Shouldn't The Only Woman To Have Received Medal of Honor Be On $10 Bill

On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said a woman will be featured on a redesigned $10 bill in 2020 -- the 100th anniversary of the Constitution's 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

Can't think of anyone to be on the $10 bill than the only woman ever to have received the Medal of Honor. Bet you didn't know that happened but it did!

Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919) was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war and surgeon.

Born-November 26, 1832
Oswego, New York, U.S.
Died-February 21, 1919 (aged 86)
Oswego, New York, U.S.
Cause of death-Natural causes
Resting place-Rural cemetery
Oswego, New York, U.S.
Nationality-American
Education-Falley Seminary (1850-1852)
Syracuse Medical College (1853-1855)
Hygeeia Therapeutic College (1862)
Occupation-Surgeon
Employer-United States Army
Spouse(s)-Albert Miller

Awards Medal of Honor
Known for-Receiving the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War, first female U.S. Army surgeon, feminism, prohibitionism, abolitionist, first and only female Medal of Honor recipient


As of 2015, she is the only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.[1]

In 1855 she earned her medical degree at Syracuse Medical College in New York, married and started a medical practice. The practice didn't do well and she volunteered with the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital inside the capitol.

Walker, ca 1870. She often wore men's clothes and was arrested for impersonating a man several times.

Women and sectarian physicians were not even considered for the Union Army Examining Board because they were unfit, let alone someone who met both of those qualifications.[2] She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

After the war, she was approved for the highest United States Armed Forces decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, for her efforts during the Civil War. She is the only woman to receive the medal and one of only eight civilians to receive it. Her name was deleted from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917 and restored in 1977. After the war, she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women's suffrage movement until her death in 1919.
read more here

MOH Sgt. Charles Schroeter No Longer Lost Soul

Medal of Honor soldier set for reburial
The San Diego Union Tribune
By Jeanette Steele
MAY 30, 2015

Civil War-era cavalryman will be reburied at Miramar National Cemetery

Nearly a century after he died and was placed in an unmarked, communal crypt in San Diego, a Civil War-era soldier who received the Medal of Honor will be returned to his comrades-in-arms.

Sgt. Charles Schroeter will be buried at Miramar National Cemetery in July with full military honors, including a mounted Army detachment from Fort Irwin.

“We’re happy to be able to correct this mistake. It’s really important to us — even though he’s gone, he’s still a soldier,” said Kenneth Drylie, spokesman for the National Training Center at Fort Irwin.

“You never leave a fallen comrade.”

No one really knows why Schroeter, a cavalryman who bore saber scars and bullet marks from fighting Confederates and Indians, had no one willing to claim his ashes.

Throughout history, 3,493 Medals of Honor have been awarded. Of those, Morfe estimated there are still roughly 200 “lost souls” whose grave sites are unknown — like Schroeter’s until recently.
read more here

Historical US Marine Hospital Sits Empty While Veterans Wait for Care?

Louisville's U.S. Marine Hospital remains empty, decade after exterior restored 
WDRB News
By Sarah Phinney
Posted: Mar 29, 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It has been 10 years since the exterior of Louisville's U.S. Marine Hospital in the Portland neighborhood was restored, but the inside remains unfinished.

Several rooms on the first floor are used for meetings and group exercise, but the rest of the old hospital is closed to the public due to safety concerns. Because the outside is restored, Family Health Centers Executive Director Bill Wagner says many people believe the inside is in good shape, too. 

"Little do they know, it's empty," said Wagner. The hospital, designed by Washington Monument architect Robert Mills, opened on April 1, 1852.

Union soldiers were treated at the hospital during the first two years of the Civil War and later World War I veterans. But, most of the patients throughout the years were merchant sailors.

"They may have been injured during their jobs or they may have contracted contagious diseases," Wagner said.

The building later served as living quarters for nurses and doctors in the 1930s, before the City of Louisville purchased it for $25,000 in 1950. It was later turned into office space and is currently owned by the Board of Health, while Family Health Centers oversees it.

