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Senator Henry Wilson , the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs , introduced a resolution on February 15 , 1862 for an Army Medal of Honor . The resolution ( 37th Congress , Second Session , 12 Stat . 623 ) was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12 , 1862 ( " Medals of Honor " were establ...
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1863 : Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration . On March 3 , Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army ( 37th Congress , Third Session , 12 Stat . 751 ) . The Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25 , 1863 in his office .
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1890 : On April 23 , the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington , D.C.
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1896 : The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical .
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1904 : The planchet of the Army version of the Medal of Honor was redesigned by General George Lewis Gillespie . The purpose of the redesign was to help distinguish the Medal of Honor from other medals , including a medal issued by the Grand Army of the Republic .
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1915 : On March 3 , Navy , Marine Corps , and Coast Guard officers became eligible for the Medal of Honor .
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1963 : A separate Coast Guard medal was authorized in 1963 , but not yet designed or awarded .
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1965 : A separate design for a version of the medal for the U.S. Air Force was created in 1956 , authorized in 1960 , and officially adopted on April 14 , 1965 . Previously , members of the U.S. Army Air Corps , U.S. Army Air Forces , and the U.S. Air Force received the Army version of the medal .
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= = Appearance = =
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There are three versions of the Medal of Honor , one for each of the military departments of the Department of Defense : Army , Navy , and Air Force . Members of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard are eligible to receive the Navy version . Each is constructed differently and the components are made from gilding metals a...
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= = = Army Medal of Honor = = =
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The Army version is described by the Institute of Heraldry as " a gold five pointed star , each point tipped with trefoils , 1 1 ⁄ 2 inches [ 3 @.@ 8 cm ] wide , surrounded by a green laurel wreath and suspended from a gold bar inscribed VALOR , surmounted by an eagle . In the center of the star , Minerva 's head surr...
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= = = Navy , Marine , and Coast Guard Medal of Honor = = =
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The Navy version is described as " a five @-@ pointed bronze star , tipped with trefoils containing a crown of laurel and oak . In the center is Minerva , personifying the United States , standing with left hand resting on fasces and right hand holding a shield blazoned with the shield from the coat of arms of the Uni...
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= = = Air Force Medal of Honor = = =
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The Air Force version is described as " within a wreath of green laurel , a gold five @-@ pointed star , one point down , tipped with trefoils and each point containing a crown of laurel and oak on a green background . Centered on the star , an annulet of 34 stars is a representation of the head of the Statue of Liber...
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= = = Neck ribbon , service ribbon , lapel button , and " V " device = = =
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Since 1944 , the Medal of Honor has been attached to a light blue colored moiré silk Neck ribbon that is 1 3 ⁄ 16 in ( 30 mm ) in width and 21 3 ⁄ 4 in ( 550 mm ) in length . The center of the ribbon displays thirteen white stars in the form of three chevron . Both the top and middle chevrons are made up of 5 stars , ...
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On May 2 , 1896 , Congress authorized a " ribbon to be worn with the medal and [ a ] rosette or knot to be worn in lieu of the medal . " The service ribbon is light blue with five white stars in the form of an " M " . It is placed first in the top position in the order of precedence and is worn for situations other th...
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In 2011 , Department of Defense instructions were amended to read " for each succeeding act that would otherwise justify award of the Medal of Honor , the individual receiving the subsequent award is authorized to wear an additional Medal of Honor ribbon and / or a ' V ' device on the Medal of Honor suspension ribbon ...
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= = = Historical versions = = =
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The Medal of Honor has evolved in appearance over time . The upside @-@ down star design of the Navy version 's pendant adopted in early 1862 has not changed since its inception . The Army 1862 version followed and was identical to the Navy version except an eagle perched atop cannons was used instead of an anchor to ...
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After World War I , the Navy decided to separate the Medal of Honor into two versions , one for combat and one for non @-@ combat . The original upside @-@ down star was designated as the non @-@ combat version and a new pattern of the medal pendant , in cross form , was designed by the Tiffany Company in 1919 . It wa...
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In 1944 , the suspension ribbons for both the Army and Navy version were replaced with the now familiar neck ribbon . When the Air Force version was designed in 1956 , it incorporated similar elements and design from the Army version . It used a larger star with the Statue of Liberty image in place of Minerva on the m...
