Medal of Honor - Recipients

Recipients

The Medal of Honor has been awarded to 3,459 persons.

A total of 19 men have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice, 14 of these received two separate medals for two separate actions, while 5 received both the Navy and Army Medals of Honor for the same action. Since the beginning of World War II, 861 Medals of Honor have been awarded, 530 (62%) posthumously; 627 Medals of Honor have been awarded posthumously.

• The first Medals of Honor (Army) were awarded by and presented to six "Andrews Raiders" on March 25, 1863, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in his office in the War Department. Private Jacob Parrott, a Union Army volunteer from Ohio, became the first recipient of the medal, awarded to him for his volunteering for and participation in, a raid on a Confederate train in Big Shanty, Georgia on April 12, 1862 during the American Civil War. The six decorated raiders met privately afterwards with President Lincoln in his office in the White House.

• The first Medal of Honor (Navy) went to 41 sailors by Secretary of War Stanton on April 4, 1863 (17 for action during the Battle of Fort Jackson and St. Phillip on April 24, 1862) during the American Civil War.

• The first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor (Navy) was John F. Mackie on July 10, 1863 for his rifle action aboard the USS Galena on May 15, 1862.

• The first and only member of the Coast Guard to be awarded the Medal of Honor (Navy, posthumous) was Signalman First Class Douglas Munro on May 27, 1943 for evacuating 500 Marines under fire on September 27, 1942 during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

• The first and only woman to be awarded the Medal of Honor (Army) is Mary Edwards Walker who was a civilian Union Army surgeon during the American Civil War. Awarded 1865 for the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861 and a series of battles to the Battle of Atlanta in Sept. 1864 ..."for usual medal of honor meritorious services".

• 61 Canadians who served in the United States Armed Forces, mostly during the American Civil War. Since 1900, four Canadians have received the medal. The only Canadian born and U.S. citizen to receive the medal was Peter C. Lemon who received it for heroism during the Vietnam War.

While the governing statute for the Army Medal of Honor(10 U.S.C. § 6241), beginning in 1918, explicitly stated that a recipient must be "an officer or enlisted man of the Army," "distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," and perform an act of valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy," exceptions have been made:

• Charles Lindbergh, 1927, civilian pilot, and U.S. Army Air Corps reserve officer. Lindbergh's medal was authorized by a special act of Congress that directly contradicted the July 1918 act of Congress that required that all Army recipients be "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy." The award was based on the previous acts authorizing the medal to Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennet for their North Pole flight. Some congressmen objected to Lindbergh's award because it contradicted the 1918 statute, but Representative Snell reportedly quelled this dissent by explaining that "it was and it wasn't the Congressional Medal of Honor which Lindbergh would receive under his bill; that the Lindbergh medal would be entirely distinct from the valor award for war service."
• Major General (Retired) Adolphus Greely, 1935, was awarded the medal "for his life of splendid public service" on his 91st birthday. The result of a special act of Congress similar to Lindbergh's, Greely's medal citation did not reference any acts of valor.
• Foreign unknown recipients include the British Unknown Warrior, the French Unknown Soldier, the Romanian Unknown Soldier, the Italian Unknown Soldier, and the Belgian Unknown Soldier.
• U.S. unknown recipients include the Unknowns of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The Vietnam Unknown was later identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie through the use of DNA identification. Blassie's family asked for his Medal of Honor, but the request was denied by the Department of Defense in 1998. According to Undersecretary of Defense Rudy de Leon, the medal was awarded symbolically to all Vietnam unknowns, not to Blassie specifically.