Though patients haven't been in the hospital for decades, some of the original features are still intact. read more here

Abuse of PTSD Civil War Soldiers Repeated in the Army Now

If you think things haven't changed much since then, you're right. Considering what was reported about Warrior Transition Units telling PTSD soldiers to "suck it up" and "man up" the attitude is still the same after all these years.

Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD? 
One hundred and fifty years later, historians are discovering some of the earliest known cases of post-traumatic stress disorder
Smithsonian Magazine
By Tony Horwitz
January 2015

The wounded soldiers above were photographed at a hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia, between 1861 and 1865. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs division)

This veil is now lifting, in dramatic fashion, amid growing awareness of conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. A year ago, the National Museum of Civil War Medicine mounted its first exhibit on mental health, including displays on PTSD and suicide in the 1860s. Historians and clinicians are sifting through diaries, letters, hospital and pension files and putting Billy Yank and Johnny Reb on the couch as never before. Genealogists have joined in, rediscovering forgotten ancestors and visiting their graves in asylum cemeteries.

In the summer of 1862, John Hildt lost a limb. Then he lost his mind.

The 25-year-old corporal from Michigan saw combat for the first time at the Seven Days Battle in Virginia, where he was shot in the right arm. Doctors amputated his shattered limb close to the shoulder, causing a severe hemorrhage. Hildt survived his physical wound but was transferred to the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington D.C., suffering from “acute mania.”

Hildt, a laborer who’d risen quickly in the ranks, had no prior history of mental illness, and his siblings wrote to the asylum expressing surprise that “his mind could not be restored to its original state.” But months and then years passed, without improvement. Hildt remained withdrawn, apathetic, and at times so “excited and disturbed” that he hit other patients at the asylum. He finally died there in 1911—casualty of a war he’d volunteered to fight a half-century before.

The Civil War killed and injured over a million Americans, roughly a third of all those who served. This grim tally, however, doesn’t include the conflict’s psychic wounds. Military and medical officials in the 1860s had little grasp of how war can scar minds as well as bodies. Mental ills were also a source of shame, especially for soldiers bred on Victorian notions of manliness and courage.

For the most part, the stories of veterans like Hildt have languished in archives and asylum files for over a century, neglected by both historians and descendants.

“We’ve tended to see soldiers in the 1860s as stoic and heroic—monuments to duty, honor and sacrifice,” says Lesley Gordon, editor of Civil War History, a leading academic journal that recently devoted a special issue to wartime trauma. “It’s taken a long time to recognize all the soldiers who came home broken by war, just as men and women do today.”

Counting these casualties and diagnosing their afflictions, however, present considerable challenges. The Civil War occurred in an era when modern psychiatric terms and understanding didn’t yet exist. Men who exhibited what today would be termed war-related anxieties were thought to have character flaws or underlying physical problems. For instance, constricted breath and palpitations—a condition called “soldier’s heart” or “irritable heart”—was blamed on exertion or knapsack straps drawn too tightly across soldiers’ chests. In asylum records, one frequently listed “cause” of mental breakdown is “masturbation.” read more here

Veterans Memorial Attacked in New Lenox

Veterans Memorial Vandalized In New Lenox
CBS Chicago
Jim Williams
September 29, 2014

(CBS) – Residents of southwest suburban New Lenox cannot believe it: Vandals heavily damaged a beloved veterans memorial over the weekend.

“They pushed it over to point where it actually fell and broke,” Vietnam veteran Larry Paveza tells CBS 2’s Jim Williams.

Four monuments — honoring the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines — were shoved over at the memorial, despite their size and weight.

Locals wonder: Why would vandals destroy what people here have called sacred ground since its dedication 10 years ago? The memorial honors service members who once lived in the area and died in conflicts from the Civil War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
read more here

Medal of Honor Hero Bennie Adkins Helped by Tiger in Vietnam

Despite wounds, Medal of Honor recipient killed up to 175 enemies, saved comrades
CNN
By Brad Lendon
September 15, 2014

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins is pictured in an undated U.S. Army photo. He is cited for his action at Camp A Shau in Vietnam in 1966, where the Army says he killed 135 to 175 enemy troops during a battle.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Sgt. Maj. Bennie Adkins will be honored for his actions in Vietnam in 1966
Adkins was wounded 18 times during the battle for Camp A Shau
Adkins fought and evaded North Vietnamese troops for 86 hours before he was rescued

(CNN) -- As many as 175 enemy troops killed, 18 wounds from enemy fire, 38 hours of battle, 48 hours evading the North Vietnamese troops in the bush -- and one tiger. Those are the numbers behind Sgt. Maj. Bennie Adkins' Medal of Honor, an award he will receive from President Obama in a White House ceremony Monday.

