What Branch Of Service Has The Most Medal Of Honor Winners

The Medal of Award (MoH) is the highest military medal a service member can earn. Created in the wake of the Ceremonious State of war, the Medal of Honor is awarded to those who risk their lives above and beyond the call of duty in "actual combat" against an armed enemy of the U.s..

Military tradition dictates all uniformed service members salute to Medal-of-Honor awardees regardless of rank. Fifty-fifty the most-senior military officer will participate in this tradition out of respect for the sacrifices the awardees fabricated.

Medal of Honor recipients receive these benefits for life:

Added to the Medal of Honour Roll.
Retired pay increased by ten%.
A special Medal of Award pension of $i,489.37 (constructive engagement: December. 1, 2021) per month above and beyond any other benefits including pensions.
A special supplemental clothing allowance of $891.
Gratuitous lifelong travel on Department of Defense military aircraft as a priority "Space-A" traveler. This benefit is subject to whether seats are available., hence the "Infinite-A" designation.
Priority level No. 1 (of 8) consideration regarding claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Exemption from medical care co-payments.
Access to MWR retail and lodging facilities.
Children of awardees become automatic appointment to whatever military service academy they are qualified to enter, without nomination or quota regulations. Ordinarily, a nomination is required to enter a military university such equally West Point, and there is a rigorous screening process.
Recipients get preferential accommodations at on-base billeting facilities, are provided with special military ID cards, plus admission to on-base of operations commissary and BX/PX privileges.
Some base facilities offer special parking spaces, plus access to on-base recreation facilities. This on-base access is normally limited to currently serving military members, retirees and dependents with valid military machine ID.
Invites to presidential inauguration events and special recognition ceremonies at the state and local level.
A variety of non-armed services benefits, including special license plates, licenses and ID cards with application requirements and availability varying by state.
Some private companies offer special gifts, incentive programs or access for Medal-of-Accolade awardees and others receiving high-military honors such as The Regal Heart. Individual programs and requirements may vary.
Surviving spouses and dependent children of Medal of Accolade awardees may, depending on the state, be eligible for country education benefits.
Special-military burial honors including headstones with gilt lettering and a nine-member squad of half-dozen pallbearers, a chaplain, an officer-in-accuse or non-commissioned-officer-in-accuse and a bugler.
Uniform privileges, which allow recipients to wear their uniforms at whatever time or place they choose, dissimilar other military personnel or retirees.
Interment at Arlington National Cemetery, if not already eligible.

Medal of Honor Origins

The first Medal of Honor recipient was Army Prt. Jacob Parrott, recognized in 1863 (just a month after his render from being a Confederate prisoner) for his function in a raid on Confederate railroad facilities and bridges far across enemy lines in Georgia.

Medal of Honor Requirements

On July 25, 1963, Congress established guidelines nether which the Medal of Honor could be awarded:

While engaged in an action confronting an enemy of the United states.
While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.
While serving with friendly forces engaged in armed disharmonize against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

Medal of Honor Facts

Information technology is not required to be a U.South. denizen, but one must exist in the U.S. war machine to qualify for the Medal of Accolade.
Information technology is illegal to buy, sell, castling or manufacture whatever decorations or medals authorized by Congress for the United States armed forces. Championship 18 U.Due south. Lawmaking § 704 (Public Law 113-296).
There are iii singled-out versions, i for the Army, one for the Air Forceand i for the Navy, Marine Corps. and Declension Baby-sit.
Those who take received it prefer to be called "recipients" not "winners."
The award is not the "Congressional Medal of Honor." It is simply "Medal of Award."
The Congressional Medal of Honour Society represents Medal of Award recipients, maintains their records and organizes reunion events, among other responsibilities.

Medal of Honour Recipients

More than 3,500 Medals of Honor have been awarded. There are fewer than fourscore living recipients..

