Literature Review

What are heroes? Webster’s Dictionary describes a hero as “one that shows great courage” or “an illustrious warrior. How does a nation honor its heroes? Abraham Lincoln said, “Any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.” The United States honors its greatest heroes with the Medal of Honor, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty”. In total the US has awarded 3,467 Medals of Honor. There are many sources of information on these true Americans. I have chosen three as primary resources to discover more about these men.

The first is Medal of Honor Recipients 1863-1978. This is an official publication put out by the Congress and prepared by the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. This contains summaries on the actions in which each man earned his Medal of Honor, as well as a brief history on the Medal. Though these descriptions of each man’s actions are helpful they do not connect the men are tell anything else about them. What happened to them afterwards? Were they treated like heroes who had earned the nations highest honor? That is what this book does not tell us. There is no before or after view into their lives, only a description of that brief point of incredible courage.

Another primary resource I am using is the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s website. They provide much of the current information on awards, events and recipients. It also gives the goals of the society. While this is useful for the community as whole and their outlook on the country it does not provide information on the personal views of recipients after the award. Nor does it tell anything about the future plans of the military in terms of awarding the Medal of Honor. All of the Medal of Honor awards since Vietnam have been posthumous awards. What do living recipients think of the rarity of the award and if it will be presented to another living hero? This is a question I will be investigating.

My last source is Above and Beyond: A History of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to Vietnam. This is a history of the Medal of Honor itself and does not go into specific examples unless it serves to present a defining point in the history of the Medal. This book along with the Congressional publication above give an excellent view on the past and recipient’s acts but not on their actions after the Medal presentations nor the future of the Medal of Honor Society.