Adkins, of Opelika, Alabama, is being honored for his actions in Vietnam's A Shau Valley more than 48 years ago. Then a 32-year-old sergeant first class, Adkins was among a handful of Americans working with troops of the South Vietnamese Civil Irregular Defense Group at Camp A Shau when the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force on March 9, 1966, according to an Army report.

"Adkins rushed through intense enemy fire and manned a mortar position defending the camp," the Army report says. "He continued to mount a defense even while incurring wounds from several direct hits from enemy mortars. Upon learning that several soldiers were wounded near the center of camp, he temporarily turned the mortar over to another soldier, ran through exploding mortar rounds and dragged several comrades to safety. As the hostile fire subsided, Adkins exposed himself to sporadic sniper fire and carried his wounded comrades to a more secure position."

But Adkins' ordeal was not over. Because he was carrying a wounded comrade, he and his small group couldn't get to the evacuation helicopters sent to pick up the battle's survivors. The band faded into the jungle, avoiding their North Vietnamese pursuers for 48 hours.

And that's where the tiger comes in.

"The North Vietnamese soldiers had us surrounded on a little hilltop and everything started getting kind of quiet," Adkins is quoted as saying in an Army report. "We could look around and all at once, all we could see were eyes going around us. It was a tiger that stalked us that night. We were all bloody and in this jungle, the tiger stalked us and the North Vietnamese soldiers were more afraid of the tiger than they were of us. So, they backed off some and we were (able to escape)."

Others to receive honor
Honored with Adkins at the White House ceremony was one other soldier, posthumously.

Spc. Donald P. Sloat was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in using his body to shield comrades from a grenade blast near Danang, Vietnam, in January 1970.

Additionally, the White House has announced one more Medal of Honor recipient: From the Civil War, 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, who held out against Confederate troops during Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, part of the Battle of Gettysburg.
read more here

UPDATE From The White House

Remarks by the President at Presentation of the Medal of Honor to Command Sergeant Major Bennie G. Adkins and Specialist Four Donald Sloat

East Room

1:52 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House. More than four decades ago, in early 1970, an American squad in Vietnam set out on patrol. They marched down a trail, past a rice paddy. Shots rang out and splintered the bamboo above their heads. The lead soldier tripped a wire -- a booby trap. A grenade rolled toward the feet of a 20-year-old machine gunner. The pin was pulled, and that grenade would explode at any moment.

A few years earlier, on the other side of the country, deep in the jungle, a small group of Americans were crouched on top of a small hill. And it was dark, and they were exhausted; the enemy had been pursuing them for days. And now they were surrounded, and the enemy was closing in on all sides.

Two discrete moments, but today we honor two American soldiers for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty at each of those moments: Specialist Donald Sloat, who stood above that grenade, and Command Sergeant Major Bennie Adkins, who fought through a ferocious battle and found himself on that jungle hill.

Nearly half a century after their acts of valor, a grateful nation bestows upon these men the highest military decoration –- the Medal of Honor.

Normally, this medal must be awarded within a few years of the action. But sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the fog of war or the passage of time. Yet when new evidence comes to light, certain actions can be reconsidered for this honor, and it is entirely right and proper that we have done so. And that is why we are here today.

So before I go any further, I want to thank everyone present here today whose research and testimonies and persistence over so many years finally resulted in these two men deserving the recognition they so richly deserve. I especially want to welcome members of the Medal of Honor Society, as well as two American families whose love and pride has never wavered.

Don Sloat grew up in the heart of Oklahoma in a town called Coweta. And he grew big -- to over 6’4”. He loved football, and played for a year at a junior college. Then he decided to join the Army. But when he went to enlist, he didn’t pass his physical because of high blood pressure. So he tried again. And again. And again. In all, he took the physical maybe seven times until he passed -- because Don Sloat was determined to serve his country.