The Army has received the most Medals of Honor, with more 2,400 going to soldiers.
Nineteen service members accept been awarded the Medal of Honor twice as of 2020, xiv of them for two separate events.
There has just been one female Medal of Accolade recipient: Dr. Mary Walker, who volunteered to assistance the Union Army during the Civil War because she wasn't immune to join equally a surgeon. She received the Medal of Honor in 1865, only it was rescinded in 1917 because she was a civilian. The honor was restored in 1977.
There are 8 civilians who have received the Medal of Honor. The noncombatant recipients were all from the Civil State of war era.
William Carney was the beginning African-American recipient. He received the award for his deportment on July 18,1863 at Fort Wagner, South Carolina.
The Coast Guard's sole Medal of Honor belongs to Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro, who led a rescue of an entire battalion of Marines who were attacked past an overwhelming Japanese strength during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Teddy Roosevelt is the but president who has ever received the Medal of Honor. He served in the 1898 Castilian-American State of war as the lieutenant colonel of the famously known "Crude Riders," who helped plough the tide of the war against Cuba to America'due south favor. He awarded the status of beingness a Medal of Honor recipient, though, until Jan. 16, 2001.
Roosevelt's son Theodore Roosevelt Jr. also received the Medal of Honor who served in Globe War I and WWII and at 56 was the oldest human being and only general to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Mean solar day with the outset wave of American troops.
Arthur MacArthur (Civil War) and Gen. Douglas MacArthur (WWII) were the only other begetter and son in history to each receive a Medal of Honor. until Teddy Roosevelt received the honor in 2001.
MacArthur was also the oldest recipient. He was 62 when he earned the Medal.
The accolade has been presented to v sets of brothers.
The youngest Medal-of-Accolade recipient was earned by an 11-year-former during the Civil War. He received it at age 13.
The conflict with the almost Medal-of-Accolade recipients is the Civil War with 1,522 recipients. The number of recipients can increase due to posthumous awards.
864 soldiers of the 27th Maine Infantry Regiment were awarded the medal for their service during the Ceremonious War but to have them recalled when the Army changed eligibility criteria.

Recent Medal-of-Honor Recipients

Thomas P. Payne, U.S. Army
Mathew O. Williams, U.S. Regular army
David Bellavia, U.S. Army
Travis Atkins, U.S. Army
John L. Canley, U.Due south. Marine Corps
Ronald J. Shurer Two, U.S. Army
John A. Chapman, U.S. Air Force
Garlin Murl Conner, U.Southward. Army
Britt G. Slabinksi, U.S. Navy
Gary One thousand. Rose, U.S. Regular army
James C. McCloughan, U.S. Army
Charles S. Kettles, U.Southward. Army
Edward C. Byers Jr., U.S. Navy
Florent A. Groberg, U.Southward. Army
Henry aka William Henry Johnson, U.S. Ground forces
William Shemin, U.S. Ground forces
Alonzo H. Cushing, U.Due south. Regular army
Bennie Thou. Adkins, U.S. Army
Donald P. Sloat, U.Due south. Army
Ryan Pitts, U.S. Regular army

Conflicts and Acting Periods with Medal-of-Honor Recipients

1871 Korean Campaign
Action Against Philippine Outlaws
Boxer Rebellion
Civil State of war
Dominican Campaign
Haiti 1915
Haiti Campaign 1919-1920
Indian War Campaigns
Interim 1866-1870
Acting 1871-1898
Acting 1901-1911
Interim 1915-16
Interim 1920-1940
Korean War
Mexican Campaign (Vera Cruz)
Philippine Insurrection
2d Nicaraguan Campaign
Somalia Campaign
Vietnam War
State of war In Afghanistan
War In Iraq
War With Spain
World War I
Earth War 2

Medal of Honor Docuseries

To learn more about Medal-of-Honor recipients, lookout "Medal of Accolade," bachelor on Netflix, which partnered with the Defense Department to create this docuseries. The serial highlights the lives and experiences of eight men who earned the honor since Globe State of war II and includes electric current and erstwhile service members' expertise behind the scenes and on camera.

Joe Wallace is a 13-yr veteran of the United States Air Forcefulness and a former reporter for Air Force Television News