The Medal of Honor Kenneth Riege

The Medal of Honor

By Kenneth Riege

With March 25th being National Medal of Honor Day, it is important to share this story in March about our nations highest award for valor. March 25th has been designated as National Medal of Honor Day. This was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush when he signed Public Law 101564 on 15 Nov 1990.

According to the Medal of Honor Society, The Medal of Honor Bill was introduced by Iowa Senator James Grimes on 9 Dec 1861 and was approved by President Lincoln on 21 Dec 1861. The very first Medals of Honor were presented on 25 Mar 1863. The Medal of Honor is typically awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U.S. Congress. It is often informally referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor, but the actual title is “Medal of Honor.”

According to the Medal of Honor Society, there are 3,505 recipients of the medal. This does include one female recipient, Dr. Mary Walker, who received her MOH During the Civil War. There are also 19 who have received the Medal of Honor Twice.

Pueblo, CO, holds the title of “Home of Heroes,” since there are four Medal of Honor Recipients from Pueblo. They are as follows: Mr. William Crawford (WW2), Mr. Carl Sitter and Mr. Jerry Murphy (Korea), and Mr. Drew Dix Vietnam).

When considering how many men and women have served in the United States Military from 25 Mar 1863 (first MOH Presented) until now, the honor of meeting one of these great men is extremely low. We in Gallup are truly blessed to have Gallup be the home of one of our nation’s greatest heroes, Mr. Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura.

There are three different types of Medal of Honor (pictured below). The Navy version (which is also presented to the US Marines and Coast Guard) was established first on 21 Dec 1861; The US Army version was established

Gathering of Medal of Honor Recipients at the White House on 12 September 2018An honored guest, Mr. Robert J. Monahan Jr. who is to the far right, joined the MOH recipients. Besides Mr. Miyamura, Ron Rosser (front row) is also wearing the South Korean Government Medal of Honor presented to them in June 2014.

Statue of the four Medal of Honor Recipients from Pueblo, CO. This can be found just outside their convention center.

Picture of Korean War MOH Recipients from 27 Oct 1953. Pictured are from L to R: Hiroshi Miyamura, James Stone, David Bleak, Alford McLaughlin, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bob Simanek, George O’Brien, and Jerry Murphy.

on 12 July 1862, and the US Air Force version was established on 14 April 1965.

There have been two father/son sets of MOH Recipients:

Arthur MacArthur (Civil War) and Douglas MacArthur (WW2)

Theodore Roosevelt (San Juan Cuba) and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (WW2)

There has been one president of the United States awarded the Medal of Honor and that was Theodore Roosevelt, and there have been two sons of presidents who have received the Medal of Honor: Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (WW2) and Webb Cook Hayes, son of Rutherford B. Hayes (Philippines).

There are many great and interesting facts about the men who wear this medal. They come from all walks of life and have served in all branches of the service. Many come from small towns like Gallup while others may come from larger cities or were born in a different countries, but the one thing they all have in common is the love of their fellow service members. When you read their MOH Citations, you will find the common thread they all share, and that is the willingness to trade their own life to save the lives of their comrades.

This is a most appropriate quote from one of the Medal of Honor recipients:

“I always remember the day I took the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That really meant something to me.” ~ John W. Finn, United States Navy

This and many other quotes from Medal of Honor recipients can be found in a publication called Medal of Honor “Quotes” Inspiration from America’s Military Heroes. This book was published in 2012 by the Center for American Values, Inc. in Pueblo, CO, and can be found on their website at www. americanvaluescenter.org.

I wish to extend a THANK YOU to all my fellow veterans and also to the families of our military and veterans. The citizens of our great community and surrounding area have played a very important role in defending the freedoms we enjoy today.

The Following are the names of Medal of Honor Recipients who were born in New Mexico and the wars in which they received their medals:

WW2 - *Joe Martinez, *Harold Moon, Alejandro Ruiz, *Jose Valdez

Korea – Hiroshi Miyamura

Vietnam - *Daniel Fernandez, Delbert Jennings, Louis Rocco, *Kenneth Worley

Afghanistan – Leroy Petry *denotes the MOH was awarded Posthumously (There are other MOH Recipients who call/have called New Mexico their home, but these are the brave men who were born within our great state.)