One Act -- Two Medals of Honor

[Chuck In Oregon]

I haven't visited or posted in this forum before, usually hanging out in the two Russian forums with other unsavory types. However, when I came across New York's web site honoring its WW I Medal of Honor recipients, I wanted to share it, just in case it wasn't known here. You can find it at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenweb/ww1moh.htm .

I find the citations fascinating and awe-inspiring. I found, among so many others, Lt. Col. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan's citation. His gallantry was well documented long before he founded the OSS.

However, the one that most intrigued me was that of Marine Gunny Charles F. Hoffman, who later changed his name to Ernest August Janson. For his gallantry on June 18, 1918, near Chateau-Thierry, at age 41 Gunny Hoffman received both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor. In case you don't want to take a minute to look, he -- apparently alone and out of ammo -- charged an attacking 12-man German detachment armed with five light machine guns, bayoneted the two leaders and forced the others to withdraw.

Then I read that Marine Sgt. Matej Kocak also won both medals on July 18, 1918, "in the Viller-Cottertes section, south of Soissons, France". I have read a lot about Medal of Honor exploits but I never before knew that two medals had been awarded for the same act. Maybe a few of you didn't know it either, so I decided to mention it here.

Nice forum you've got here.

Chuck

Edited February 6, 2006 by Chuck In Oregon

[Guest Rick Research]

I believe the same "double dipping" went on regarding the Army's Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross.

I never heard any "explanation" as to why Marines (singularly under-decorated in most cases, to this day) got BOTH services' awards in the First World War, but assumed it was some jurisdictional "turf" pushing and shoving about whether the Marines then and there came "under" the Army or the Navy. Apparently to little minds in big headquarters, the giving and accepting of awards "meant" something quite different than what the recipients did to earn those decorations, with percieved implications of control and obligation.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Apparently to little minds in big headquarters, the giving and accepting of awards "meant" something quite different than what the recipients did to earn those decorations, with percieved implications of control and obligation.

* * * * *

Boy, you really hit a nerve with me on that one. Let me tell you a story from my own personal experience.

One of my sergeants during my year of flying Hueys in Vietnam was an extraordinary guy. Well, nearly all of them were, but this guy stood out even in that distinguished crowd. He was twice nominated for the (then) CMH. Both times it was approved all the way up to congress, with an expectation -- of course, or the Army wouldn't have pushed it that far -- of quick approval. BOTH times it was denied by congress, resulting in his award of two default DSCs.

I was mad then and I'm still mad. Heck, it's only been 35 years. Those callous and ignorant and ungrateful men and women, none of whom -- or their children -- had ever served there or, for the most part, even so much as visited on a "fact-finding mission", denied the CMH to a man whose boots they were not fit to tie. I won't mention his name here, but Sarge, wherever you are, you'll always be my hero.

Chuck

[JBFloyd]

The Secretary of the Army has the final say on Army Medal of Honor awards. This is usually based on the recommendation of a board (which has often included one or more Medal of Honor recipients). The medal is awarded in the name of Congress, but Congress is not involved in recommendations that come up-channel. Congress has directed some awards and directed that the services consider certain issues (e.g., whether left-handed Lower Slobovians have been left out of the mix).

So, Congress may be guilty of many, many things, but it did not vote down an Army Medal of Honor for the sergeant.

[Dave Danner]

Five Marines received the Army and Navy Medal of Honor in World War One:

• Sgt. Louis Cukela
• G/Sgt. Charles F. Hoffman
• Pvt. John Joseph Kelly
• Sgt. Matej Kocak
• Cpl. John Henry Pruitt

Sgts. Cukela and Kocak received theirs for the same action on 18 July 1918 with 66th Company, 5th Marines (their citations have a typo - it was Villers-Cotter?ts, not Cottertes). Pvt. Kelly and Cpl. Pruitt also received theirs for the same action, with 78th Company, 6th Marines, at Mont Blanc (Blanc Mont) on 3 October 1918.

Another Gunny, G/Sgt. Fred W. Stockham, received the Army Medal of Honor but not the Navy version.

Kocak's, Pruitt's and Stockham's Medals were posthumous.

