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Understanding the Medal of Honor

This quiz tests your knowledge about the Medal of Honor, its history, significance, and notable recipients.

#Medal of Honor #military history #awards #United States #heroism

1 When was Medal of Honor established?

2 What is Medal of Honor's current status?

3 Cardenas Medal of Honor: decoration of the ________, merged into the United States Coast Guard

4 Which of the following titles did Medal of Honor have?

5 In the post-World War II era, many eligible recipients might instead have been awarded a Silver Star, ________ or similar award.

6 Eligibility for interment at ________ if not otherwise eligible.

7 The first Army Medal of Honor was awarded to Private Jacob Parrott during the American Civil War for his role in the ________.

8 What type of thing is Medal of Honor?

9 [22] Thomas J. Ryan received it for saving a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in ________, Japan following the 1923 Great KantĹŤ earthquake.

10 After the Army redesigned its medal in 1903, a ________ was issued.

đź’ˇ Interesting Facts

  • Thomas E. Corcoran received the Medal of Honor for rescuing his crewmates from their sinking ship during the American Civil War.
  • Tom Cruse was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantly charging hostile Indians.
  • Silvestre S. Herrera is the only living person authorized to wear both the U.S. Medal of Honor and Mexico's equivalent "Premier Merito Militar".
  • Powhatan Henry Clarke, an officer with the Buffalo Soldiers, received a Medal of Honor for rescuing a wounded soldier and died while rescuing another.
  • Thomas H. Forsyth was denied the Medal of Honor by the United States Department of War but later received it after a petition nearly 20 years later.
  • William O'Neill was awarded the Medal of Honor for his part in a charge at Fort Sill in 1872 which ended 17 years of combat.
  • Zachariah T. Woodall was awarded the Medal of Honor for his participation in what was later known as the Battle of Buffalo Wallow.
  • William T. Perkins, Jr., a United States Marine who covered an exploding hand grenade with his body, is the only combat photographer to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
  • William Preble Hall was a Medal of Honor winner from the American Indian Wars and champion marksman from 1879 to 1892.
  • Orion P. Howe (pictured) was awarded the Medal of Honor for his childhood service as a Union Army drummer boy during the American Civil War.
  • Louis Fred Pfeifer received the United States military's highest decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, while serving under a false name.
  • John F. Mackie (pictured) was the first United States Marine to receive America's highest military decoration—the Medal of Honor.
  • Jesse N. Funk was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War I for running through no man's land to rescue wounded men.
  • Jared C. Monti is only the second person to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the War in Afghanistan.
  • John Francis O'Sullivan was awarded the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at the Staked Plains in 1874.
  • John H. Foley was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading a charge into a Sioux encampment without knowing the enemy's strength.
  • John P. Yount, an American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient, was buried with full military honors in 2007, over a century after his death.
  • Sergeant John O'Callaghan and Private Michael O'Regan were among thirty men in the same regiment to be awarded the Medal of Honor, one of the largest presentations ever made at the time.
  • John James was awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action" after defending the Lyman Train from Indian attacks for three days.
  • Captain Humbert Roque Versace was the first Army P.O.W. in Southeast Asia to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in captivity.
  • Captain William Walter Kouts located the son of the Medal of Honor recipient who died while saving Kouts during World War II after over sixty years of searching.
  • the Battle of Big Dry Wash was the last battle fought between the Apache and the US Army and four Medals of Honor resulted from the battle.
  • the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Missoula, Montana, was named for Medal of Honor recipient Ernest Veuve.
  • sailor Thomas Bourne won the Medal of Honor for actions during the 1862 Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip in which he "remained steadfast at his gun" despite heavy fire his ship was taking.
  • the Joint Expedition Against Franklin was a small battle during the American Civil War for which seven Union sailors were awarded Medals of Honor.
  • the USS Robert H. McCard, a United States Navy destroyer, was named after U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard, a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
  • to clear a jammed gun on the armored cruiser USS Brooklyn, Medal of Honor recipient Harry L. MacNeal crawled along its barrel during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
  • the residence of Medal of Honor recipient Solon D. Neal later became the site of the HemisFair '68 Tower.
  • the grave of Medal of Honor recipient John Tracy was unmarked for almost a century after his interment.
  • in an upcoming presentation ceremony at the White House, the late Navy SEAL Michael P. Murphy (pictured) will become the first person awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in the current War in Afghanistan.
  • in 1993, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell suggested that William G. Austin's Medal of Honor be rescinded due to the controversial battle after which it was given.
  • Sergeant George Jordan received the Medal of Honor for repulsing 100 Chiricahua Apache warriors led by Victorio with 25 Buffalo Soldiers in the Battle of Tularosa.
  • Medal of Honor recipient Captain Julien Gaujot became so jealous when his brother was given the Medal of Honor that he vowed that he would get one too.
  • Colonel William H. Wilbur of the United States Army received the Medal of Honor for attempting to arrange an armistice with Vichy French forces in Casablanca and then leading an assault on an artillery battery during Operation Torch.
  • U.S. Army surgeon Ben L. Salomon was recommended for the Medal of Honor four times before it was posthumously awarded by George W. Bush in 2002.
  • after earning the Medal of Honor in 1890, U.S. Cavalryman Frederick E. Toy went on to serve as an orderly to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • five USAAF airmen were awarded the Medal of Honor following Operation Tidal Wave, a low-level bombing of Romanian oil refineries on 1 August 1943.
