Show 1 J r.- r. w s Americas America's Me Medal I for A It t Is is bestowed et for or extraordinary ciao Valor vator only and the o officer must work ha harder er for or th the bit o of ribbon an and bronze than 1 3 l the enl enlisted sted man similar foreign n honors come easier easier r e 1 r f fr L 4 cd c. c I f r ra a f. f 5 fi HE Congressional Medal of Honor 0 recognizes no rank r It Is awarded to the private or the i general the second class seaman or r fireman or to the rear admiral for extraordinary courage valor surpassing surpassing surpass surpass- ing lug even that which is expected from the well trained seasoned soldier or sailor No matter how hazardous 4 a duty well performed that Is not nott t enough To win the medal something more than f is demanded b by duty must be achieved Unlike some e of the Eur European decorations for bra bravery vcr the American Medal of Honor Is more more difficult for nn an officer to win than for an e enlisted man because more is expected of an officer The medal is a bit of bronze suspended from a ribbon Its Intrinsic value be It what It may Is of no importance Into the metal disk are welded tall Jill ll the qualities of man which men admire even en worship In the archives of the war department are arc succinct unimaginative records of the acts which caused the to be pinned to the breasts of ot the men who have ha won it The papers will yellow ellow and anti crumble the ribbons will wUl rot to dust lust the tho bronze Itself will corrode a aryl vanish but the things the medal stands for will go on and the he epic of the Medal of Honor will wUl continue to be inscribed in the hearts of or ormen men There I Is no doubt the Medal of Honor will be bevon bewon bewon won von In lit this war but It t will wUl not be won easily and t though millions may mar be fi fighting h under the j American flag it will come to but few to wear this r 1 distinguishing mark In the Spanish war less than 20 O medals were were awarded In the Philippines 0 a few were given The last two medals to be awarded were were presented pre- pre tented to Sergt MaJ Roswell Winans and Corporal Corporal Cor Cor- Joseph A. A Glowin Glowin of ot the marine corps for A their work at the battle of Guayacanes In Santo Domingo It Is the act Itself which wins the medal for a R man and not only does his rank m matter matter not at all but he may win It In a n or In a a battle like Uke that of ot Gettysburg or of ot the Ma Marne me The report of Ot the board of Investigation for the navy department In to their case follows On July 3 1916 1016 the Twenty-eighth Twenty company of ot marines C i iwas was engaged with the Dominican armed forces at nt atthe atthe the battle of Guayacanes During a running fight of t 1200 yards our forces reached the enemy In- In and Corporal Joseph Glowin placed r the machine gun of ot which he had charge behind a a large larg log across the road and Immediately opened fire on the trenches He was struck once hut continued firing his gun but a moment later Jl he was again struck and had to be dragged out of the position into cover Sergt Roswell Winans U S. S M. M C C. then arrived with a Colts Colt's gun which tIle The placed in a most exposed position and coolly opened fire on the trenches and when wIlen the gun Jammed he be stood up and repa repaired ed It under fire All AU the time Glowin and Winans were handling their guns guns guns' they were exposed t to a very very heavy It fire which was striking Into Ino the logs toss and around the men seven men being wounded and one killed within 20 f feet et Sergeant Winans continued firing fir fir- I ing his gun until the enemy had abandoned the trenches Sergeant Winans Winan's story In his own words Is r even even more modest than the the official report although although al al- al- al though It Is more viVid and picturesque I On the morning of ot July 3 he said we got under way with every everyone one feeling like Uke a n new man inan Firing on the advance guard began early In the day Our captain obtained permission to take forward We Ve the our platoon kept guns on the carriages until within a few yards pf of the firing firing fir fir- ing line then transferred them to the tripods and Immediately opened fire The enemy was using mostly old fashioned breechloaders with big lead plugs The brush was very thick on both sides o of the the road Jams were frequent with us and ea each h gun un wore out a couple of shell sheIl extractors Difficulty culty had been experienced all along with our ammunition Some of it dated back as far as 1007 1307 It had evidently been reloaded many times We found it good policy to change barrels in incase case of ot a Jam in n the chambers In that way we would be only a minute out of action A party of the enemy were seen up the road and Corporal Johnson started to put his gun in action A big lead slug tin Un cans we called them came a ricocheting down the road directly for us JohnJ Johnson John John- J 1 son Fen on saw saw it while kneeling behind his gun He ducked almost prone b but t the thing took a long t Skip kip and hit lilt him in the jaw ja passed down and lodged lodged back of ot the shoulder The gun crews promptly gave the place where the shot was fired a good combing We Ve continued to advance under cover of ot the bushes and trees A