Talk:List of Medal of Honor recipients

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If this list is about recipients of the US Congresional Medal of Honor, why is there a list of foreign Unknowns at the bottom of the page? Have these countries' Unknown soldiers been granted Medals of Honor by the United States Congress? It looks to me like someone stumbled upon this unknown section by accident and placed the non-US unknowns there. I mean no disrespect to these soldiers, but I don't think they belong on this list. --Jpbrenna 02:44, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I checked, and General Pershing presented a medal to the Unknown Warrior in Britain on behalf of Congress. I suspect this must have been done for the other allied nations that established Unknown Soldier monuments in the 1920's as well. My mistake!--Jpbrenna 03:12, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)

As of a couple months ago, when I re-organized the list into its current form, every one of the entries was checked against the list on the Army's Medal of Honor website. --Carnildo 06:33, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)


I would like to thank those of you who have created this page to honor these brave men and women who served in the name of our country.

Could someone check the links at the bottom of this article? The link for "Unknown Soldier of France" went to the Arc de Triomphe, which doesn't seem right.

Also, the President's speech at the presentation of Paul R. Smith's award included the following statement: "I want to thank the Medal of Honor recipients who have joined us today: John Baker, Barney Barnum, Bernie Fisher, Al Rascon and Brian Thacker. Honored you all are here. "

Some of these guys seem to be omitted from the list. I will look at it when I get time, if no-one else does. Manning 05:11, July 12, 2005 (UTC)

Since the medal has been awarded to 3,409 people, I'd say we're missing a few ;-) The French "Unknown Soldier" goes to the Arc de Triomphe because that's where the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is. --Carnildo 06:01, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Recipient Pages

I hate to be a nitpick but over 3000 have received the Medal of Honor. Anyone can just list the names but it would be better if those listed also had individual pages. --Dysepsion 04:09, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 3,400 Medals of Honor

Here's my idea:

MoH citations are all PD. So, what I'm going to do is make sub-lists by conflict, or where appropriate combine conflicts, or even break down further, etc. in this format:

Name Rank Place of action Date of action Citation summary
James F. Adams Private Nineveh, Va. 12 November 1864 Capture of State flag of 14th Virginia Cavalry (C.S.A.)
John G. B. Adams Second Lieutenant Fredericksburg, Va. 13 December 1862 Seized the 2 colors from the hands of a corporal and a lieutenant as they fell mortally wounded, and with a color in each hand advanced across the field to a point where the regiment was reformed on those colors.
Michael Aheam Paymaster's Steward On board USS Kearsage, near Cherbourg, France 19 June 1864 Carrying out his duties courageously, PmS. Aheam exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended by his divisional officer for gallantry under enemy fire.

Although my own POV is that all 3,400 or so are notable enough to warrant their own articles, I don't think that all will make it beyond this list.

Anyway, let me know what you think, oh, and 3,400 entries will take a long time to finish, so bear with me... --Easter Monkey 09:53, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

If you dont include the citation summary... but merely link to it on the army mil site, you'll save yourself a hell of a lot of time.  ALKIVAR™ 22:53, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Meh, I'll have to get the names, ranks, battles, and dates anyway, citations is just one more field...plus the early ones are mostly short enough that the whole thing can get put in. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Plus I anticipate this being a long term project anyway, so no big deal. --Easter Monkey 04:08, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Good luck Easter Monkey. Quite a project. Let me know if you need help. --Dysepsion 04:12, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Thanks, there will be plenty of work to go around. On the citations, I was looking at the current version of this list and thought that even a summary of the citation might be to much from a purely aesthetic point of view. I don't like how it scrunches up the date in the wikitable. Maybe a "Notes" column, ah but there again, that would tend to turn out to be akin to summarizing the citation anyway. Hrm, I'll have to think about it. Any thoughts? Easter Monkey 08:19, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Like i said before if you made each Citation summary a link to the army mil page, you wouldnt have issues. for example:
Name Rank Place of action Date of action Citation summary
James F. Adams Private Nineveh, Va. 12 November 1864 Citation
John G. B. Adams Second Lieutenant Fredericksburg, Va. 13 December 1862 Citation
Michael Aheam Paymaster's Steward On board USS Kearsage, near Cherbourg, France 19 June 1864 Citation
You'll notice that both the name, place, and date all no longer wrap.  ALKIVAR™ 08:32, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
It might also be worth noting that http://www.medalofhonor.com/recipients/ has each individual citation on an individual page as opposed to one REALLY LONG list. As content is PD, it doesnt matter which site we link to. Apparently so does http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/war/1_a_main.html  ALKIVAR™ 08:38, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

