Military History: America's most amazing soldier from World War I... Corporal Alvin C. York...

I am still going through the 30 or so documentaries on Vietnam that JoAn sent me. And one of them touches on the history behind the Medal of Honour, America's highest award. At the time this documentary was made, in the 1960's, about 3,000 Americans had received the Medal of Honour since its creation during the American Civil War.

The Hall of Heroes, of soldiers, sailors and pilots who won the Medal of Honour is at the Pentagon.

During WWI, 95 American soldiers were given the Medal of Honour.

Of those who won it in WWI, the most legendary soldier was: Corporal Alvin C. York, of Tennessee. Apparently this soldier stormed an enemy position ALONE, and single-handedly captured 132 men! (I'd like to get the full story on this event. At the time of writing, my ADSL line is giving me a lot of trouble and is extremely unstable so I can't browse the web).

I saw a ceremony on one documentary where 4 men from Vietnam got the Medal of Honour. One of them was a sailor. I was quite curious about him because he seemed to be a plump, balding fellow. I wondered what on earth he did to win the Medal of Honour.

It turned out he was a Petty Officer on a river boat patrol which came under enemy fire. He then led the boats into a counter-attack during which they sank 50 sanpan (sp??) boats! I was pretty impressed!

I can't help but wonder whether the Medal of Honour still carries the same value during these lunatic, Politically Correct times.
Posted By: Jan
Webmaster
Author of: Government by Deception

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
(George Orwell)

My favourite poem:
"Roses are RED... and so is the Whitehouse"