Evening star., 1921-07-31

lowered. As in the case OF the dis
tinguished service medal. the infantry
far exceeded all other branches Of
the service in the number Of con-
gressional medals of honor it re-
ceived. OF the seventy-nine honor
medals awarded. the dough boys
received seventy-three, including five
as infantry. OF the remainder, 2 per
cent to the Tank Corps. and l each
to the engineers. field artillery and
air service.
The 30th Division led the list of or
carnations. with twelve congressional
nine each: then came the I'd, with
seven: then the 27th and 17th, with six
each. No other division received as
many as flve.
Another action by the War Depart
ment. taken prior to the entrance of
did much to raise the congress. onai
medal of honor to its present high
place. In 1915 a board was appointed
at the direction Of Congress to exam
inc the roster Of the congressional
medal of honor and strike from the
list any awards which had not been
made in compliance with the law. L.
has been charged that the legislation
authorizing this action was designed
to strike out the name of Maj. Gen.
Leonard Wood, who had been award
ed the medal Of honor in April. 1898.
against the Apache Indian Geronimo
in the summer Of 1886.
At the time the service was rem
dered Wood was an assistant surgeon
Of the United States Army. His cita-
tion reads: Voluntarily carried dis
patches through a region infested
with hostile Indians. making a jour
ney Of seventy miles in one night and
walking thirty miles the next day.
Also for several weeks, while in close
pursuit Of Geronimo's band. and con-
sssntly stls exss, an sncoYntsr og com
to the c6shxAEd Of which he was as
signed lpnM hts own request"
Gen. N6fSon,SA. Miles. under whom
against Geronimo. and who had
recommended Wood for the congress
sional medal. was head OF the board
1t did not remove the name of Wood
from the list, the decision being that
his case was we'll within the meaning
awards had been made in violation
OF the law, and these names were
consequently stricken from the list
A majority of these awards were made
to the 27th Maine Infantry in Janu-
ary. 1865. for no other reason than
after its period of enlistment had ex-
pired. The names OF a number of SOL
diers who had been awarded the deco
ration for their services in acting as
escort to the body Of President Lin
coin when 1t was conveyed back to
springfeld ILL.,. were also stricken
from the list.
The Investigating board also re-
moved the name Of Col. William F.
Cody. Buffalo Bill" who had been
awarded a congressional medal in
1872 for 'gallantry in action" in an
ensasement with the Indians at Platte
river. Nebraska. The famous plains
mans name was not removed because
Of any doubt as to the heroism of his
service. but merely because he was a
civilian when the honor was accorded
him and hence the action could not be
considered legal.
The Army congressional medal OF
medal Of honor are different decora-
tions. governed by different acts OF
Congress. The original act Of 1851
affecting the Navy was changed the
following year to bestow tn {
medal on "seamen Distinguishing
nary heroism in the line of their
profession" thus eliminating the
award for "seamanlike qualities" but
not necessarily limiting II TO heroism In
action. The limitation of the medal
to "seAmen" was removed by amend
ments of 1901 and 1915. which extend
ed the honor to the Marine Corps and
Of 1919 adopts the language Of the
Army legislation, so that at present
the two medals are exactly on the
same footing.
THE award Of either the Army or
= Navy medal more than once to
the same person is prohibited under
the present law. Owing to the word
Ing Of the previous laws. however
there have been three Implications In
the Army and two in the Navy. The
former instances were in the cases OF
Gen. F. D. Baldwin. Col. r. w. Custer
and Sergt. Henry Hogan. 9Th United
States Infantry. all Of whom received
two congressional medals Of honor
The medal awarded to the two Off
GERS. 1t should be noticed, were given
when they were junior officers.
Two Navy medals OF honor have
ler and to Sergt. Dan Daily. both Of
the Marine Corps. A bronze oak leai
cluster is bestowed by the Army un.
der the present law for second act
warranting an award OF q medal OF
honor. The Navy has not yet selected
device to indicate second award.
Both the Army and Navy have
changed the design Of their medals
The originals. designed by A. c. Pa.
Quet, consisted Of 4 hve-pointed star
with = large medallion in the center;
on which Minerva was represented as
warding of Discord. typifyinE the
civil war. The Navy medal was sus-
pended from Q bar by an anchor at
tached between the upper rays Of the
star. while In the Army medal these
were replaced by q trophy Of arms
surmounted by an eagle:
A new design was adopted by the
Army In 1904. 1t bears the head OF
Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. and
the star IL surmounted by an eaglr
standing on bar on which 10 the word
"valor." On the reverse Of tho bar Il
the inscription "The Congress to-" and
on the reverse of the medal the name
rank and organization Of the recipient
10 engraved.
Tiffany q Co. Of New York designed
the present, Navy medal in 1919. It u
Of gold and on the reverse is Awarded
TO-" together with the data. similar te