Also, medals are a sensitive subject in some ways. Most of those who received decorations are, I assume, fully entitled to them. But some comments are in order, to provide perspective.
The Medal of Honor, our highest decoration for heroism, was first awarded during the Civil War. A large share of all of the Medals of Honor that have been awarded were given during that conflict, because at that time, none of the other medals for heroism that we have today existed. One would probably be correct in assuming that many of those who received the Medal of Honor then would have been given a lesser award in our later wars for the same feat The same is true of the Distinguished Service Cross and Navy Cross, first awarded during World War I.
The Silver Star and the Bronze Star Medal were both first used generally in World War II.
Also some word needs to be said about those many thousands of "unsung" heroes who came home (or, sadly, did not) with no medals for heroism, but who undoubtedly performed in a manner to deserve them. We can only imagine how many thousands of medals were never awarded because those who witnessed the feat and would have written the recommendation for award were themselves killed before they could write any such recommendation.
Then there were the all too many cases (we will never have any idea of how many) in which awards were denied because of some kind of jealousy, laziness, or prejudice, racial or otherwise, on the part of immediate commanders or higher commands.
Some of the persons listed in this database were not considered to be honorable. A few of those listed were known to have deserted, but who knows their whole story. Even Benedict Arnold was a heroic and victorious general for the American cause before he was a traitor. His contribution to our cause might be considered greater than the damage he did by deserting it.
This database, then, is about all of those who served and sacrificed in our wars, the privates and seaman as well as the generals and admirals, those who were recognized for their heroism or other outstanding service and those who were not, and those who served, mainly just with a sense of what had to be done.
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