battalion of Infantry was deployed ed as skirmishers skirmishers skirmishers skir skir- on each side of ot the road rond and we were concealed by a turn In the road and high trees sad and bushes Directly across the road road was a huge log At Atour our end of ot the log a Benet Mercier had Just commenced com com- roaring with Corporal In com com- wand of ot It ft The captain ord ordered red a n gun In action at the butt of the tr tree It had no sooner opened up than all the bullets In the world seemed coming our wa way The enemy was shooting mighty close dose too The trenches were awfully hard to pick up although we were only about yards away awny The They were ere on a hill hm and had carried th their dirt away The The battalions made slow progress on th the flanks o on account Recount of of the thick underbrush The enemy laid had nn an Immensely strong natural position and had the they had a n few machine guns and some barbed wire they could not have been rooted out without great loss of ot life A call went up for a n hospital apprentice as ns Corporal had been shot sho tn to the head bend He had been working hard getting his gun pointed d on the enem enemy and had just succeeded I You are right on them now give them fits I l' l were the last words he said His pointer was also shot in the head and two others were wounded In the arm A corporal In the Thirteenth company was shot twice while hUe operating a a a. Benet He lIe refused to leave his gun and had to be carried awn away struggling to get back into the fight While this was going on our other guns guns began began began be be- gan to come up one at h a time and we obtained fire superiority over the enemy who shot very wildly from now on This ahls last Is an after Judg Judg- meat Lent At the time they seemed to be Just missIng missIng missing miss- miss Ing me I dont know how hov the other men felt but I expected to be shot any minute and just wanted to do as much damage as possible to the enemy before cashing In Several members of t tour our platoon did cool and creditable work In changing changing chang chang- ing cartridge extractors and repairing Jams un under under und der fire We faced the enemy as ns much as possible while repairing the guns as we had a horror of f being shot In the back One of the sweetest sounds I ever heard was the cheering of the Infantry battalion as ns It charged th the right flank trenches of ot the enemy Gunnery Sergeant Ralph was among the first of these He had a pistol fight with the rebel general in com com- mand Ralph and some other man with with a rifi rifle hit him at about the same time Result Result exit exit general We moved mo up to tn t the trenches after the battle and nd reformed getting our equipment together Corporal Frazee died soon after being tilt lilt and was buried burled within a few feet teet of ot the place where he had fought so well The enemy lost very heavily and If Santo Domingo was not an nn island some of those birds would be running yet MaJ Gen J. J Franklin Bell Ben now In command d f the easte eastern n department with headquarters on Governors Governor's Island won the medal In the Philip Philip- pines As colonel of ot the Thirty sixth Infantry he Ie was proceeding along the San Antonio road to head oft off a band of ot Insurgents who had attacked the Ninth Infantry at GU Guagua ta J and Santa Rita Colonel Bell mounted was riding near the head of the advance party and had with him Col Cot William R. R Grove Major Straub two mounted mount mount- ed order orderlies fes and about twelve scouts on foot toot Just at dawn daw t the party was fired upon from what seemed a n fairly large body odY of ot insurgents hidden in the brush The American fire dislodged the enemy about seven of them running down the therond road rond around a bend The scouts pursued them but Colonel but Colonel Bell saw at once once- that the men with their heavy equipment were being easily outdIstanced outdistanced outdistanced by the lightly clad Filipinos and he dashed after them on on his his his' horse Before Major St Straub aub or or the two mounted orderlies orderlies order order- lies ties knew what he was doing Colonel Bell Beli was far down the road In the midst of seven struggling struggling gling gUns Insurgents firing with his revolver and slashing about with his saber The mounted men galloped to his assistance and the Infantry supported him as best they could with rifle fire although It was almost Impossible to shoot so tangled up were were the Insurgents and Colonel Bell BeU The officer would have been perfectly Justified in remaining with his troops even behind thorn them and merely directing the dislodging assault and for charging alone and driving Into the jungle at least seven Fi Filipinos with two officers among them the Medal of Honor was a awarded to to him Two of the few medals awarded In n the war against Spain went to a second class fireman and anda a coppersmith on board the battleship Iowa While the vessel wan cruising In Cuban waters July Tuly 20 1898 at about seven In the the morning morn morning morn morn- ing a a manhole gasket blew out In one of the boilers fn n fire room No 2 Under pounds pounds pressure live Uve steam roared out into the room and boiling water swashed around the floor In the adjoining compartment w were rc Robert