MEDAL OF HONOR FINALLY TO GO TO 7 BLACK WWII HEROES.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Five decades after they fought, seven African-American war heroes are in line to get the Medal of Honor Medal of Honor highest American military decoration for wartime gallantry. [Am. Hist.: Misc.] See : Bravery , America's highest military decoration A military decoration is a decoration given to military personnel or units for heroism in battle or distinguished service. They are designed to be worn on military uniform. . The names of the seven, who were among 1.2 million African-Americans who served in World War II, have been sent to President Clinton, who says the honors are long overdue. ``The president believes these are honors that should have been bestowed a long time ago,'' Deputy White House Press Secretary Ginny Terzano said Saturday. ``It's doing the right thing to give the Medal of Honor to them now.'' U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report Weekly newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. U.S. News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence (1888–1973) to cover important domestic events; he founded World Report in 1945 to treat world news. The two magazines were merged in 1948. says in its May 6 issue, on newsstands Monday, that the combat records of the seven nominees met the standards of a special Army Senior Officer Awards Board. The nominees were identified in a 15-month study conducted by a team of military historians, assembled by Shaw University History Shaw University was the first African American college in the Southern United States.[1] Started as a theology class by the Rev. Henry Martin Tupper in December 1865, the present university was called the Raleigh Institute from 1866 until 1870, when it was in Raleigh, N.C., the magazine reported. The list also has been forwarded to Congress, which must waive the time limit for awarding World War II medals. It expired in 1952. The waivers are included in the fiscal 1997 defense authorization bill. The nominees are: 1st Lt. Vernon J. Baker, 76, of St. Maries, Idaho St. Maries is a city in Benewah County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,652 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Benewah CountyGR6. Pronounced like St. Mary's. Geography St. , the only one of the seven men still alive; 1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas
Charles Leroy Thomas (17 April 1920-15 February 1980) was United States Army officer who was awarded the awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during World War II as a first of Detroit; Pvt. George Watson George Watson can refer to at least four notable people:
Baker said Saturday that he's happy about the recognition but wishes the other six could have been honored in their lifetimes. ``It's been late, but it's never too late to say it was a job well done,'' he said in an interview with the Associated Press. ``I'm so very, very sorry that they're not here.'' ``Oh, I just pray that they will hurry up so that I live to see it,'' Grace Rivers Woodfork, 80, of Oakland, Calif., the elder sister of Rivers, told U.S. News. The team of historians reviewed the nation's archives and interviewed veterans to find out why no African-American received any of the 432 Medals of Honor given to World War II soldiers. Nine African-American received the second-highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross. The 272-page study found no evidence that any African-American soldier in World War II was ever nominated for the Medal of Honor, although commanders, comrades and archival records indicate that at least four of the seven nominees had been recommended, U.S. News reported. The study also did not find official evidence suggesting racial bias in the Army's award policy at the time, the magazine said, but the study's authors say the political climate and common Army practices during the war guaranteed that no African-American soldier would ever receive the military's top award. ``Segregating units by race complicated and slowed training, exacerbated relations between officers and enlisted men and between commanders and their units, and undermined the morale of these units in both subtle and obvious ways,'' according to the study. U.S. News gave these accounts of the nominated soldiers' service: Baker, a platoon leader, won the Distinguished Service Cross while fighting in Italy with Company C, 370th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Division. Carter, with Company No. 1 (provisional), 56th Armored Infantry, 12th Armored Division, won the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in combat in Germany on March 23, 1945. He died in 1962. Fox, an artillery observer with Cannon Company, 366th Infantry, 92nd Division, was killed in action in Italy in 1944, and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. James, with Company G, 413th Infantry Regiment, 104th Division, was killed in action in Germany on April 7, 1945. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Rivers, with Company A, 761st Tank Battalion, 3rd Army, was killed in action in France in 1944. He was awarded a Silver Star, the Army's third-highest award for valor valor a rodenticide no longer marketed because of toxicity in horses causing dehydration, abdominal pain, hindlimb weakness, inappetence, fishy smell in urine. Called also N-3-pyridyl methyl N1-p-nitrophenyl urea. . Thomas, with Company C, 614th Tank-destroyer Battalion, 103rd Division, won a Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in combat near Climbach, France, and died in 1980. Watson, with the 29th Quartermaster quartermaster Officer who oversees arrangements for the quartering and movement of troops. The office dates at least to the 15th century in Europe. The French minister of war under Louis XIV created a quartermaster general's department that dotted the countryside with Regiment, drowned rescuing others when his ship was sunk by Japanese bombers near Porloch Harbor, New Guinea, on March 8, 1943. |
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