Regarding multiple awards for the same action:

• A U.S. Naval Medical Officer, Orlando Henderson Petty, received the Navy Medal of Honor and Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action.
• 16 Naval Medical Officers and corpsmen received the Navy Cross and Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action.
• 1 Navy chaplain, John J. Brady, also received the Navy Cross and Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action.
• 326 Marines received the Navy Cross and Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action.
• Probably the most famous recipient of the Navy Cross and Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action was Dan Daly. He already had won two Medals of Honor (for the Boxer Rebellion and Haiti).
• One Marine, Capt. George W. Hamilton of the 5th Marines, received the Navy Cross and DSC for the same action, and a second DSC for another action later the same day. No word on whether he was well-tanned.
• Pvt. Albert A. Taubert, a private in Cukela's company, won the Navy Cross and DSC in the battle where Cukela and Kocak received their MOHs. Taubert won a second Navy Cross in Haiti.
• Besides the MOHs for Cpl. Pruitt and Pvt. Kelly, for the action at Blanc Mont on 3 October 1918 the following members of 78th Company received DSC/Navy Cross pairs: 1LT James P. Adams, Pvt. Julian W. Alsup, Pvt. Roy H. Beird, Sgt. Henry S. Bogan, Pvt. Lambert Bos, Pvt. Samuel Glucksman, Pvt. Richard O. Jordan, 2LT Hugh P. Kidder, Pvt. Bruce H. Mills, Cpl. Harry W. Philblad, Pvt. Samuel S. Simmons, Pvt. Joe N. Viera. This was Sgt. Bogan's 2nd DSC.

It should also be noted that many of these soldiers, sailors and Marines received other awards for the same action, especially the Medaille Militaire or Croix de Guerre. Gunny Hoffman/Janson, for example, received not just the Army and Navy Medal of Honor for the same action, but the French Medaille Militaire, the Montenegrin Silver Medal for Bravery, the Portuguese Cruz de Guerra and the Italian Croce al Merito di Guerra. Besides the two Medals, Cpl. Pruitt was posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Italian Croce al Merito di Guerra. And so forth. Edited February 6, 2006 by Dave Danner

[Marcus H]

WW1 MoH: not to take away anything of the brave deeds of these men whom without a doubt deserved their American supreme award, but it also begs the whole question of the bestowal of MoH during the months of WW1 that American servicemen saw action.

There was no proper prevailing award system within the American army at that time, what else could they award but the MoH, it wasn't until recognition of this very premise of a short fall compared to the other Allied armies that in January 1918 the Distinguished Service Cross was instituted and subsequnetly a year later the naval version.

The Distinguished Flying Cross and Soldiers Medal in 1926 and in 1932 only then the Silver Star.

Should there have been a system, how many recipents or not, what ever the case prior to 1918 would have been awarded another medal judged more 'appropiate' or the MoH.

Kr

Marcus

[Chuck In Oregon]

The Secretary of the Army has the final say on Army Medal of Honor awards. This is usually based on the recommendation of a board (which has often included one or more Medal of Honor recipients). The medal is awarded in the name of Congress, but Congress is not involved in recommendations that come up-channel. Congress has directed some awards and directed that the services consider certain issues (e.g., whether left-handed Lower Slobovians have been left out of the mix).

So, Congress may be guilty of many, many things, but it did not vote down an Army Medal of Honor for the sergeant.

* * * * *

I didn't know that. I thought that Congress did have a say in the matter. Live and learn, I guess. I thought/think that my sergeant's nominations got out of Army and were denied somewhere down the road, which I assumed was Congress. I must be mistaken. I guess I'll never know just what happened. Thank you for enlightening me.

Chuck

[Dave Danner]

WW1 MoH: not to take away anything of the brave deeds of these men whom without a doubt deserved their American supreme award, but it also begs the whole question of the bestowal of MoH during the months of WW1 that American servicemen saw action.

There was no proper prevailing award system within the American army at that time, what else could they award but the MoH, it wasn't until recognition of this very premise of a short fall compared to the other Allied armies that in January 1918 the Distinguished Service Cross was instituted and subsequnetly a year later the naval version.

The Distinguished Flying Cross and Soldiers Medal in 1926 and in 1932 only then the Silver Star.

Should there have been a system, how many recipents or not, what ever the case prior to 1918 would have been awarded another medal judged more 'appropiate' or the MoH.

