distinguished themselves in
battle. Lincoln authorized two thousand
Medals of Honor to “be presented,
in the name of the Congress, to such non-commissioned
officers and privates as shall most distinguish
themselves by their gallantry in action,
and other soldier-like qualities.” (The
United States Air Force would receive legislative
authority for its own Air Force Medal of
Honor in 1956.)
Walking through our paneled memorial,
I wondered if the Congress of 1862 knew
that the military recognition it sanctioned
to promote efficiency would become the
most elite award for bravery in our nation’s
history.
The criteria for receiving the medal have
not always been what it is today. It began
its first evolution after the Battle of
the Little Big Horn in 1876, with a new
standard that included conduct beyond the
normal discharge of duty.
In 1897, President McKinley added the
requirement for eyewitnesses. President
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 Executive Order
required that the medal be awarded in a “formal
and impressive ceremony,” presented
by the President as Commander-in-Chief,
or the designee of the President, with
one exception made for campaigns.
In that instance, the division or higher
commander could then present the medal.
It was not until 1915 that the award, originally
designed for enlisted personnel, was extended
to officers. The Congress of 1918 seemed
to sense some of the medal’s future,
passing an act stipulating that only the
Medal of Honor could be presented in the
name of Congress, and that no person could
receive more than one.
The Medal of Honor itself also inspired
the creation of two separate associations.
Recipients from the Civil War and Indian
War Campaign organized themselves
in 1890 as “The Medal of Honor Legion.” The
group changed its name in 1933 to “The
Army and Navy Legion of Valor,” and
once again in 1961 as the “Legion
of Valor
of the United States of America, Inc.”
The early and continuing prestige attached
to the Medal of Honor brought on a strong
desire in some to promote the ideals represented
by the medal itself: patriotism and love
of country. In 1946, the Congressional
Medal of Honor Society was formed to protect
and preserve the dignity of the medal,
and aid its recipients, spouses, and children.
Few changes, though, have been made to
the appearance of the medal. Currently,
though varying in design, the Medals of
Honor from all branches of service (Army,
Navy/Marines/Coast Guard, and Air Force)
display the medal suspended below a neck
ribbon.
My three guys
Pausing at the Vietnam War panel, I stared
at the names of “my” three
guys. Joe Marm was awarded his medal in
1967. Ed “Too Tall” Freeman
received his in 2001. Back in 2005, Bruce
Crandall’s nomination was still under
review. He finally received his medal in
2007. “Too Tall” died in August
of 2008.
Every day at dusk, our memorial plays a
thirty-minute recording of the stories
of the individual acts of heroism carried
out by the medal recipients. Most of the
stories were recorded by the recipients
themselves.
But I already knew the stories of “my” three.
I had learned what took place during those
horrific days of November 14 through
17, 1965, in the Ia Drang Valley, in South
Vietnam. One of “my” men would
save lives not only in the valley, but
way above and beyond Vietnam, right into
a small town in the eastern part of Iowa.
One of the many other lives he saved that
day was my own.
Read part 2 of this article.
Karen St. John is a freelance writer,
whose brother is a Vietnam veteran. Visit
her web site at www.stjohnjournals.com.
Watch for part two in our next issue.
Web sites and locations
of Medal of Honor Memorials
Indianapolis, Indiana
www.medalofhonormemorial.com/
Riverside, California: www.rncsc.org/
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina:
www.patriotspoint.org/exhibits/medal_honor/
Pueblo, Colorado:
www.pueblomohfoundation.com/
Legion of Valor History:
www.legionofvalor.com/history.php
Preserving the History of the Recipients
of the
Medal of Honor: www.homeofheroes.com
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