Medal of Honor - Past Racial Discrimination

Past Racial Discrimination

• A 1993 study commissioned by the U.S. Army investigated racial discrimination in the awarding of medals. At the time, no Medals of Honor had been awarded to American soldiers of African descent who served in World War II. After an exhaustive review of files, the study recommended that ten of their Distinguished Service Cross recipients be awarded the Medal of Honor. On January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven of these World War II veterans, six of them posthumously. With the passing of Vernon Baker, a former U.S. Infantry Officer on July 13, 2010, all of these recipients are deceased.

• In 1998, a similar study of Asian Americans resulted in President Bill Clinton presenting 21 Medals of Honor in 2000. Twenty of these medals went to American soldiers of Japanese descent of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team that served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. One of these Medal of Honor recipients was Senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, a former U.S. Infantry officer.

• In 2005, President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor to Tibor Rubin, a Jewish American who was a Holocaust survivor of World War II and U.S. Infantry POW of the Korean War whom many believed to have been overlooked because of his religion.