Kr

Marcus

The US entered the war in April 1917. Six Medals of Honor, all Navy, were awarded for actions that year.

The first five Medals of Honor awarded in 1918 were for actions in April and May. All were Navy.

Gunny Hoffman's Medal of Honor was the first the Army awarded, for an action in June 1918.

The overwhleming majority of awards were for actions in September and October 1918.

Also, keep in mind that many of these awards were for actions on that date, but were not actually authorized until much later (usually in 1919). Two, to 2LT Samuel L. Parker and 1LT Edward V. Rickenbacker, were not awarded until the 1930s (Eddie Rickenbacker's was an upgrade of a DSC; I'm not sure about Parker).

So most Medals of Honor came after an awards system was in place.

[Marcus H]

Valid points Dave ! Thanks, I wasn't aware really about the authorisation being of a latter date as such, very interested to hear about Rickenbakers upgrade from a DSC too, and not until the 30's !!!

[dragonreborn]

In the civil war then Lt Tom Custer, George's brother won two MoH's. There's a picture of him wearing them together.

Chuck

[Dave Danner]

Some World War One statistics:

There were 96 Army Medals of Honor awarded for World War One. 86 went to soldiers of the Army, 4 to airmen of the Army Air Corps and 6 to Marines. Five of the six Marines, as previously noted, also received the Navy Medal of Honor for the same action.

By rank:

• Lt. Col., U.S. Army - 3
• Major, U.S. Army - 3
• Capt., U.S. Army - 7
• 1st Lt., U.S. Army - 8
• 1st Lt., U.S. Army Air Corps - 2
• 2nd Lt., U.S. Army - 4
• 2nd Lt., U.S. Army Air Corps - 2

• 1st Sgt., U.S. Army ? 5
• Gy/Sgt., U.S. Marine Corps - 2
• Sgt., U.S. Army - 22
• Sgt., U.S. Marine Corps - 2
• Cpl., U.S. Army ? 13
• Cpl., U.S. Marine Corps - 1
• PFC, U.S. Army - 9
• Pvt., U.S. Army ? 12
• Pvt., U.S. Marine Corps ? 1

By month of the action(s) for which the Medal was earned:

• June 1918: 2 (both to Marines)
• July 1918: 9 (2 to Marines); 5 were for actions on 18 July.
• August 1918: 2
• September 1918: 30 (2 to Air Corps); all but three were earned between 25 and 30 September.
• October 1918: 45 (2 to Marines; 2 to Air Corps); 13 earned on 8 October.
• November 1918: 8

By General Order authorizing the Medal:

• 2 were undated (one Army, one Marine).
• 3 were awarded in General Order No. 118 in November of 1918.
• 5 were awarded in General Order No. 13 in 1919
• 25 were awarded in General Order No. 16 in 1919
• 11 were awarded in General Order No. 20 in 1919
• 10 were awarded in General Order No. 34 in 1919
• 6 were awarded in General Order No. 44 in 1919
• 6 were awarded in General Order No. 50 in 1919
• 6 were awarded in General Order No. 59 in 1919
• 4 more were awarded in General Orders later in 1919
• 1 was awarded in 1920, 2 in 1921, 7 in 1922, 3 in 1923, 1 in 1925, 2 in 1929, 1 in 1931 and 1 in 1937

[Dave Danner]

Some unit statistics:

Divisions with the most awards:

30th Division - 12 awards

33rd Division - 9 awards

89th Division - 9 awards

2nd Division - 8 awards (including 6 to Marines)

77th Division - 8 awards

27th Division - 7 awards

1st Division - 5 awards

42nd Division - 5 awards

91st Division - 5 awards

Regiments with the most awards:

118th Infantry Regiment - 6 (South Carolina National Guard)

132nd Infantry Regiment - 5 (Illinois National Guard)

107th Infantry Regiment - 5 (NY National Guard)

308th Infantry Regiment - 5

356th Infantry Regiment - 4

5th Marine Regiment - 3

6th Marine Regiment - 3

28th Infantry Regiment - 3

117th Infantry Regiment - 3 (Tennessee National Guard)

119th Infantry Regiment - 3 (North Carolina National Guard)

165th Infantry Regiment - 3 (NY National Guard, AKA "The Fighting 69th")

353rd Infantry Regiment - 3

Tankers of the 344th Battalion, Tank Corps, earned 2. The 5 to the 107th Infantry Regiment, 27th Division, include 3 just to the Machine Gun Company.