In Vietnam, Don became known as one of the most liked and reliable guys in his company. Twice in his first months, his patrol was ambushed; both times, Don responded with punishing fire from his machine gun, leaving himself completely vulnerable to the enemy. Both times, he was recognized for his bravery. Or as Don put it in a letter home, “I guess they think [that] I’m really gung-ho or something.” (Laughter.)

And then one morning, Don and his squad set out on patrol, past that rice paddy, down that trail, when those shots rang out. When the lead soldier’s foot tripped that wire and set off the booby trap, the grenade rolled right to Don’s feet. And at that moment, he could have run. At that moment, he could have ducked for cover. But Don did something truly extraordinary -- he reached down and he picked that grenade up. And he turned to throw it, but there were Americans in front of him and behind him -– inside the kill zone. So Don held on to that grenade, and he pulled it close to his body. And he bent over it. And then, as one of the men said, “all of a sudden there was a boom.”

The blast threw the lead soldier up against a boulder. Men were riddled with shrapnel. Four were medevaced out, but everyone else survived. Don had absorbed the brunt of the explosion with his body. He saved the lives of those next to him. And today, we’re joined by two men who were with him on that patrol: Sergeant William Hacker and Specialist Michael Mulheim.

For decades, Don’s family only knew that he was killed in action. They’d heard that he had stepped on a landmine. All those years, this Gold Star family honored the memory of their son and brother, whose name is etched forever on that granite wall not far from here. Late in her life, Don’s mother, Evelyn, finally learned the full story of her son’s sacrifice. And she made it her mission to have Don’s actions properly recognized.

Sadly, nearly three years ago, Evelyn passed away. But she always believed -- she knew -- that this day would come. She even bought a special dress to wear to this ceremony. We are honored that Don -- and his mom -- are represented here today by Don’s brother and sisters and their families. On behalf of this American family, I’d ask Don’s brother, Dr. Bill Sloat, to come forward for the reading of the citation and accept the gratitude of our nation.

MILITARY AIDE: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to Specialist Four Donald P. Sloat, United States Army.

Specialist Four Donald P. Sloat distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Machinegunner with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Republic of Vietnam on January 17, 1970.

On that morning, Specialist Four Sloat’s squad was conducting a patrol, serving as a blocking element in support of tanks and armored personnel carriers in the area. As the squad moved up a small hill in file formation, the lead soldier tripped a wire attached to a hand grenade booby trap set up by enemy forces. As the grenade rolled down the hill, Specialist Four Sloat knelt and picked up the grenade. After initially attempting to throw the grenade, Specialist Four Sloat realized that detonation was imminent. He then drew the grenade to his body and shielded his squad members from the blast, saving their lives.

Specialist Four Sloat’s actions define the ultimate sacrifice of laying down his own life in order to save the lives of his comrades. Specialist Four Donald P. Sloat’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company D, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division and the United States Army.

[The medal is presented] (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: At this point, I’d like to ask Bennie Adkins to come join me on stage.

Now, let me just say the first thing you need to know is when Bennie and I met in the Oval Office, he asked if he could sign back up. (Laughter.) His lovely wife was not amused. (Laughter.)

Most days, you can find Bennie at home down in Opelika, Alabama, tending his garden or his pontoon boat out on the lake. He’s been married to Mary for 58 years. He’s a proud father of five, grandfather of six; at 80 still going strong. A couple years ago, he came here to the White House with his fellow veterans for a breakfast we had on Veterans Day. He tells folk he was the only person he knows who has spilled his dessert in the White House. (Laughter.) And I just have to correct you, that makes two of us. (Laughter.) I’ve messed up my tie. I’ve messed up my pants. (Laughter.)

But in the spring of 1966, Bennie was just 32 years old, on his second tour in Vietnam. He and his fellow Green Berets were at an isolated camp along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A huge North Vietnamese force attacked, bombarding Bennie and his comrades with mortars and white phosphorus. At a time, it was nearly impossible to move without being wounded or killed. But Bennie ran into enemy fire again and again -- to retrieve supplies and ammo; to carry the wounded to safety; to man the mortar pit, holding off wave after wave of enemy assaults. Three times, explosions blasted him out of that mortar pit, and three times, he returned.

