Show XI rum X HE congressional medal of honor recognizes no rank it Is awarded to the private or the general the second class seaman or 1 fireman or to the rear admiral for extraordinary courage valor surpassing even pat that which ie expected from the well trained se seasoned sold soldier fir or sailor bailor N no 0 matter how hazardous 4 a duty well berf performed armed that Is not enough to win the medal something more than Is demanded by duty must be achieved unlike some of the european decorations for bravery the american medal of honor Is more difficult jeor for an officer to win than thail for an enlisted iiii man ii because 66 y ua idoni more Is Is expected of an an of officer fleer I 1 Th the medal emedal Is a bit of bronze suspended from a dibbon its intrinsic value be it what it may Is of bf no importance into the metal dl disk skare are welded hii I 1 fall the qualities of man which men admire even worship in the archives of the war department lara are succinct unimaginative inactive records of the acts which caused the medal to lie be pinned to the breasts of the men who ha have v e won it it the the papers will yellow wand and crumble the ribbons will rot to dust the bronze itself will corrode and vanish but the things the medal stands for will go on and the epic of the medal of honor will continue to be inscribed in the hearts of men there Is no doubt the honor will be won von in this war bubat but it will not be won easily and though millions may be fighting i under the american flag it will come to but few to wear this distinguishing mark in the spanish war less thia than 20 medals were awarded in the philippines a 4 fv few were glyen given the last two medals to be awarded were presented to sergt serg roswell oswell ll winans and corporal Ja joseph sephA A glowan of the marine corps for their work at the batlle of guayacanes es in santo domingo als it Is the act antl Itself which wins ath s the medal for a man and not only does his rank matter not at all but bt he be may win it in it a skirmish mish or in a battle like that of gettysburg or of the marno marne the report of the board of investigation for the ille navy department in their case follows on Ori july 3 1916 the twenty eighth company of inart marines nei was engaged with the dominican armed forces at the battle of guayacanes es during a running fight of 1200 yards our forces res reached elfed the enemy trench ment and corporal joseph glowin glowan laced the machine gun of which he fie had charge behind a laage log across the road and immediately opened fire on the trenches trench ca he was struck once hut but continued firing his gui gun but it a moment later he e was again struck and had to be dragged out of the position frito into cover serit sergt roswell winans U S M 31 0 then arrived with a colts gun which lie he placed in a most exposed position and coolly opened fire on the trenches and when the gun jammed he stood up and repaired it under fire all the time glowan and winans were handling their inns guns they were exposed to a very heavy fire which was striking into the logs and around the men seven 1116 men being wounded and one killed within 20 feet sergeant winans continued firing his gun until the enemy had bad abandoned the trenches sergeant story in his own w words li Is even mo more re modest than the official report al although 1 it Is more moie vivid and picturesque on n the morning of of july 3 he said we got under way with every one feeling like a new man firing on the advance guard began early in the day our captain obtained permission to take our platoon forward we kept t the le guns on the carriages until within a few yards 0 of k thefil the firing line then transferred them to the tripods and immediately opened fire the enemy was using mostly old fashioned breechloaders breech loaders with bl big g lead sings the bril brush sh was very thick on both sides of the road jams jains were frequent with us and ench each gun wore out a couple of shell el extractors tractors DIM difficulty had been experienced all along with our ammunition some of it dated back ps fa r as 1907 it had evidently been reloaded many times we found it good policy to change barrels in vas case e 0 of f a jam in the chambers in that way wd would be only a minute out of action A party of the enemy were seen seen up the road and corporal johnson johnon started to p put his gun in action abig alerd slug tin cans cans w we e called ahem came 1 riv ricocheting down the road directly for us johnson johnie I 1 saw it ie k kneeling ne aln g behind his gun he ducked ducov ed almost prone buttee butt but the be thing took a long ions skip kip and hit him lh in the jaw passed down and lodged hack aach of the shoulder the gun crews promptly anye the place where the he shot was fired a good com combing bini we continued to advance under cover of the bushes it and n d trees A battalion of infantry was deployed as skirmishers ini on each side ou of the road end and we were concealed by a turn in the road and high trees and bus bushes lles I 1 directly across the road was a lingo bu 0 log at at our end of the log 6 a bent ye r acter baa had ja just st dom commenced ill on W roaring goaring with W ith corporal Corpora 1 glovins in command of it the captain ordered a