MEDAL OF HONOR

Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7006-2665-6
Verlag: UNIV PR OF KANSAS

Buch, Englisch, 328 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

The Medal of Honor may be America’s highest military decoration, but all Medals of Honor are not created equal. The medal has in fact consisted of several distinct decorations at various times and has involved a number of competing statutes and policies that rewarded different types of heroism. In this book, the first comprehensive look at the medal’s historical, legal, and policy underpinnings, Dwight S. Mears charts the complex evolution of these developments and differences over time.

The Medal of Honor has had different qualification thresholds at different times, and indeed three separate versions—one for the army and two for the navy—existed contemporaneously between World Wars I and II. Mears traces these versions back to the medal’s inception during the Civil War and continues through the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—along the way describing representative medal actions for all major conflicts and services as well as legislative and policy changes contemporary to each period. He gives particular attention to retroactive army awards for the Civil War; World War I legislation that modernized and expanded the army’s statutory award authorization; the navy’s grappling with both a combat and noncombat Medal of Honor through much of the twentieth century; the Vietnam-era act that ended noncombat awards and largely standardized the Medal of Honor among all services; and the perceived decline of Medals of Honor awarded in the ongoing Global War on Terror.

Mears also explores the tradition of awards via legislative bills of relief; extralegislative awards; administrative routes to awards through Boards of Correction of Military Records; restoration of awards previously revoked by the army in 1917; judicial review of military actions in federal court; and legislative actions intended to atone for historical discrimination against ethnic minorities. Unprecedented in scope and depth, his work is sure to be the definitive resource on America’s highest military honor.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Preface
- Introduction
- Part One: Legal and Policy History
- 1. From the Revolution through the Civil War: Background and Inception
- 2. Filling the Army's Policy Vacuum: 1876-1897
- 3. The Spanish-American War, Veracruz, and Navy Officers: 1898-1915
- 4. The Purge of 1917: The army Rewrites Its Award History
- 5. World War I: The Birth of the Pyramid of Honor
- 6. The Interwar Period: A Bifurcated Medal of Honor and New Decorations
- 7. World War II: Growing Pains and the End of Noncombat Awards
- 8. The Korean and Vietnam Wars: New Combat Thresholds
- 9. Post-Vietnam: Modern Concern over the Decline in Award Frequency
- Part Two: Exceptions to the Rule: Legislative Administrative, and Judicial Relief
- 10. Early bills of Relief and Extralegislative Awards
- 11. Modern Bills of Relief: 10 U.S.C. §1130
- 12. Administrative Remedies Boards for Correction
- 13. Administrative Restorations: Mary Walker and William Cody
- 14. Judicial Remedies: The Administrative Procedure Act
- 15. Correction of Discrimination or Impropriety
- Conclusions
- Appendix: Summary of Medal of Honor Legislation (Excluding Bills of Relief)
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Dwight S. Mears holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, taught history at the US Military Academy from 2010—2014, and retired from the US Army as a major in 2014. He recently received his law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School.