Yes, those little guys were incredibly brave and really did incredible things.
Their commanding officer was under the impression he was supposed to use them in very dangerous situations ~ maybe not as "shock troops" but pretty close.
Another unit that got an awful lot of MOHs was the 115, that is the First Battalion of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade. Of course they got similar awards in WWI and in Korea. One evening on guard when I'd won the Guard of Honor designation I got to stand in Headquarters and I took the time to read every single one of their awards, and look at their pictures.
Heroes look like everybody else ~ but what they do for the MOH is beyond that which is required. They do what they are supposed to do and that gets you a Silver Star ~ and they go beyond that and do that which puts them in reach of death ~ and then they go way beyond that. At some point others may join them.
It's everything Homer said it was ~ and beyond that.
7 witnesses attested to events that justified the MOH in this case.
A single Leftwing propagandist wants this second guessed. Let me say this about that ~ he was imbedded. The fact he returned alive means he wasn't close enough to really know what this young man did.
Thank you, Muawiyah. Well said.
The facts don't bear that out at all. One MOH was awarded at the time and the other 20 were awarded by Clinton. These were upgraded from DSCs, not exactly a shabby award. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was the most decorated unit, for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military. The Unit received 52 DSCs and an unprecedented 8 PUCs. 20 of those DSCs were upgraded to the MOH by Clinton. The idea that the politics of the time "prohibited" JAs getting such awards in such numbers is pure nonsense. In fact, it was probably good politics to counteract the internment camps and the shadow cast on the loyalty of JAs.
I believe that 21 MOHs to a unit of 14,000 serving members is grossly disproportionate and motivated by politics. 27 MOHs were given for Iwo Jima, 30% of all the MOHs awarded to the USMC during WWII. You could probably use the same rationale to upgrade Navy Crosses awarded on Iwo Jima to MOHs as was used by Clinton to upgrade those to the 442nd.
We have plenty of people who want to push their revisionist view of history. The MOH has been politicized along with other narratives that try to use diversity and multiculturalism as their themes. It demeans the awards and distorts history. Ken Burns show on WWII devoted a large portion of time on the internment camps, the 442nd, blacks, etc. on their contribution to the war effort.
There were 125,000 African Americans who were overseas in World War II. Clinton upgraded the awards of 7 black WWII servicemen to the MOH. If you don't believe that is not motivated by politics, then we will just agree to disagree.
“....A single Leftwing propagandist wants this second guessed. Let me say this about that ~ he was imbedded. The fact he returned alive means he wasn’t close enough to really know what this young man did. ...”
The fact the he returned alive means that he was PROTECTED by the Marines.
‘Nuff said.