I have to be honest, in a battle and daring escape that lasted four days, Bennie performed so many acts of bravery we actually don’t have time to talk about all of them. Let me just mention three.

On the first day, Bennie was helping load a wounded American onto a helicopter. A Vietnamese soldier jumped onto the helo trying to escape the battle, and aimed his weapon directly at the wounded soldier, ready to shoot. Bennie stepped in, shielded his comrade, placing himself directly in the line of fire, helping to save his wounded comrade.

At another point in the battle, Bennie and a few other soldiers were trapped in the mortar pit, covered in shrapnel and smoking debris. Their only exit was blocked by enemy machine gun fire. So Bennie thought fast. He dug a hole out of the pit and snuck out the other side. As another American escaped through that hole, he was shot in the leg. An enemy soldier charged him, hoping to capture a live POW and Bennie fired, taking out that enemy and pulling his fellow American to safety.

By the third day of battle, Bennie and a few others had managed to escape into the jungle. He had cuts and wounds all over his body, but he refused to be evacuated. When a rescue helicopter arrived, Bennie insisted that others go instead. And so, on the third night, Bennie, wounded and bleeding, found himself with his men up on that jungle hill, exhausted and surrounded, with the enemy closing in. And after all they had been through, as if it weren’t enough, there was something more -- you can’t make this up -- there in the jungle, they heard the growls of a tiger.

It turns out that tiger might have been the best thing that happened to Bennie in those -- during those days because, he says, “the North Vietnamese were more scared of that tiger than they were of us.” (Laughter.) So the enemy fled. Bennie and his squad made their escape. And they were rescued, finally, the next morning.

In Bennie’s life, we see the enduring service of our men and women in uniform. He went on to serve a third tour in Vietnam, a total of more than two decades in uniform. After he retired, he earned his Master’s Degree -– actually not one, but two. Opened up an accounting firm. Taught adult education classes. Became national commander of the Legion of Valor veterans organization. So he has earned his retirement, despite what he says. (Laughter.) He’s living outside Auburn. And, yes, he is a fan of the Auburn Tigers, although I did a poll of the family and there are some Crimson Tide fans here. (Laughter.) So there’s obviously some divisions.

But Bennie will tell you that he owes everything to the men he served with in Vietnam, especially the five who gave their lives in that battle. Every member of his unit was killed or wounded. Every single one was recognized for their service. Today, we’re joined by some of the men who served with Bennie, including Major John Bradford, the soldier that Bennie shielded in that helicopter, and Major Wayne Murray, the soldier Bennie saved from being captured. And I’d ask them and all our Vietnam veterans who are here today to please stand or raise your hand and to be recognized. (Applause.)

And now, I’d ask that the citation be read.

MILITARY AIDE: The President of the United States, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3rd, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to Sergeant First Class Bennie G. Adkins, United States Army.

Sergeant First Class Bennie G. Adkins distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Intelligence Sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, during combat operations against an armed enemy at Camp A Shau, Republic of Vietnam, from March 9 to 12, 1966.

When the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in the early morning hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins rushed through intense enemy fire and manned a mortar position continually adjusting fire for the camp, despite incurring wounds as the mortar pit received several direct hits from enemy mortars. Upon learning that several soldiers were wounded near the center of camp, he temporarily turned the mortar over to another soldier, ran through exploding mortar rounds, and dragged several comrades to safety.

As the hostile fire subsided, Sergeant First Class Adkins exposed himself to sporadic sniper fire while carrying his wounded comrades to the camp dispensary. When Sergeant First Class Adkins and his group of defenders came under heavy small arms fire from members of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that had defected to fight with the North Vietnamese, he maneuvered outside the camp to evacuate a seriously wounded American and draw fire, all the while successfully covering the rescue. When a resupply air drop landed outside of the camp perimeter, Sergeant First Class Adkins, again, moved outside of the camp walls to retrieve the much-needed supplies.

