Those Medals Aren't Equal

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | Aug. 24, 2024

Donald Trump has never demonstrated much respect for the military, but his latest denigration is outlandish even by his standards.

Trump, during a rambling campaign event at his golf club in New Jersey, said he thought the Presidential Medal of Freedom was equal to the Congressional Medal of Honor. He started by saying the two honors are “rated equal,” which is demonstrably untrue, but then he got downright bizarre.

“It’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead.” (Trump has tried to walk back those comments, but they were recorded for all to hear.)

It’s true enough the Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award and the Medal of Honor the highest military honor, but that’s where any and all similarity ends.

Created in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is presented to “...individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal public or private endeavors...”

Any citizen can recommend someone for the award. Some presidents have created committees to vet such recommendations, but, in the end, the president and only the president makes the decision, which is final. There have been 652 honorees since the award began, and it is not uncommon for there to be some controversy as political allies are occasional recipients.

The Congressional Medal of Honor is considerably more complicated. It requires “...conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty...”

The recipient must be nominated for actions that occurred in combat against an enemy force. There must be written statements from at least two eyewitnesses; reports must be made within three years of the action taken; the report must note the location of the action including maps, the time of day and time of year, the nature of the action taken, the number of friendly and enemy troops involved; and any and all other pertinent information.

That report must then be delivered to and approved by every level up the chain of command, including all branches at the Pentagon and the president as Commander in Chief representing Congress.

The award may be denied at any of the many steps along the way, and there are several other ways we recognize valor that don’t quite meet the criteria of the Medal of Honor. (Additionally, there were several decades during which soldiers of color were systematically denied the highest military awards.)

Created during the Civil War (1861 for the Navy, 1862 for the Army), the Medal of Honor has been awarded 3,538 times, including 1,523 for action during the Civil War alone. There have been 30 Medals of Honor awarded since the Vietnam War, 13 of which were posthumous recognitions.

In the history of the award, 19 service members have received two Medals of Honor, but only two of those did so for two distinctly different actions. Only one Coast Guard member has ever received a Medal of Honor, and there has been only one woman recipient, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who was awarded for her work as a doctor during the Civil War.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a special honor that should be reserved for deserving individuals making the most significant contributions to society. Too often of late it’s been used as a reward for high-dollar campaign contributors or high-value publicity targets. It is cheapened more than a little by the fact the president can name whomever he or she pleases without regard to any criteria at all. That’s how we end up with recipients like Rush Limbaugh, Arthur Laffer, and Elvis Presley.

The Congressional Medal of Honor, on the other hand, must be vetted and approved by a gauntlet of as many as a dozen or so skeptical individuals. Those so awarded sacrificed blood, limbs, and lives to protect ours.

Unfortunately, this is just another chapter in a long list of Donald Trump insults of the military and those in it. He denigrated John McCain’s service because, he said, he likes people “who don’t get captured.” He insulted a Gold Star family whose son gave his life for this country.

According to one of Trump’s many chiefs of staff, retired general John Kelly, Trump refused to go to an American cemetery in France, referring to those buried there as “suckers and losers.” (Trump denied the comment, but it was verified by others who overheard it and reported in multiple media outlets.) Kelly also wrote Trump didn’t want any wounded vets in a military parade because “nobody wants to see that.”

Donald Trump doesn’t understand, value, or respect the sacrifices required to serve in the military, and that should disqualify him from being commander-in-chief.