[Dave Danner]

Navy Medals of Honor for World War One present a more complicated picture. At the time, Army and Navy award criteria differed. The Army Medal of Honor could only be awarded for valor in the face of the enemy. The Navy Medal, by contrast, could be awarded for noncombatant valor, often lifesaving under extreme circumstances.

Twenty-eight Navy Medals of Honor were awarded in World War One. Twenty-one went to sailors and seven to Marines.

Marines

As previously noted, five Marine recipients also received the Army Medal and a sixth, Gunny Stockham, received only the Army Medal. The other two Marine recipients were aviators - Gy/Sgt. Robert G. Robinson and 2nd Lt. Ralph Talbot, both with the 1st Marine Aviation Force. Both of theirs were for the same actions.

Corpsmen

The Marine Corps does not have its own medical personnel; instead, Navy doctors and corpsmen are assigned to Marine units. Six of the 21 Navy recipients were doctors and corpsmen on the Western Front - two corpsmen: Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class John H. Balch and Hospital Apprentice 1st Class David E. Hayden; two dentists: Lt. Cdr. (DC) Alexander G. Lyle and Lt. (j.g.) (DC) Weedon E. Osborne; and two doctors: Lt. (MC) Joel T. Boone and Lt. (MC) Orlando H. Petty. As noted above, Lt. Petty also received the Army DSC.

Non-combat awards

Of the 21 awards to sailors, 10 were for acts of heroism not involving enemy action. Without denigrating the bravery involved in each case, it should be noted that Navy regulations later changed to conform to Army regulations, and such acts would not result in a Medal of Honor today. The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the primary award for non-combat heroism. In addition to these 10, several Navy awards did involve engagements with the enemy, but the actual act was more like those of the non-combatant awards. In one case, an ensign acted to secure depth charges knocked loose by a nearby explosion of a depth charge the ship had dropped on a U-boat, saving the ship from an explosion. In another, a Gunner's Mate sacrificed his life trying to release depth charges before a torpedo struck his ship, trying to avoid the resulting secondary explosions. In the Navy, of course, self-sacrifice to save your ship is often more important than saving a life or attacking the enemy, since many lives are at risk if the ship goes down. Another incident indirectly involving enemy action was where an ensign risked his seaplane to land and pick up the pilot of a downed seaplane, while under threat from Austro-Hungarian aircraft.

Combat at sea

Only one Navy Medal of Honor went to a sailor for heroism in combat at sea. This was to Lt. Cdr. James J. Madison, commanding officer of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga, a German steamer seized by the US at the beginning of the war and outfitted as a transport. It was sunk by the U-152 after several hours of battle. His citation notes that "Lt. Comdr. Madison was severely wounded early in the fight, but caused himself to be placed in a chair on the bridge and continued to direct the fire and to maneuver the ship. When the order was finally given to abandon the sinking ship, he became unconscious from loss of blood, but was lowered into a lifeboat and was saved, with 31 others, out of a total number of 236 on board."

Behind enemy lines

The last of the 21 Navy recipients is perhaps the most interesting. He is (then) Lt. Edouard V.M. Izac. His ship, the U.S.S. President Lincoln, was another seized German steamer used as a transport. It was sunk by the U-90 in May 1918 and Lt. Izac (then spelled Isaacs) was taken prisoner. While on the U-boat, he gathered intelligence on German naval operations, and once he reached port, as his citation notes "he determined to escape". He made several attempts, including one where he jumped from a moving train, but was recaptured. He escaped again from a POW camp at Villingen in the Black Forest, making his way, along with an American captured in 1917 while flying with the French Air Force, through the mountains to the Swiss border, where they swam the Rhine under the nose of German sentries.

[NavyFCO]

It's always fascinating to me to see what the early MOHs were awarded for. Since the Navy really didn't have any other award for heroism, it was awarded freely in some of the early Navy fighting in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Here at the Naval Academy, they have midshipmen rooms named in memoriam for those USNA graduates who received the MOH. Beside each door is a portrait of the fellow and below that the text of his citation. Although some of them are exceedingly impressive (RADM Fluckey's room is located down the hall from me) there are quite a number that are not quite as impressive (or the write-ups sucked). I can't tell you how many of them read "For heroism during the fighting at Vera Cruz on..." and that's the extent of the citation. There are so many of those here that it seems that every Navy junior officer at Vera Cruz must have received a MOH! Another talks about a young fellow who rescued a Japanese woman out of a burning hotel in Japan at the turn of the century and many others like that. Quite interesting how things have changed (for the better) over time...