During the early morning hours of March 10, 1966, enemy forces launched their main attack and within two hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins was the only man firing a mortar weapon. When all mortar rounds were expended, Sergeant First Class Adkins began placing effective recoilless rifle fire upon enemy positions. Despite receiving additional wounds from enemy rounds exploding on his position, Sergeant First Class Adkins fought off intense waves of attacking Viet Cong. Sergeant First Class Adkins eliminated numerous insurgents with small arms fire after withdrawing to a communications bunker with several soldiers. Running extremely low on ammunition, he returned to the mortar pit, gathered vital ammunition and ran through intense fire back to the bunker.

After being ordered to evacuate the camp, Sergeant First Class Adkins and a small group of soldiers destroyed all signal equipment and classified documents, dug their way out of the rear of the bunker and fought their way out of the camp. While carrying a wounded soldier to the extraction point he learned that the last helicopter had already departed.

Sergeant First Class Adkins led the group while evading the enemy until they were rescued by helicopter on March 12, 1966. During the 38-hour battle and 48 hours of escape and evasion, fighting with mortars, machine guns, recoilless rifles, small arms, and hand grenades, it was estimated that Sergeant First Class Adkins had killed between 135 and 175 of the enemy while sustaining 18 different wounds to his body.

Sergeant First Class Adkins’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces and the United States Army.

[The medal is presented.] (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Over the decades, our Vietnam veterans didn’t always receive the thanks and respect they deserved. That’s a fact. But as we have been reminded again today, our Vietnam vets were patriots and are patriots. You served with valor. You made us proud. And your service is with us for eternity. So no matter how long it takes, no matter how many years go by, we will continue to express our gratitude for your extraordinary service.

May God watch over Don Sloat and all those who have sacrificed for our country. May God keep safe those who wear our country’s uniform, and veterans like Bennie Adkins. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

At this point I’d ask our chaplain to return to the stage for the benediction.

[The benediction is offered.]

THE PRESIDENT: And at this point, I would welcome everybody to join the Sloat family and the Adkins family for a reception. I hear the food is pretty good. (Laughter.) And once again, to all of you who serve and your families who serve along with them, the nation is grateful. And your Commander-in-Chief could not be prouder.

Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)

Gettysburg Soldier and Two Vietnam Soldiers, 3 New Medal of Honor Heroes

Obama to award 3 Medals of Honor
Stars and Stripes
By Jennifer Hlad
Published: August 26, 2014
3 minutes ago

President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to two soldiers who served in Vietnam and one who distinguished himself in the battle of Gettysburg, the White House announced Tuesday.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins and Army Spc. 4 Donald P. Sloat will be honored Sept. 15 for their conspicuous gallantry.

Adkins deployed to Vietnam three times. During his second deployment, in March of 1966, he was a sergeant first class with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces.

Adkins displayed "extraordinary bravery" during a sustained and vicious attack by the Vietcong from March 9 to March 12, 1966, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala. said in 2013.

Rogers spoke about Adkins' actions in asking Congress to pass a bill allowing the president to award him the Medal of Honor.

Adkins had been recommended by his command for the Medal of Honor but received a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions, which included running through exploding mortar rounds while wounded to drag several of his fellow soldiers to safety, Rogers said.

Adkins retired from the Army after serving 22 years and will travel to Washington from his home in Alabama to receive the medal, the White House said.

Sloat was a machine gunner with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, when he was killed in Vietnam in 1970.

Sloat’s squad was on a patrol near Hawk Hill Fire Base on Jan. 17, 1970 when one of the soldiers triggered a grenade booby trap in their path, the White House said. Sloat picked up the grenade, intending to throw it away, but realizing it was about to explode, instead used his body to shield three fellow soldiers from the blast, the White House said.

Sloat’s brother, William Sloat of Enid, Oklahoma, will accept the medal on his brother’s behalf.
read more here

Hiding PTSD Records Of Civil War Veterans?

What we know is that soldiers with what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, were shot for being cowards. They often ran away and yes, even committed suicide. There was an excuse back then because no one really understood what psychological trauma was. So what is their excuse for not releasing these documents? Easy. Family members may have the proof to clear the record of their veteran after all these years. I doubt there could be any other excuse.

Hiding PTSD Records Of Civil War Veterans?
Even files of the long dead are off limits
Editorial
The Hartford Courant
February 28, 2014

Doesn't this sound familiar?