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= = = Flag = = =
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On October 23 , 2002 , Pub.L. 107 – 248 was enacted , modifying 36 U.S.C. § 903 , authorizing a Medal of Honor flag to be presented to recipients of the decoration .
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The flag was based on a concept by retired Army Special Forces First Sergeant Bill Kendall of Jefferson , Iowa , who designed a flag to honor Medal of Honor recipient Captain Darrell Lindsey , a B @-@ 26 pilot from Jefferson who was killed in World War II . Kendall 's design of a light blue field emblazoned with 13 wh...
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The first Medal of Honor recipient to receive the official Medal of Honor flag was Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith . The Medal of Honor with the flag was presented by President George W. Bush to his family during a ceremony at the White House on April 4 , 2005 .
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A special Medal of Honor Flag presentation ceremony was held for over 60 living Medal of Honor recipients on board the USS Constitution on September 30 , 2006 .
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= = Presenting = =
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There are two distinct protocols for awarding the Medal of Honor . The first and most common is nomination and approval through the chain of command of the service member . The second method is nomination by a member of the U.S. Congress , generally at the request of a constituent . In both cases , if the proposal is ...
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= = = Evolution of criteria = = =
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1800s : Several months after President Abraham Lincoln signed Public Resolution 82 into law on December 21 , 1861 for a Navy medal of honor , a similar resolution was passed in July 1862 for an Army version of the medal . Six Union Army soldiers who hijacked a Confederate locomotive named The General in 1862 , were th...
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1900s : Early in the twentieth century , the Navy awarded many Medals of Honor for peacetime bravery . For instance , in 1901 , John Henry Helms aboard the USS Chicago ( CA @-@ 14 ) was awarded the medal for saving the ship 's cook from drowning . Seven sailors aboard the USS Iowa ( BB @-@ 4 ) were awarded the medal a...
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World War II : Starting in 1942 , the Medal would only be awarded for action in combat , although the Navy version of the Medal of Honor technically allowed non @-@ combat awards until 1963 . Official accounts vary , but generally , the Medal of Honor for combat was known as the " Tiffany Cross " , after the company t...
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Public Law 88 @-@ 77 , July 25 , 1963 : The requirements for the Medal of Honor were standardized among all the services , requiring that a recipient had " distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty . " Thus , the act removed the loophole ...
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While engaged in action against an enemy of the United States
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While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force .
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While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party .
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Congress drew the three permutations of combat from President Kennedy 's executive order of April 25 , 1962 , which previously added the same criteria to the Purple Heart . On August 24 , Kennedy added similar criteria for the Bronze Star Medal . The amendment was necessary because Cold War armed conflicts did not qua...
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= = Authority and privileges = =
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The four specific authorizing statutes amended July 25 , 1963 :
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Army : 10 U.S.C. § 3741
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Navy and Marine Corps : 10 U.S.C. § 6241
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Air Force : 10 U.S.C. § 8741
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Coast Guard : 14 U.S.C. § 491 A version is authorized but it has never been awarded .
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The President may award , and present in the name of Congress , a medal of honor of appropriate design , with ribbons and appurtenances , to a person who while a member of the Army ( naval service ; Navy and Marine Corps ) ( Air Force ) ( Coast Guard ) , distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity...
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= = = Privileges and courtesies = = =
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The Medal of Honor confers special privileges on its recipients . By law , recipients have several benefits :
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Each Medal of Honor recipient may have his or her name entered on the Medal of Honor Roll ( 38 U.S.C. § 1560 ) .
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Each person whose name is placed on the Medal of Honor Roll is certified to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as being entitled to receive a monthly pension above and beyond any military pensions or other benefits for which they may be eligible . The pension is subject to cost @-@ of @-@ living increase...
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Enlisted recipients of the Medal of Honor are entitled to a supplemental uniform allowance .
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Recipients receive special entitlements to air transportation under the provisions of DOD Regulation 4515 @.@ 13 @-@ R. This benefit allows the recipient to travel as he or she deems fit across geographical locations , and allows the recipient 's dependents to travel either Overseas @-@ Overseas , Overseas @-@ Contine...