also of interest on the http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/ page is a list of all PURGED MOH recipients.  ALKIVAR™ 08:52, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Aha, thanks for that, it's a learning process... That looks a whole lot better and much more appropriate for the lengthy lists. I think though for the more notable entries on the List of Medal of Honor recipients page that we would be well served to post a link and and a summary of the citation, in an effort to show why each is in fact notable. --Easter Monkey 10:06, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
I think posting the summary on this page is just needless clutter and extra text. Any citation data should go into a stub article on the specific individual.  ALKIVAR™ 11:40, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm going to change it to a "Notes" column and put whatever truly notable things about various individuals. I took a look at the medalofhonor.com site, looks like somebody got bored, the individual pages only go up to James Allen. Anyway, I think for the big lists I won't put a citation column or notes, well, we'll see, I've only just barely begun. --Easter Monkey 17:46, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, my bad, I found that out after I really started browsing... now the Home of the Heroes site on the other hand does in fact have citations for just about 99% of them. The guy who runs that site is used by the FBI to identify fake medal of honor winners.  ALKIVAR™ 21:47, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
Ok, got it, I see it, I could do without the music when you first open the page though. Oh well. --Easter Monkey 04:37, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

May I suggest a somewhat more complicated table format, to reduce wrapping, e.g.

Name Rank Place of action
Service Date of action
Citation summary
James F. Adams Private Nineveh, Va.
U.S. Army 12 November 1864
Capture of State flag of 14th Virginia Cavalry (C.S.A.) (Full citation)
John G. B. Adams Second Lieutenant Fredericksburg, Va.
U.S. Army 13 December 1862
Seized the two colors from the hands of a corporal and a lieutenant as they fell mortally wounded, and with a color in each hand advanced across the field to a point where the regiment was reformed on those colors. (Full citation)
Michael Aheam Paymaster's Steward On board USS Kearsarge, near Cherbourg, France
U.S. Navy 19 June 1864
Carrying out his duties courageously, PmS. Aheam exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended by his divisional officer for gallantry under enemy fire. (Full citation)
NAME RANK ACTIONPLACE
SERVICE ACTIONDATE
CITATION [LINK (Full citation)]

(Hmm, the separator between entries didn't come out the way I expected.)

Mr. Woods, I like it, but how about this:
Name Rank Place of action
Service Date of action
James F. Adams [1] Private Nineveh, Va.
U.S. Army 12 November 1864
John G. B. Adams [2] Second Lieutenant Fredericksburg, Va.
U.S. Army 13 December 1862
Michael Aheam [3] Paymaster's Steward On board USS Kearsarge, near Cherbourg, France
U.S. Navy 19 June 1864
NAME RANK ACTIONPLACE
SERVICE ACTIONDATE

I'll use the homeofheroes links instead. I think I'm going to have to spend more time and write something to semi-automate the process. --Easter Monkey 04:05, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

I think both of these multi-line per entry variations will make this table needlessly long. I still think my version above with one line per entry is better. Frankly any additional commentary on the person really belongs in a stub on them.  ALKIVAR™ 13:38, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
On second thought I tend to agree. I'll work here and then post to the final. I think that this will end up being the final format. --Easter Monkey 16:54, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Baldomero Lopez

1LT Baldomero Lopez, USMC needs to be added in Korea.--ProdigySportsman 04:31, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding Desmond T. Doss Sr.

