The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1907-05-08
GIVEN FOR BRAVERY
HOW THE MEDAL OF HONOR IS
AWARDED.
Decoration In American Army CORE
sponds to Victoria Cross of Eng.
land and Famous iron Cross
or Germany.

While the American people love
their flag and boast Of their army be
ing second to none, 1t is a strange tact
that few of them know cf the medal
Of honor, the greatest decoration thai
can be bestowed upon soldier IN the
United States army. Every British
subject knows the meaning of wearing
the Victoria cross; every German
knows what It Is for a soldier N the
kaiser's army to possess the iron Cross,
and while both of these decorations
represent bravery, they 30 not nece9.
savily mean as much as does the pcs.
session of the medal of honor
Regarding the granting Of the medal
Of honor the Army Register g0ys:
In order that the m, al OF honor
may be awarded, officers and enlisted
men must perform IN action Gaois Of
most distinguished personal bravery
or selfsacrifcg above an beyond the
call of duty, SO conspicuous as clearly
to distinguish them for gal, antry and in.
trepidity ab.yc their comrades, involy.
ing risk OF lie CT the performance of
more than ordinarily hazardous scrv-
ice, aud the emission Of which would
not Justly subject the person to cen.
sure as for shCrtcoming or failure in
the performance Of his duty. The rec.
ommendatiUn for the medal will be
judged by this standard of cxtraordi.
nary merit, and incontcstable proof
of the performance Of the service will
be enacted"
At the prescnt time there are only
Ga officers and enlisted men in our
army who possess the congressional
medal. When it is taken into consid
GRAFTON that the maximum strength
of the army Is GG,3S5, it shows how
hard It is to win the medal of honor.
Less than one in every 1000 possess
1t. OF those who have been awarded
the decoration, 46 are now officers on
the active list, out % 1859 in the serv.
ice. There are now on both the active
and retired lists 100 whose deeds of
gallantry have boon recognized by the
granting of the medal The awarding
OF these covers q period of IS years,
including days Of the civil war, Indian
campaigns, the Spani jh-Amerlcan war,
the Philippine Instruction and the
Boxer trouble in China. During the
numerous engagements hundreds of
gallant deeds, which would have
brought the medal OF bravery in for
eign armies, went entirely unloticed.
unlike the foreigner, the American sol
L. eli,
ply TO try and win the media Hun.
dreds of British soldiers have lost their
lives in a vain effort TO obtain the Vic.
tor.a cross. Such no doubt was the
case when Lord Roberts son was
killed in South Africa In an effort to
save a battery.
1t is nearly always The young officer
who performs the gallant deed. Out
OF 112 officers who have won the med.
al for bravery : OF them were under
the rank Of Cap,Jia at the time OF per.
forming the act q gallantry which won
them the decoration, Nearly all.of the
others were young captains, although
now and then a name appears on the
list showing the pUssessOr was a field
or stan officer bu, in nearly every
sc he belonged to the volunteers and
held a high ranl, at young age.
The youngest officer who was eve"
awarded the decoration is now the
senior officer Of the army, Lieut.. Gen.
Arthur Macarthur. For bravery when
he was IS years of age he won the GOV.
eted medal. 1t was at the time he was
boy adjutant of the Twenty-fourth
Wisconsin infantry when his regiment
was charging mp Missionary Ridge.
The color sergeant became exhausted
and went 10 :, when Macarthur picked
up The flag, ran to the head of the regi-
mcnt anG amid storm of bullets
which swept down the hill led his regi.
ment up.