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Special identification cards and commissary and exchange privileges are provided for Medal of Honor recipients and their eligible dependents .
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Recipients are granted eligibility for interment at Arlington National Cemetery , if not otherwise eligible .
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Fully qualified children of recipients are eligible for admission to the United States military academies without regard to the nomination and quota requirements .
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Recipients receive a 10 percent increase in retired pay .
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Those awarded the medal after October 23 , 2002 , receive a Medal of Honor Flag . The law specified that all 103 living prior recipients as of that date would receive a flag .
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Recipients receive an invitation to all future presidential inaugurations and inaugural balls .
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As with all medals , retired personnel may wear the Medal of Honor on " appropriate " civilian clothing . Regulations specify that recipients of the Medal of Honor are allowed to wear the uniform " at their pleasure " with standard restrictions on political , commercial , or extremist purposes ( other former members o...
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Most states ( 40 ) offer a special license plate for certain types of vehicles to recipients at little or no cost to the recipient . The states that do not offer Medal of Honor specific license plate offer special license plates for veterans for which recipients may be eligible .
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= = = Saluting = = =
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Although not required by law or military regulation , members of the uniformed services are encouraged to render salutes to recipients of the Medal of Honor as a matter of respect and courtesy regardless of rank or status , whether or not they are in uniform . This is one of the few instances where a living member of ...
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= = Legal protection = =
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1904 : The Army redesigned its Medal of Honor . To prevent the making of copies of the medal , Brigadier General George Gillespie , Jr . , a Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War , applied for and obtained a patent for the new design . General Gillespie received the patent on November 22 , 1904 , and he transfer...
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1923 : Congress enacted a statute ( the year before the 20 @-@ year term of the patent would expire ) — which would later be codified at 18 U.S.C. § 704 — prohibiting the unauthorized wearing , manufacturing , or sale of military medals or decorations . In 1994 , Congress amended the statute to permit an enhanced pena...
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2005 : Congress enacted the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 . ( Section 1 of the Act provided that the law could be cited as the " Stolen Valor Act of 2005 " , but the bill received final passage and was signed into law in 2006 . ) The law amended 18 U.S.C. § 704 to make it a federal criminal offense for a person to delibera...
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June 28 , 2012 : In the case of United States v. Alvarez , the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 's criminalization of the making of false claims of having been awarded a military medal , decoration , or badge was an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment 's guarantee...
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The Supreme Court 's decision did not specifically address the constitutionality of the older portion of the statute which prohibits the unauthorized wearing , manufacturing , or sale of military medals or decorations . Under the law , the unauthorized wearing , manufacturing , or sale of the Medal of Honor is punisha...
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June 3 , 2013 : President Barack Obama signs into law a revised version of the Stolen Valor Act , making it a federal offense for someone to pass themselves off as awardees of medals for valor in order to receive benefits or other privileges ( such as grants , educational benefits , housing , etc . ) that are set asid...
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A number of veteran support organizations and private companies devote themselves to exposing those who falsely claim to have received the Medal of Honor .
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= = = Enforcement = = =
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1996 : HLI Lordship Industries Inc . , a former Medal of Honor contractor , was fined for selling 300 medals for US $ 75 each .
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1996 : Fort Lauderdale , Florida , resident Jackie Stern was convicted of wearing a Medal of Honor to which he was not entitled . A federal judge sentenced him to serve one year of probation and to write a letter of apology to each of the then @-@ living 171 recipients of the medal . His letter was published in the lo...
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2003 : Edward Fedora and Gisela Fedora were charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 704 ( b ) , Unlawful Sale of a Medal of Honor , for selling medals awarded to U.S. Navy Sailor Robert Blume ( for action in the Spanish – American War ) and to U.S. Army First Sergeant George Washington Roosevelt ( for action in the Civil W...
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= = Duplicate medals = =
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Medal of Honor recipients may apply in writing to the headquarters of the service branch of the medal awarded for a replacement or display Medal of Honor , ribbon , and appurtenance ( Medal of Honor flag ) without charge . Primary next of kin may also do the same and have any questions answered in regard to the Medal ...
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= = Recipients = =
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The Medal of Honor has been awarded to 3 @,@ 496 different persons . Of the 19 men have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice , 14 received two separate medals for two separate actions , while five received both the Navy and Army Medals of Honor for the same action . As of June 2011 , since the beginning of World War ...
