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Commanders thought anti-Semitism kept him from Medal of Honor Did the American government refuse to honor a World War II veteran who was regarded as a war hero by the British Empire, because he was Jewish? The question apparently still lingered in David Rubitsky’s mind when he died, penniless, June 28 at a nursing home in East Moline, Ill., the local Quad-City Times reported. Rubitsky’s commanders claim he single-handedly killed 500 to 600 Japanese soldiers while guarding a military outpost in Papua New Guinea during the Battle of Buna in December 1942. According to Rubitsky’s account, he defended the bunker...

IntroductionROY WENZL & TRAVIS HEYING What soldiers say Kapaun did is so heroic that it defies believability. Some people regard the meek man as one who will not put up a fight for anything but will let others run over him .... In fact from human experience we know that to accomplish anything good a person must make an effort; and making an effort is putting up a fight against the obstacles. - Father Emil Kapaun Emil Kapaun — priest, soldier and Korean War hero — is a rare man. He has been awarded the Medal of Honor, the...

The remains of a soldier awarded the Medal of Honor after being killed in the Korean War will be returned to his relatives for burial with full military honors after they were identified 63 years after his death, officials announced Wednesday. Army Lt. Col. Don C. Faith Jr., of Washington, Ind., will be buried April 17 in Arlington National Cemetery, officials from the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office said. Faith, a veteran of World War II who continued to serve in the Army during the Korean War, was seriously injured by shrapnel on Dec. 1, 1950, and died a...

In the cold, barren hills of Korea more than 60 years ago, two teary-eyed soldiers stood in a prisoner of war camp where their chaplain lay dying. The Rev. Emil Kapaun was weak, his body wracked by pneumonia and dysentery. After six brutal months in the hellish camp, the once sturdy Kansas farmer's son could take no more. Thousands of soldiers had already died, some starving, others freezing to death. Now the end was near for the chaplain. ~snip~ On April 11, those two young lieutenants, Dowe and Wood, now 85 and 86, will join their comrades, Kapaun's family and...

Clinton Romesha WASHINGTON – Former Army Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha will receive the Medal of Honor in February for his actions as a section leader in Afghanistan in 2009, the fourth living veteran of the war in Afghanistan to receive the award. Romesha was section leader with Bravo Troop, 3-61 Cavalry, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, at combat outpost Keating in Kamdesh District, Afghanistan on Oct. 3, 2009, when his unit came under heavy fire. According to written accounts by military historian Richard S. Lowry, enemy fighters launched an assault against the post, attacking from three sides...

Two videos at link. Badass military heroism: Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer's Into the Fire is this generation's To Hell and Back. Into the Fire A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War By Dakota Meyer and Bing West Random House, $27, 239 pp. Does this sound familiar? 1. A group of Americans on a diplomatic mission to reach out to Muslims are pinned down by al-Qaeda and come under overwhelming fire. 2. They repeatedly call for support fire missions, which are denied because they cannot absolutely guarantee no civilians are in the area. 3....

On November 5, 2009, Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning was shot six times by Maj. Nidal Hasan while he was serving on-duty at Ft. Hood in Temple, Texas, in what became known as the Ft. Hood Massacre. Today, Sgt. Manning's wife is fighting for official military recognition for the victims of the attack, saying President Obama has ignored them and refused to acknowledge their sacrifice.

Questions surround Army captain’s ‘lost’ nomination for Medal of HonorWASHINGTON ---- Like other U.S. trainers with the Afghan force that day, former Army Capt. William Swenson had expected light resistance. Instead, the contingent walked into a furious six-hour gunfight with Taliban ambushers in which Swenson repeatedly charged through intense fire to retrieve wounded and dead. The 2009 battle of Ganjgal is perhaps the most remarkable of the Afghan war for its extraordinary heroism and deadly incompetence. It produced dozens of casualties, career-killing reprimands and a slew of commendations for valor. They included two Medal of Honor nominations, one for Swenson....

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today the next Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer (DDG) will be named the USS Thomas Hudner. Thomas J. Hudner Jr., a naval aviator who retired as a captain, received the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman for displaying uncommon valor during an attack on his wingman, the first African American naval aviator to fly in combat, Ensign Jesse L. Brown. During the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War, anti-aircraft fire hit Brown’s aircraft, damaging a fuel line and causing him to crash. After it became clear Brown was seriously...

