The Medal of Honor

Dwight S. Mears's The Medal of Honor illustrates well that the medal “cannot be viewed as a static decoration” because it “has had different qualification thresholds at different times” (p. 202). Since the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy created their respective awards during the Civil War, some argued that these marked only extraordinary heroism “above and beyond the call of duty” in combat. For others, meritorious service, even in peacetime, deserved recognition. By World War I the two services had developed different practices regarding the Medal of Honor in part because “the Navy often chose to recognize commanding officers as a way of rewarding an entire crew” and “continued to recognize obligatory actions that were a matter of duty,” as opposed to “the War Department, which strictly rewarded individual acts that were undertaken voluntarily” (pp. 98–99). As the twentieth century unfolded, concern over inappropriate awards prompted periodic reforms in practice and legislation as well as review of a number of cases. In addition, a set of new lower awards including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart allowed the services to recognize service and bravery that did not merit Medal of Honor status. Even so, distinguishing what effort merited which award presented the services with a new set of complicated decisions. Meanwhile, the development of air services and later, a separate air force created new scenarios with which to recognize gallantry. By the 1960s, the services had mostly aligned their Medal of Honor practices along the combat-oriented standards favored by the army. However, debate still occurred over what precisely entailed valor in combat as U.S. foreign policy tended to involve regional conflicts instead of formally declared wars and where the use of technology and cyberoperations instead of close fighting came to shape the battlefield

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• The Fasces

  T Corey Brennan•Fasces•2022

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