The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. The Medal is generally presented to recipients by the President of the United States.
The Medal of Honor recipients accept on behalf of soldiers they fought with. All of them have survivor’s guilt and no good explanation for why they weren’t killed. And all of them could just have as easily been killed if a bullet had been one inch away, because in many cases, they are running gauntlets of enemy fire and they’re out there in the open.
The Medal of Honor recipients belong to perhaps the nation’s most exclusive fraternity, one in which membership is only gained through extreme and selfless acts of valor on the battlefield. The nation has given the medal to just 3,454 service members since the Civil War. There are only 86 living recipients. Many Medal of Honor winners gave their lives in battle and were decorated posthumously.
Some 3,454 Americans have received the Medal of Honor since it was first introduced in the 1860s, but to date, only 19 have earned the military’s highest award for valor on two occasions.
Many Medal of Honor recipients considered their award just being able to come home.
Nebraska has 70 Medal of Honor recipients. There are 30.000 Veterans in Nebraska.
We work with active military and 30,000 Veterans in Nebraska and Veterans Groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), American Veterans (AMVETS), National Guard and other Veteran groups.