US Army Chaplain Father Emil Kapaun stole, suffered and sacrificed his life for his fellow soldiers in a Korean prison camp. Six decades after his death, he is being considered for the Congressional Medal of Honor - and sainthood. On 2 November 1950, Father Kapaun made the decision that led to his death. The Korean war chaplain was in the middle of a firefight, with the American forces overrun by Chinese soldiers outside a crossroads town called Unsan in North Korea. Lighting forest fires to frustrate US reconnaissance planes, the Chinese surrounded the Americans and pressed in, attacking with small...

A Medal of Honor recipient who lost part of his right arm in a firefight in Afghanistan says society doesn’t fully understand the mental injury that today’s veterans suffer. Speaking Friday at the Warrior Resilience Conference in Washington, D.C., Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry said service members with internal injuries and psychological damage suffer the most, not necessarily those with external wounds. Troops with visible injuries receive accolades, but those with unseen wounds are ignored, Sgt. Petry said, adding that whenever someone thanks him for his sacrifice, he makes sure those near him who have served also are thanked....

With Dakota Meyer standing at attention in his dress uniform, sweat glistening on his forehead under the television lights, President Barack Obama extolled the former Marine corporal for the “extraordinary actions” that had earned him the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor. SNIP But an exhaustive assessment by a McClatchy correspondent who was embedded with the unit and survived the ambush found that the Marines’ official accounts of Meyer’s deeds....

Two months ago, Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama for his service in Afghanistan, the military’s most prestigious award. On Monday, Sgt. Meyer alleged that a defense contractor has called him mentally unstable and a problem drinker, ruining his chances for a job in the defense industry. In legal papers filed Monday, the Marine claims that BAE Systems, where he worked earlier this year, retaliated against him after he raised objections about BAE’s alleged decision to sell high-tech sniper scopes to the Pakistani military. He says his supervisor at BAE effectively blocked his hiring...

I recently attended a wonderful celebration with several generations of our military heroes. One of the few advantages of working in Washington is the occasional chance to do something special. Last Saturday night offered just such an opportunity. And, so, my wife and I attended the annual dinner of the American Veterans Center (AVC). The banquet room was filled with veterans who had participated in some of the greatest achievements of the American armed forces. That evening, we were in the middle of history. AVC’s mission is to preserve and promote the legacy of America’s servicemen and women from every...

William “Bill” Crawford certainly was an unimpressive figure, one you could easily overlook during a hectic day at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Mr. Crawford, as most of us referred to him back in the late 1970s, was our squadron janitor. While we cadets busied ourselves preparing for academic exams, athletic events, Saturday morning parades and room inspections, or never-ending leadership classes, Bill quietly moved about the squadron mopping and buffing floors, emptying trash cans, cleaning toilets, or just tidying up the mess 100 college-age kids can leave in a dormitory. Sadly, and for many years, few of us gave...

One of the country’s bravest hopes to become one of New York City’s bravest. Sgt. Dakota Meyer, the Marine who received the Medal of Honor this month for personally rescuing 36 soldiers pinned down by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, told The New York Post that he aspires to become a New York City firefighter. "It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a way I feel I can do my part in giving back to America,” Meyer said after he tossed out a ceremonial pitch at the Mets' Citi Field, the paper reported. Meyer's grandfather was a firefighter, and Meyer...

The White House initially denied a request by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to attend a Medal of Honor ceremony for a fellow Marine Corps and Afghanistan war veteran, a congressional source said. Hunter first learned last week about plans for President Obama to award former Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer the Medal of Honor during a Thursday ceremony at the White House. Hunter formally requested to attend the ceremony earlier this week, but the White House said no, the congressional source said.

President Obama will today award the Medal of Honor to Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer. In attendance will be a handful of soldiers and Marines who, one day in September 2009, were abandoned by their chain of command and relied on their own initiative to dislodge a fierce enemy. Their battle has entered military folklore and resulted not only in today's Medal of Honor but in two Navy Crosses, two investigations for dereliction of duty, three letters of severe reprimand, and a recommendation for a second Medal of Honor. The setting was the remote Afghan village of Ganjigal, on the Pakistan...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is awarding the military's highest honor to a Marine credited with saving 36 lives during an intense fire-fight in Afghanistan.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Dakota Meyer saved 36 lives from an ambush in Afghanistan and the former Marine will collect the nation's highest military honor at the White House on Thursday. While he is receiving the Medal of Honor, Meyer's slain comrades will be memorialized in hometown ceremonies at his request. His hero's moment was his darkest day. Meyer lost some of his best friends the morning of Sept. 8, 2009, in far-off Kunar Province.