Penn second-class second fireman and P. P B. B Keefer a coppersmith Hearing the wild roar of the the escaping escaping es es- es- es caping steam they dashed to the door of ot fire room N No ho 2 The men who who had been working there blinded by the escaping steam floundering floundering- In the scaldIng scalding scald- scald Ing lug water had been so overcome that they could not get out One of ot the coal passers had already ly sunk to his knees and was dropping forward In a matter of seconds he would have toppled Into the water and amI been boiled to death t Undaunted by the terrifying ro roar r of the the steam and the killing heat Penn dashed into the room I and lifting the coal conI passer r staggered to safety I with him the scalding water above his ankles Ignoring the frightful pain of his s scalded swollen swollen swollen len feet this second class fireman dashed back Into the hell from which he had Just dragged one oce victim and saved another life Ufe Keefer Keeter meanwhile was busy husy saving t the e ship from destruction destruction t on or a at t least from the effects of ot ofa ota a terrific explosion for the water escaping from the boiler boUer would soon leave so so little there that it would be entirely converted into steam and the pressure would wreck It Dashing through the blinding torturing steam Keefer the coppersmith haul hauled d the fires from under the two Inboard furnaces Meanwhile Penn having gotten every everyone one o out t of the fire room had turned on the extra feed pump in the after fire hold to keep water In the boilers boners anc and built a bridge to the furnaces out of planks laid I on top of ash buckets While Passed Assistant Engineer held the plank in place Penn hauled the two remaining fires before he was carried carried car car- ried to the sick bay where his terribly scalded feet were treated Both Penn and Keefer received the Medal of Honor for their acts That It it is only extraordinary extraordinary bravery which merits the medal accounts for the fact that Fireman Smith did not win the bronze for the same days day's work worl In helping Keefer he had hud both legs badly burned but the opportunity did not offer otTer I Itself elf to display the same which Keefer and Penn ex ex- ex- ex Some of ot the most stirring medal stories are those of ot the Indian campaigns For instance there was Corporal Paul H. H who expected expect expect- ed to be court for what he did at the battle of ot Wounded Knee but Instead had the Medal of Honor pinned to his breast Another Indian fighter to win the coveted bronze was Sergt Bernard Taylor of ot the Fifth cavalry engaged In fighting the Apaches In Arizona Arizona Ari- Ari zona In 1874 Some of ot the most distinguished men In In the Hie army have worn the medal G Gen n. n Nelson A. A Mlles Miles won it for continually exposing himself to the fire of ot the enemy as colonel of ot the Sixty Sixty- first New New York volunteers In the Civil war fo fono for forno forno no other purpose than to encourage his men by bythe bythe bythe the example At Fair Oaks Gen William H R. R Shafter was wounded but when a surgeon was was seen approachIng approach approach- Ing Ins he climbed a tree In order not to be sent to the rear After the surgeon passed Shafter Shatter came down and continued to fight until he fell unconscious unconscious from loss of blood Those who remember General Shafter Shatter only as ashe ashe ashe he was In the Cuban campaign will wonder how he got into the tree but a man can put on a lo loof lot lotof of ot weight In thirty-odd thirty years Gen Francis D. D Baldwin won the medal while a first lieutenant In the Fifth Infantry With two companies under him he rescued two white girls girl from Indians at nt McClennan's Creek Tex In Nov November November No No- v vember 1874 Although not so well known as the Victoria Cross the Iron Cross or the MU the Congressional Medal of ot Honor Is much more mor difficult to attain It is distributed to very few persons and then only after a sweeping Investigation tion of the circumstances surrounding the act fo for which v It Is recommended The M Medal of Honor was authorized by congress congress con can gress gross by an act net of ot July 12 1802 1862 The striking o or of 2000 medals was ordered to be conferred upon privates and non commissioned officers for acts nets o of bravery surpassing those usually demanded o of soldiers One thousand of these medals were voted to a Oa single organization th the survivors of ot a Maine regiment which volunteered to remain In service on the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg although their terms had expired lt This Is th the only ly case of ot a wholesale distribution of ot th the medal and has been severely criticized There are arc slight variations in the medals a as designed for the army the navy and the marines The army's s medal as modified In 1 1005 1305 05 is a five five- pointed star with the trefoils on the tips Th The The star is superimposed on a wreath In the center of the star shin Is 18 the head of Minerva l surrounded by bv the words United States of America Th The medal Is suspended from a n trophy representing an eagle on a bar with the word Valor The e whole is suspended from a ribbon The original med medal l bore In th the center of ot the star |