gun in action at the butt of the tree it had no soonee sooner opened up all the fhe bullets ln the seebert se emert coming ah 0 I 1 luell I 1 0 ochi T LAI TUT JUI lii 1 I ameir cavi y lay A fei if is bestowed for extraordinary vator avato ont y an and must work harder for fir the bit of ribbon and hron bronze zethan than ian the enlisted nian man t simi similar bv foreign honors come easier atoo jt oo raz 4 our way aliel the enemy was shooting mighty close aioo the trenches were awfully hard to pick up although we were ony only about yards away they were on a hill and had carried their dirt awny away the battalions made slow progress on the flanks on account of the thick underbrush the enemy had bad an immensely strong natural dairal position and had they had a few machine guns had and some barbed wire elthey they could not have been rooted out without greatless great loss of bf life A call t w went up for a hospital apprentice as corporal Frazee had bad been shots shot in the head no he had been working hard getting his gun pointed on the enemy enem yand and had just succeeded you yon are right on them now give them fits I 1 were the last words he sald said bis pointer was also shot in the head and two others were wounded woun dedin in the arm A corporal cori in the thirteenth company was shot twice while oper operating a benet abne mercher he IEe refused to leave his hii gailand gu gun iland and hadbo had to be carried away struggling to get back into the fight while this was going on ouri our other guns began to 0 o come up bua oa at a time and we e obtained fire super superiority lorit y over the enemy who shot very wildly from now on this last Is an after judgment at the time they seemed to be just missing ingae me I 1 dont doni know how bow tb the eother other men felt but I 1 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 our platoon did cool and creditable work in changing cartridge extractors and repairing jams under tareq we faced the enemy as much as possible while repairing the guns as we had a horror borror of being shot in the back one of the sweetest sounds sound I 1 eyer heard was the cheering of the infantry battalion as it charged the right flank trenches of thee the nemy enemy gunnery sergeant ralph was among the first of these he had a pistol fight with the rebel general I 1 in n command ralph and some other man with a rifle hit him nt at about the same time result exit ediff general we nye moved up t the trenches after the battle and reformed getting our equipment tog together ether corporal frazee died soon after being hit and was buried within a few feet of the place where J lie he had fought so well the enemy lost very heavily and if santo domingo was not an island I 1 bome i of those birds would be running yet maj gen J franklin bell now in command of the eastern department with headquarters arters on goneril governors Go veril ors island Isla ild won the ilie medal in the philippines As colonel of bf the itlie thirty sixth infantry lie he was proceeding along the san antonio road to head bead headon off on a barid band of insurgents who had attacked 1 the ninth infantry at gungura and santa rita colonel bell mounted was riding near the head bead of the advance party and lind had with uth him col william R grove major straub two iwo mounted orderlies and about twelve scouts on foot foo t just at dawn down the party was fired upon from seemed a fairly large largel body of insurgents hidden in the brush the american fire dislodged the enemy about seven efthem of them running down the road around a bond bend the scouts pursued them lihi bu colonel be bell 1 I 1 saw 8 at t once that the men with their heavy equipment were being easily outdistanced edby by the lightly clad and he dashed after them on his horse before major straub or the two mounted orderlies knew kner what he was doing colonel bell was far down the road in the midst of seven struggling insurgents firing with his revolver and slashing about with rith lilt his saber the mounted men galloped gai loped to his assistance aind the I 1 infantry supported him as best they could with ride rifle fire although it was almost impossible to shoot so tangled up were the insurgents and colonel bell beli the of officer fleer would jince have been perfectly justified tn in rem remaining bining with his troops even behind them and merely directing the dislodging assault and for charging ime and driving into the jungle nt at beasi least bev seven n with two officers among them the he medal of honor was awarded to him two of the few medals awarded in the war against qt spain went ent to h n second class fireman and a coppersmith on board the battleship town iowa while the vessel was vas cr cruising iti in cuban waters july 2 20 1898 at about seven in a the morning a manhole nitin bole gasket hiew out nut in one of the 1 hollers bollers in iare room no 2 I 1 under pounds pressure live steam roared out into the room and boiling water slashed around the fhe floor in the adjoining compartment were robert penn ile nn second class fireman fl reman and P B keefer it a coppersmith hearing the wild raar roar of the escaping steam they dashed to the door boor of fire room no 2 12 the ened men who had been working there blinded by the escaping steam