|
The Medal of Honor was created during the American Civil War and is the highest military decoration presented by the United States government to a member of its armed forces. Recipients must have distinguished themselves at the risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an enemy of the United States. Because of the nature of this medal, it is commonly presented posthumously. Of the 3,470 Medals of Honor awarded , 90 have been awarded to 89 different African American recipients.〔C. W. Hanna, ''African American recipients of the Medal of Honor'', 3; Note: Hanna includes Clement Dees in his count, while this list does not, because Dees's medal was rescinded.〕 Robert Augustus Sweeney is one of nineteen men, and the only African American, to have been awarded two Medals of Honor.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Congressional Medal of Honor Society )〕 A 1993 study commissioned by the Army investigated racial discrimination in the awarding of medals.〔(【引用サイトリンク】WWII African American MOH recipients )〕 At the time, no Medals of Honor had been awarded to black soldiers who served in World War II. After an exhaustive review of files, the study recommended that several black Distinguished Service Cross recipients be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. On January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal to seven African American World War II veterans; of these, only Vernon Baker was still alive.〔 On March 18, 2014 following a review of 23 other Citations of Hispanic, and Jewish soldiers that may have been passed over for the Medal of Honor due to their race or religion, former Special Forces Soldier Melvin Morris, an African American was selected to be included into the review inorder to allow his Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) Medal, which is the United States Army's second highest award for combat valor to be upgraded to the Medal of Honor (MOH) the Nation's highest decoration for courage in combat. ==American Civil War== Twenty-five African Americans earned the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War, including seven sailors of the Union Navy, fifteen soldiers of the United States Colored Troops, and three soldiers of other Army units.〔 Fourteen African American men earned the Medal for actions in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm, where a division of U.S. Colored Troops saw heavy action. Another four men, all sailors, earned their Medals at the Battle of Mobile Bay. William Harvey Carney was the first African American to perform an action for which a Medal of Honor was awarded, but Robert Blake was the first to actually receive the Medal (Blake's was issued in 1864, Carney did not receive his until 1900). It was common for Civil War Medals of Honor to be awarded decades after the conflict ended; in one case, Andrew Jackson Smith's Medal was not awarded until 2001, 137 years after the action in which he earned it. Smith's wait, caused by a missing battle report, is the longest delay of the award for any recipient, African American or otherwise. :''Note: Notes in quotations are derived or are copied from the official Medal of Honor citation'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of African-American Medal of Honor recipients」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|