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The first Medals of Honor ( Army ) were awarded by and presented to six " Andrews Raiders " on March 25 , 1863 , by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton , in his office in the War Department . Private Jacob Parrott , a Union Army volunteer from Ohio , became the first recipient of the medal , awarded for his volunteering fo...
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The first Medal of Honor ( Navy ) was awarded by Secretary of War Stanton to 41 sailors on April 4 , 1863 ( 17 for action during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip ) .
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The first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor ( Navy ) was John F. Mackie on July 10 , 1863 , for his rifle action aboard the USS Galena on May 15 , 1862 .
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The only Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor ( Navy , posthumous ) was Signalman First Class Douglas Munro on May 27 , 1943 , for evacuating 500 Marines under fire on September 27 , 1942 during the Battle of Guadalcanal . Munro was a Canadian @-@ born , naturalized U.S. citizen .
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The only woman awarded the Medal of Honor ( Army ) is Mary Edwards Walker , who was a civilian Union Army surgeon during the American Civil War . She received the award in 1865 for the First Battle of Bull Run ( July 21 , 1861 ) and a series of battles to the Battle of Atlanta in Sept . 1864 ... " for usual medal of h...
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The 1917 Medal of Honor Board deleted 911 awards , but only 910 names from the Army Medal of Honor Roll , including awards to Dr. Mary Edwards Walker , William F. " Buffalo Bill " Cody and the first of two awards issued February 10 , 1887 , to George W. Midil , who retained his award issued October 25 , 1893 . None of...
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61 Canadians who served in the United States Armed Forces , mostly during the American Civil War . Since 1900 , four Canadians have received the medal . The only Canadian @-@ born , naturalized U.S. citizen to receive the medal for heroism during the Vietnam War was Peter C. Lemon .
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While the governing statute for the Army Medal of Honor ( 10 U.S.C. § 6241 ) , beginning in 1918 , explicitly stated that a recipient must be " an officer or enlisted man of the Army " , " distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty " , and p...
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Charles Lindbergh , 1927 , civilian pilot , and U.S. Army Air Corps reserve officer . Lindbergh 's medal was authorized by a special act of Congress that directly contradicted the July 1918 act of Congress that required that all Army recipients be " in action involving actual conflict with an enemy " . The award was b...
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Major General ( Retired ) Adolphus Greely was awarded the medal in 1935 , on his 91st birthday , " for his life of splendid public service " . The result of a special act of Congress similar to Lindbergh 's , Greely 's medal citation did not reference any acts of valor .
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Foreign unknown recipients include the British Unknown Warrior , the French Unknown Soldier , the Romanian Unknown Soldier , the Italian Unknown Soldier , and the Belgian Unknown Soldier .
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U.S. unknown recipients include the Unknowns of World War I , World War II , Korea , and Vietnam . The Vietnam Unknown was later identified as Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie through the use of DNA identification . Blassie 's family asked for his Medal of Honor , but the Department of Defense denied the request i...
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= = = Double recipients = = =
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Nineteen men have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice . The first two @-@ time Medal of Honor recipient was Thomas Custer ( brother of George Armstrong Custer ) for two separate actions that took place several days apart during the American Civil War .
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Five " double recipients " were awarded both the Army and Navy Medal of Honor for the same action ; all five of these occurrences took place during World War I. Since February 1919 , no single individual can be awarded more than one Medal of Honor for the same action , although a member of one branch of the armed forc...
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To date , the maximum number of Medals of Honor earned by any service member has been two . The last individual to be awarded two Medals of Honor was John J. Kelly in 1918 ; the last individual to receive two Medals of Honor for two different actions was Smedley Butler , in 1914 and 1915 .
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§ Rank refers to rank held at time of Medal of Honor action .
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= = = Related recipients = = =
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Arthur MacArthur , Jr. and Douglas MacArthur are the first father and son to be awarded the Medal of Honor . The only other such pairing is Theodore Roosevelt ( awarded in 2001 ) and Theodore Roosevelt , Jr .
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Five pairs of brothers have received the Medal of Honor :
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John and William Black , in the American Civil War . The Blacks are the first brothers to be so honored .
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