floundering jn the scalding w water iter had been so overcome that they could not betout ge get tout out oneff one of the coal passers had already sunk to Ps his knees and was waa dropping cropping forward la a matter of seconds he be would have leaie toppled into the he water and been boiled to death by ab hie e terrifying roar or of the steam and the killing heat penn dashed into the roomi otna and lifting the coal passer staggered to safety with h him im the scalding water waie cabote above his ankles ignoring the frightful fright fui pain of his scalded swollen len feet this seco second nd class clas s fireman dashed back into the hell from which hp he had just dragged one victim and saved another life keefer meanwhile ayas was busy saving tife the ship from destruction or a atlease at yeast least from the effects of a terrific explosion for foi the water escaping esc fio from in the boiler would soon leave so little litile there thaile th that ailt it would be entirely converted nto into I 1 steam and the tha pressure would wreck it it dashing through the blinding torturing steam keefer the coppersmith hauled tife the ores from under the two inboard 11 furnaces meanwhile e penn having gotten every and one out of the fire rooms room had turned on the extra feed pump I 1 in n the lie after fire hold to keep water in the bollers boilers andl annl built a bridge to 0 the furnaces out oui of planks laid on top of ah buc buckets keis while passed assistant engineer shockney Stoc kney held thep the plank in lk in place pinn penni hauled the two remaining fires before he was cir car ried to io the sick stcl bay where his terribly scalded feet fee t were treated both penn and keefer received the medal of honor for their acts that it Is on only Y estr extraordinary or bravery which merits the medal accounts f for or the fact that fireman smith did botwin not win the bronze for the same days work in helping keeter keefer he be lind had bc both th legs badly burned but the opportunity did not offer itself to display the same super courage which keefer and penn exhibited hibi ted some of the most star stariea I 1 es nm are those of the indian campaigns for instance there was corporal paul H Wel nert who aio expected to be court for what lie he did at the alie battle of wounded knee but instead had ahe the medal of Honore pinned iodis to bis br breast e ast another indian fighter to td win the itulid coveted bronze was sergt bernard taylor of the fifth i cavalry caa alry engaged in fighting the apaches apace es in art all 1 zona in 1874 some of the most distinguished men in met the army have worn the medal aleut gen nelson A miles won it for continually exposing himself to the fire of the enemy as colonel of the sixty first new york volunteers in the civil war for no other purpose than to encourage his men by the example at fair oaks gen WIIl william larn it Sli shafter wai wounded but when a surgeon was seen ing he be climbed a tree in order not to be sent to to the rear after the surgeon passed gassed Si lafter I 1 down and continued to fight until he fell i scions from loss of blood P those who remember general shatter shafter only as ansi lie he was in the cuban campaign will wonder how low lie he got into the tree but bul n man can put on a lot of weight in thirty odd years ears gen francis D baldwin won the medal while a first lieutenant in the fifth infantry with two companies under him he rescued rescue two wil white lite girls from Indi indiana ting nt at mcclennons McClen nans creek te tex x in koi ko 10 i vember ember 1874 I 1 although Altho pot not so RO well known n as the viet oraw cross the iron cross or the Medal lle the congre contil medal of honor honar ls Is much more difficult to attain I 1 it t Is distributed to in very few persons and then only after a sweep sweeping anve investigation of the circum circumstances threes th nees su surrounding the act for which it ii Is recommended the medal of honor was hv by congress by an act act of july 12 1802 1862 the striking ng of nf 2000 medals was ordered to he h conferred upon privates andion and non comal officers for acts of bravery surpassing those usually demanded of soldiers one thousand of these were voted to IC a single singie organization the of ora 11 maine regiment which volunteered t to 0 remain in service on the eve ee of the battle of deity augg although their terms had expired tills this Is 14 hh 1 1 only case of if n who wholesale lesal e distribution of nf the lie medal and has haq been severely criticized d there are slight variations tn in the mpr pl p designed for forthe the army alie navy and the marln ps the ardys medal as modified in lo js n fic pointed star with the trefoils tie tre folls foils on the tips TP star Is supera superimposed on a wreath in th the e bier of the sta star r Is tl ohp w heat 1 l of undid bv the words united of Amerl cd 1 th the f medal is suspended from a trophy nn in engle eagle on a bar with theford the word valor 7 tile tha whole Is suspended from a ribbon the te original medal bore tn in the center n of f the star a n flaurr of america biad as minerva nerva 11 M left hand rested upon ille fasces sandwith and with n R ahlfeld in her right she repe repelled aled Di 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