Dave

Of the 21 awards to sailors, 10 were for acts of heroism not involving enemy action. Without denigrating the bravery involved in each case, it should be noted that Navy regulations later changed to conform to Army regulations, and such acts would not result in a Medal of Honor today. The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the primary award for non-combat heroism. In addition to these 10, several Navy awards did involve engagements with the enemy, but the actual act was more like those of the non-combatant awards.

[Dave Danner]

I can't tell you how many of them read "For heroism during the fighting at Vera Cruz on..." and that's the extent of the citation. There are so many of those here that it seems that every Navy junior officer at Vera Cruz must have received a MOH!

Vera Cruz is actually pretty notorious for the number of MOHs awarded by the Navy.

The Army awarded one. Nine Marines received the Navy Medal of Honor. The Navy awarded 46 to sailors and Navy officers, and the citations are often extremely vague. None were posthumous. The rank breakdown is also a little skewed. The Army Medal and all 9 Marine awards went to officers. Thirty of the 46 Navy awards went to Navy officers - 1 Rear Admiral, 3 Captains, 3 Commanders, 2 Lt. Commanders, 11 Lieutenants, 2 Lieutenants j.g., 6 Ensigns and 2 Surgeons.

The 46 Navy recipients in Vera Cruz compares to 21 in World War One and 57 in World War Two.

To be fair, though, there were a lot of ships, plus a provisional Naval Brigade of disembarked bluejackets, at Vera Cruz. Almost every battleship in the Navy at the time was involved in the operation in some way. But the number of medals was rather disproportionate to the actual amount of fighting. There were 17 KIAs (4 Marines and 13 bluejackets) and two bluejackets died of wounds. 14 Marines, 64 bluejackets and one Navy officer were wounded.

[JBFloyd]

The absence of an awards system capable of distinguishing among varying levels of gallantry/service was certainly obvious in the case of Vera Cruz. When you have nothing to give between the Medal of Honor and a hearty handshake, the inertia of the system is toward the Medal of Honor.

Of course, now that we can distinguish among every possible level of gallantry, we aren't much better off. Somewhere out there is the happy medium.

[Dave Danner]

I believe the same "double dipping" went on regarding the Army's Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross.

I never heard any "explanation" as to why Marines (singularly under-decorated in most cases, to this day) got BOTH services' awards in the First World War, but assumed it was some jurisdictional "turf" pushing and shoving about whether the Marines then and there came "under" the Army or the Navy. Apparently to little minds in big headquarters, the giving and accepting of awards "meant" something quite different than what the recipients did to earn those decorations, with percieved implications of control and obligation.

One thing to bear in mind on the "double dipping" issue: As noted above, date of action and date of award aren't the same and can be separated by periods of up to years. Army MOH citations from the period usually include the number of the War Department General Order authorizing the award. Most Navy citations don't have a corresponding Navy Department order, so we don't always know when the award was made.

So in many cases it may not be that the Marine received two medals from two services for the same action, but that the Army awarded the Medal to a Marine serving under Army command, and the Navy later approved its own award. The Navy would not have had the authority to rescind the Army's award, so both stay.

It is with the Navy Cross where this becomes readily apparent. The Army DSC and DSM were authorized in early 1918, and were available for award in World War One. The Navy Cross and Navy DSM were not authorized until February 1919, after the war had ended. So for the most part, the 326 Marines and 17 sailors who received both the Navy Cross and Army DSC for the same action likely received the Army medal first, and were subsequently authorized the Navy's version, without rescinding the earlier award.

So the Navy seems to have had a postwar policy to correct the problem associated with not having had its own awards. The question then becomes not "why did these Marines and sailors receive both awards?", but why one Marine received only the Army Medal of Honor, and why, of the 43 Navy and 357 Marine recipients of the DSC, the Navy did not subsquently decorate 25 of these sailors and 31 of these Marines.