National Medal of Honor Day

Today is National Medal of Honor Day, as I was reminded by a post at Mike's Place this morning just before leaving for work.

I came home to find others had posted to remember the day,such as
Soldiers Angels Germany and
Assoluta Tranquillita

and then via Medal Of Honor News  discovered to my chagrin that this year the day had actually been celebrated on Friday the 23rd 

but I still wished to take a moment  to honor and remember all of those who have received this nation's highest honor.

March 25th: National Medal of Honor Day

My thanks to One Marine's View for reminding me that today is the
National Medal of Honor Day



Stars & Stripes has a Guest Column:
National Medal of Honor Day 2009 By Col. Robert Howard (U.S. Army, Retired)


Robert Howard is a Medal of Honor recipient, and you can see more about him on the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website HERE

The main page for the website is http://www.cmohs.org/


Do you know who the recent Medal of Honor recipients are for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? If you don't, you can read a bit more about each of them on the CMOHS website:

SFC Paul R. Smith


CPL Jason L. Dunham


Lt. Michael P. Murphy


Master-at-Arms Michael A. Monsoor


PFC Ross A. McGinnis


When we went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial while we were in Hawaii in January, the ticket that I was handed for the tour had the name and picture of a Medal of Honor recipient
Frank C. Flaherty
and I found the post on the CMOHS website about him HERE

While researching a bit more about Ensign Flaherty, I discovered on the Find A Grave Memorial website that "Ensign Flaherty was among the 429 members who were entombed inside the hull(of the USS Oklahoma) until the ship was raised for salvage in 1943. The remains were recovered and buried in mass graves marked "Unknowns" at the National Memorial Center of the Pacific in Honolulu. His name is inscribed in the Courts of the Missing in that cemetery" and "a memorial headstone was placed at the Maple Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Charlotte, Michigan."

When reading about Maple Hill Cemetery while looking for the memorial headstone for Ensign Flaherty? I found yet Another Medal of Honor recipient from that very same cemetery, a Civil War Marine SGT Michael Hudson

Lastly, here's two videos I found over at Great Americans (which is another website you might find worth checking out)

Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients Part 1

Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients Part 2


There have been 3,448 Medal of Honor Recipients. Please remember and honor them, not only today, but every day.

"Freedom is not free."