  • among the dead interred at the Calvert Vaux-designed Hillside Cemetery in Middletown, New York, are three Civil War Medal of Honor recipients.
  • although Neil Bancroft was awarded the Medal of Honor, he had died by the time the government located him to issue the medal.
  • James Sumner received the Medal of Honor for his actions in a skirmish with Cochise during the Apache Wars.
  • James H. Turpin was among 23 U.S. cavalrymen awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in actions with Apaches" in the winter campaign of 1872–1873.
  • American World War II soldier David M. Gonzales was awarded the Medal of Honor (pictured) for digging out three comrades buried alive whilst under enemy fire.
  • American World War II Army Captain Bobbie E. Brown was awarded the Medal of Honor for running 100 yards up a hill through machine-gun fire to place a bomb in a German pillbox in the Battle of Crucifix Hill.
  • Union Army color bearer Thomas J. Higgins received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Vicksburg during the US Civil War at the request of his Confederate captors.
  • American World War II veteran Alejandro R. Ruiz was awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly assaulting and demolishing an enemy machine-gun pillbox.
  • American soldier Lucian Adams was awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly destroying several enemy machine gun emplacements in World War II.
  • World War II U.S. Army veteran David Rubitsky claims to have singlehandedly killed 500 to 600 Japanese soldiers during a 21-hour battle and that he was denied the Medal of Honor because he is Jewish.
  • U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Jay R. Vargas, one of four brothers who were decorated war veterans, requested that his medal be engraved with his mother's name instead of his own.
  • US soldier Rodolfo P. Hernandez (pictured) was awarded the Medal of Honor after the Korean War for attacking and delaying an enemy regiment, alone and wounded.
  • Robert L. Howard received his Congressional Medal of Honor while part of a Hatchet Force operating near the Laos–Cambodia border during the Vietnam War in 1968.
  • Rear Admiral Ralph Christie (pictured) of the U.S. Navy was so incensed by the decision not to award Samuel Dealey the Medal of Honor, he sent a blunt message to Thomas Kinkaid that some viewed as bordering on insubordination.
  • Major General Keith L. Ware, who was awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, was the first U.S. Army general officer to be killed in action in the Vietnam War.
  • Brigadier General James Jackson was awarded the Medal of Honor twenty years after his actions in the pursuit of Chief Joseph following the Battle of the Clearwater in 1877.
  • U.S. Cavalry officer William Foster earned the Medal of Honor for gallantry in a surprise raid on the Comanche Indians at the Red River in 1872.
  • Medal of Honor recipient First Lieutenant Lewis Warrington III is the grandson of American naval hero Lewis Warrington.
  • Medal of Honor recipient John F. Auer's medal was stolen before he left the United States Navy.
  • Private James Pym won the Medal of Honor for carrying water to wounded soldiers while under heavy fire during the Battle of Little Bighorn.
  • Medal of Honor recipient William R. Parnell died in San Francisco, California on August 20, 1910, after falling from a street car.
  • Medal of Honor recipient John Nihill won so many shooting medals, he was barred from competing for further US Army awards.
  • Alexander Gordon Lyle is one of only two dental officers ever to receive the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
  • Andrew J. Weaher was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1869 at one of the US Army's largest-ever presentations of the medal at the time.
  • Henry S. Huidekoper received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg, and later helped to suppress the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
  • Henry R. Tilton (pictured) risked his life protecting wounded soldiers at the Battle of Bear Paw but wasn't awarded the Medal of Honor until almost 20 years after the act.
  • George H. Eldridge received the Medal of Honor for gallantry fighting the Kiowa Indians and Chief Kicking Bird at the Battle of the Little Wichita River.
  • Henry Wilkens received the Medal of Honor for his part in the battle of Little Muddy Creek.
  • Herbert K. Pililaau was the first person from Hawaii to receive the Medal of Honor.
  • James H. Howard was the only fighter pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor—the U.S. military's highest decoration—in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
  • James Anderson was one of six men awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry against a group of Plains Indians at the Wichita River in Texas.
  • Hispanics have participated in every conflict in which the United States has been involved, and over forty Hispanics have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
  • Frederick S. Neilon received the Medal of Honor but was forced to retire from the military due to a leg injury, and was discharged on a certificate of disability in 1875.
  • Frederick Jarvis is one of only eight Medal of Honor recipients from Utah and one of only three buried in the state.
  • Charles Henry Tompkins was the first Union Army officer to receive the Medal of Honor during the Civil War.
  • Aquilla Coonrod was one of only two men from Williams County, Ohio, to have ever received the Medal of Honor.
  • Anthony T. KahoĘ»ohanohano was awarded the Medal of Honor 58 years after his death in the Korean War.
  • Christopher Nugent was the third United States Marine to receive the Medal of Honor.
  • David B. Barkley (pictured), who drowned in the Meuse River, France after completing a scouting mission behind enemy lines during World War I, was the U.S. Army's first Hispanic Medal of Honor recipient.
  • Frank Tolan was one of 22 American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor for volunteering to carry water to comrades wounded in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
  • Edwin L. Elwood received the Medal of Honor during the Campaign of the Rocky Mesa, in which he was shot in the chest.
  • General Edmund Rice led his regiment against Pickett's Charge, was wounded three times, escaped imprisonment by jumping out of a moving train, and received a Congressional Medal of Honor.
  • 23 U.S. cavalrymen, including Jacob Trautman and Paul H. Weinert, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890.
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