MoH recipient Desmond T. Doss Sr., 87, recently died on March 23 this year. He was the only conscientious objector to receive the medal. I hope no one minds, I notated this in the "notes" section. Rarelibra 19:02, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

==Charles DeGlopper== I'm pretty new to wikipedia, at least editing entries, so shouldn't there be a link (even an inactive link) to CharlesDeGlopper, the only Glider trooper rewarded an MOH? --V. Joe 06:06, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Richard Anderson and James Anderson

I once sailed on an United States MSC vessel named "PFC James Anderson, Jr." The vessel was named after a marine who received the medal for actions very similar, almost suspiciously so, to Richard Anderson (rolling onto an enemy grenade). See http://www.msc.navy.mil/inventory/citations/anderson.htm That would tell me there are two Andersons who received the Medal of Honor for actions in Vietnam. Anyone care to update the list?Thedukeofno 11:46, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

The external links on the article page go to the complete list of citations. There were, in fact, two Marines named Anderson who recieved the Medal for rolling on a grenade. Please note that the list here is incomplete and is expanded when people like you add to it. Rmhermen 16:14, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Little Big Horn

Pym and Thompson are shown as getting their medals for actions on 28 June. According to Battle of the Little Big Horn, the fighting was 25/26 June and indians retreated on 27 June. -- Beardo 22:01, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Presuming that this list is incomplete

I came to this article expecting to find someone on it from the Vietnam war (lt col Andre Lucas), but he was not on it, so I added him last night. Crockspot 19:45, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Complete Civil War list

I wrote a page scraper that pulls data from the U.S. Army Center of Military History sites. It's not perfect, the resulting lists need a lot of post-processing. I finished post-processing the Civil War list, and there were a few issues:

  • "Elmer E. Ellsworth" was on our list but does not appear on the official Army listing, so I left him out
  • "William E. Johnston" was on our list, there was a "Willie Johnston" on the official Army list, but the date/place/notes didn't match up. I left out "William E. Johnston" and kept in "Willie Johnston".
  • "Mary E. Walker" was on our list with a single date and place listed, but the Army list gives many dates and places. I put "various" for both date and place.
  • This list is huge now, the Civil War list should probably get it's own page and maybe be broken up further

Jwillbur 07:48, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Jwillbur, Nice job. Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth has an interesting story. He was one of the first deaths in the war. He was leading a group of men into Alexandria, VA. He saw a confederate flag at an inn and cut it down. The innkeeper shot and killed him. One of his men, Frank Brownell, then killed the innkeeper. Brownell got a Medal of Honor, Ellsworth didn't. Your list is correct. Brownell's medal is now at the Smithosonian. Ydorb 17:17, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for clearing it up, Ydorb Jwillbur 19:13, 15 July 2006 (UTC)


Bah, I just moved the Civil War list to List of Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, but now I'm thinking it should be at List of Medal of Honor recipients: Civil War A-L and List of Medal of Honor recipients: Civil War M-Z instead. I don't know. Jwillbur 19:23, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Complete Indian Wars list

Indian Wars list is complete. A few issues:

  • Henry Hogan - rank for second award was on our old list but not given in citation. Left it out.
  • James Pym - discrepency between what was on our old list and the official citation for date and notes. Went with what was on the citation.
  • Peter Thompson - discrepency between our old list and citation for the date. Went with date on the citation.

Jwillbur 19:13, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

If this website is correct the Indian Wars list is not complete. A veteran by the name of Frank West fought during the Indian Wars. That web site has a list of all Medal of Honor recipients buried Arlington Cemetery. A good resource to cite from. Throw 22:56, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
Frank West is on the list, see List of Medal of Honor recipients: Indian Wars. Thanks for the tip about the Arlington site. -- Jwillbur 23:47, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
My mistake. Though he's listed as a Colonel on Arlington Cemetery's website and a First Lieutenant on Wikipedia. Throw 01:20, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
No problem. The ranks on this list are the person's rank at the time of thier Medal of Honor action, although that is not made clear on the page. That should be added somewhere, but I'm not sure the best place for it. -- Jwillbur 03:43, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
I added it to the opening paragraph. Do you think that's clear enough? Throw 04:40, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missing Wars (conflicts)?

Hey all,

I came upon this list after reading about the Marine who has been awarded the MoH. I am wondering, where's the list of MoH holders for: Grenada, Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the War on terrorism? - Thanks, Hoshie 01:03, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

There weren't any MOH's awarded during those conflicts. Rmhermen 01:13, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
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