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Have you the mettle to sell that medal?: Mothermeatloaf's I Didn't Know That! Write OffAug 17 '04 (Updated Jan 16 '06) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line In an age of "honorary Doctorates" and the like, it's nice to know that, when everything else seems to have its price, some things can't be bought.
I've now written over 50 reviews. I know, I know. Writers like fuche_bu, Bryan_Carey, bonniesayers, jo.com, Bruguru, and SMITHSWOODSIDE knock 50 out on a rainy weekend, but, for me, it's been a long, enjoyable ride. I've covered a wide range of topics. I've reviewed baby monitors to books, exercise equipment to cars, stereo speakers to Catholicism, but I've never once hosted a write-off. {Cheesy fanfare music here} Introducing Mothermeatloaf's I didn't know that! Write Off. The premise of this write off is simple. Expose and elaborate upon something or someone obscure. It may be a fact, event, or biography to which only the Illuminati are privileged, or it might just be obscure to you. Teach us something. Learn something. It's all about a thirst for knowledge and a willingness to share it. I guess I just can't shake the teacher in me! Post your entry under any heading of the non-fiction category on the Writer's Corner page, include Mothermeatloaf's "I didn't know that! W/O"" in the title of your post, and email me the URL so that I can include a link to your submission at the end of this piece. Hope to see your entry! And with no further ado... What's that hanging around your neck? Originally designed by the Navy in 1861, the Congressional Medal of Honor is the most coveted of all honors. In all, just over 3400 soldiers have been imbued with this honor in the long history of American warfare, but not all of them have lived long enough to relish it. So penurious, so cheeseparing is the military with this most esteemed commendation, that it is very often given out posthumously, when honor, courage, and valor are no longer questions. The medal itself, able to be viewed in various stages of its development at http://www.thegavel.net/above.html, has undergone several transformations in attempting to distinguish itself from the Navy Cross. According to an excellent site dedicated to further educating the public on this tremendous military honor, available at: http://www.cmohs.org, I've learned that: � The first award of the Medal of Honor was made March 25, 1863, to Private Jacob Parrott, and five others. Since then there have been: � 3,459 Medals of Honor awarded for 3,454 separate acts of heroism performed by 3,440 individuals (including 9 Unknown soldiers) � There are currently 130 living Recipients of the Medal of Honor. � 52% of the living Recipients earned their Medals more than 50 years ago while serving in WWII (49) or Korea (18). � Of the 49 Recipients from WWII, more than 33 are over the age of 80. � The oldest Recipient is John W. Finn, age 94. � Of the 63 Recipients from Vietnam, less than 40 are under the age of 60. � The youngest Recipient is Gordon R. Roberts, age 53. "The last awards of the Medal of Honor, in a conflict following Vietnam, were awarded posthumously to Army Sergeants Gordon and Shughart for action in Somalia in 1993. There were no awards of the Medal of Honor during Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, or Desert Storm. Since 1993, 41 other Medals of Honor have been awarded to correct past errors, follow up on lost recommendations or were the result of new evidence. Of those 39 Recipients, 13 were living at the time the Medal of Honor was presented." (SOURCE: http://www.cmohs.org) In reviewing lists of names of recipients, I noticed one glaring omission: women. That was, of course, until I stumbled across Mary Walker, the only woman to have ever been awarded the much sought after medal. Dr. Mary Walker, born in 1832 in Oswego, NY, was the first female U. S. Army surgeon, a supervisor of a hospital for women prisoners, and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service. She worked as an unpaid volunteer until such time that she found her way onto the front lines, servicing the injured Union soldiers at Bull Run. She received the honor in 1865. The Congressional Medal was taken away from Dr. Walker in 1917 because Congress revised the standards to award the medal only to military service that included only "actual combat with an enemy." Moreover, the decision to take away the medal was also due to the discrimination against females during this time. Big surprise, right? But, on June 10, 1977, President Carter reissued the Medal posthumously to Dr. Walker. What ires me most is that, while Dr. Walker died in a cloud of insult and discrimination, others, some never even in a war - OR EVEN IN THE MILITARY - have found ways to obtain, and subsequently desecrate, the illustrious CMH. In 1995, the FBI received covert intelligence that certain groups of people were not only selling CMH's, but were also manufacturing them! A patent had been taken out in 1918 in preparation against this particular onfall. Perhaps it was the ultimately tamed controversy around the awarding of Dr. Walker's medal - for a second time - that led to the heightened awareness nearly 20 years later that led to the indictment of a corporation in 1996 for creating and distributing some 300 replicas of a medal most earn by spilling their lives out in far off lands. Not only is it now highly illegal to sell either original or replica Congressional Medals of Honor, but if you are astute enough, you just might notice that, in movies depicting the conferring of the medal, what you see is not quite accurate in terms of the design of the piece. As an extension of the patent law, not only is it illegal to sell real or replica CMHs, but it is also illegal to manufacture them outside of the military. If you are ever in the vicinity of Patriots Point, Charleston Harbor, be sure to stop in to the CMH museum, located on the hangar deck of the monstrous USS Yorktown moored in the tepid waters off of the coast of South Carolina. Thanks for stopping by, soldier! ~ Mother PS: Join the John Basilone stamp campaign. John Basilone is one of the few soldiers to have ever won the CMH and the Navy Cross for valor. Gunnery Sergeant Basilone, machine gun platoon, "Charlie" Company, 27th regiment, 5th Marine division, was killed in the sands of Iwo Jima while drawing mortar fire away from his troops while attempting to reposition machine guns, at the age of 29. There is currently a groundswell effort to have the image of Gunnery Segeant John Basilone immortalized on a commemorative U. S. postage stamp. Visit http://www.italianamericanonevoice.org/iabasilone.html *********** BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE OTHER ENTRIES IN THIS EXERCISE! OTHER WRITE-OFF PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE: hollynz on the SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY jsaunt on DYSPHONIA jlava73 on APITHERAPY thorbjore on SMALL THINGS platonism on PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS artemisadorned on NEGLIGIBLE SENESCENCE granniemose on MISPRONUNCIATION ainsleyjo on PEANUT BURGERS slarter on LIGHTNING RODS darylcarpenter on DEBUNKING THE MOON LANDING HOAX THEORY three_ster on JEROME HARRISON of the WASHINGTON STATE COUGARS  |
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