Medal of Honor stamp unveiled today

From the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website:

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States.

The Medal of Honor ("Congressional Medal of Honor" is incorrect usage) has been given 3468 times (according to Wikipedia) or 3463 times (according to the CMOHS).  Nineteen men received two, the most recent of them during The Great War.

Fifty Medals of Honor were given "belatedly".  At least 28 were given based upon past racial or religious discrimination (on the assumption that the higher commendation would have been given originally absent such discrimination).  Twenty of those went to members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The US Postal Service will issue a WWII Medal of Honor Recipients stamp on 2013.11.11 (Veteran's Day, or Remembrance Day):

USPS recognizes the 464 who were awarded the medal for WWII with a Veterans Day unveiling of new stamps.

He has wrinkles now, and his hair has thinned. But Charles Coolidge clearly remembers the day nearly 70 years ago that he earned a Medal of Honor in France for leading his outnumbered combat group through four days of continuous fighting.

"Just a 20-year-old boy. I live it every day. I can't forget it," the Chattanooga, Tenn., resident, now 92, says of that day in Belmont sur Buttant. "If you were there in combat and they were shooting at you every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You'd never be able to forget it."

To make sure the nation doesn't forget his sacrifice either, the U.S. Postal Service is unveiling its newest stamp on Monday, Veterans Day. 

Coolidge's face and those of 11 other WWII Medal of Honor recipients will provide the backdrop for what the Postal Service is calling the most iconic stamp in history: the Medal of Honor stamp.

The stamps will depict the WWII Army and Navy Medals of Honor, but sheets will include images of 12 living (as of 2012) living WWII Medal of Honor recipients.


Take a moment to think about all the heroes.  If you can't think of one in particular, I suggest Rodger W. Young, of Tiffin, OH:

Cross-posted from Mischievous Ramblings II