page_title: Freddie Stowers
section_title: Medal of Honor
hierarchical_section_title: Freddie Stowers / Medal of Honor
caption_attribution_description: English: After the posthumous presentation of the Medal of Honor made today at the White House to the sisters of Corporal (CPL) Freddie Stowers, a native of Anderson County, South Carolina, for action during World War I by President George H. W. Bush, Mrs. Barbara Bush and Mary Bowens admire the Medal of Honor certificate. Ms Bowens is CPL Stowers' sister. His other sister Georgina Palmer (far left) looks on. CPL Stowers is the only Black American to receive the Medal for action during World War I.
context_page_description: Freddie Stowers was an African-American corporal in the United States Army who was killed in action during World War I while serving in an American unit under French command. Over 70 years later, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart for his actions.
context_section_description: Shortly after his death, Stowers was recommended for the Medal of Honor; however, this recommendation was never processed.  Three other black soldiers were recommended for Medals of Honor, but were instead awarded the next highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross.  This decision may have partly been motivated by racism; however, the criteria for the Medal of Honor were becoming stricter during this time period, partly due to a perception that it was being awarded too frequently, especially to members of the Army, while members of the naval services could receive one of two different medals, both called the Medal of Honor. Marine officer Smedley Butler, for instance, might have received three or four, instead of two, total Medals of Honor, or he might have received only one, if the actions for which they were awarded had occurred only a few years earlier or later than they did.  Many possibly deserving whites and persons of color were denied medals, while some possibly less deserving people received them.  In Stowers' case, the official position is that his recommendation was "misplaced," which is plausible given that the other three MOH recommendations for black soldiers were at least processed, even if the decision to award the DSC remains controversial and possibly racism-related.
  In 1990, at the instigation of Congress, the Department of the Army conducted a review and the Stowers recommendation was uncovered. Subsequently, a team was dispatched to France to investigate the circumstances of Stowers' death.  Based on information collected by this team, the Army Decorations Board approved the award of the Medal of Honor. On April 24, 1991—seventy-three years after he was killed in action, Stowers' surviving sisters, Georgina and Mary, received the medal from President George H.W. Bush at the White House.
caption: Stowers' sisters, Georgina Palmer and Mary Bowens, with Barbara Bush and President George H.W. Bush at the Medal of Honor presentation ceremony
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "290", "Image YResolution": "290", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2002:05:08 10:23:23", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6165", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2900", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1960"}