Some years ago, Connecticut scholars researching post-traumatic stress disorder in Civil War veterans won a state Freedom of Information Commission ruling providing the researchers access to records of patients treated at a Middletown mental health facility in the 1860s.

That researchers would want to search such records makes sense. As Matthew Warshauer, the Central Connecticut State University professor who petitioned for the records, has written, the history of Civil War soldiers has "stark relevance for today's soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan."
read more here

The UK was doing it too.

At total of 304 men were executed during the First World War, while another 18 suffered the same fate while waiting to leave the army after the signing of the Armistice. Of those executed, the vast majority, 286, committed the offence while in the trenches on the Western Front.

Here during WWII

Nearly 50,000 American and 100,000 British soldiers deserted from the armed forces during World War II. (The British were in the war much longer.) Some fell into the arms of French or Italian women. Some became black-market pirates. Many more simply broke under the strain of battle.

These men’s stories have rarely been told. During the war, newspapers largely abstained from writing about desertions. The topic was bad for morale and could be exploited by the enemy. In more recent decades the subject has been essentially taboo, as if to broach it would dent the halo around the Greatest Generation.

“The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II,” by the historian and former ABC News foreign correspondent Charles Glass, thus performs a service. It’s the first book to examine at length the sensitive topic of desertions during this war, and the facts it presents are frequently revealing and heartbreaking.

Film company hopes to help PTSD sufferers

Film company hopes to help PTSD sufferers
Calaveras Enterprise
By Stephen Crane
February 7, 2014

Murphys resident becomes film producer

courtesy photo

Peter Murnik

Peter Murnik is scheduled to star as Master Sgt. Lance Harrison, 

one of two returning veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder 

in “The Burden of Freedom.”

The United States Military is made up of men and women willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the country and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan underscore that fact. As part of their service, many military personnel risk death. Many risk injury. And all relinquish many of the freedoms they help to defend. But sometimes, the sacrifices they make and the injuries they sustain don’t surface until they are back home trying to reconcile life as civilians, yet are still haunted by the traumas of war.

To highlight that burden and to ease the weight they carry, Murphys resident Rae Davis decided to become a partner in a film production company that is working on its first film project, “The Burden of Freedom,” which highlights the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder in the lives of two men. “(The movie) attracted me because I’ve known people throughout the years who have suffered from PTSD,” said Davis, who has lived in Calaveras for much of her life, beginning in Rail Road Flat. “I lost a friend to suicide at one point in my life. But I’ve known other people who have struggled and struggled in silence.”

Davis was approached by friend Ken Ramoz, who wrote the script for the movie. “I’ve been long-time friends with (Ramoz),” Davis said. “I offered to help him promote (the movie).” She is now the executive producer and a partner in the production company. Davis and Ramoz met back in 1990, when the two used to do Civil War reenactments. Davis focused on the medical components of the war.

“I would talk to people about the medical practice of the Civil War,” she said. That’s when she first became aware of the magnitude of PTSD’s effect on war veterans, even going back to the Civil War.

“PTSD existed but there was not a name for it,” Davis said. “When soldiers returned home after four years of Civil War and they weren’t right, people cast them off. They were put in insane asylums and many got hooked on morphine.”
read more here

Cannon fire in Kissimmee

Museum of Military History

Military Appreciation Weekend

This tent was made out of ponchos snapped together

December 7 and 8 from 9am to 5pm

Brown's Farm 4901 Oren Brown Road, Kissimmee Florida

Great day for a celebration like this but it was just too hot to stay. Can't get use to being able to get a sunburn in December.

If you are in the area the Civil War Battle reenactment will be on Sunday.

PTSD in Civil War times

PTSD in Civil War times: A Md. museum exhibit
By Associated Press
November 29, 2013

FREDERICK, Md. — A new exhibit at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick offers a historical perspective on post-traumatic stress disorder.

The exhibit is titled, “The Emotional Toll of War.” It opened last weekend and will be up through March.

The exhibit includes period newspaper articles, soldiers’ letters and accounts by Civil War surgeons.

The documents offer perspectives on homesickness, melancholy, insanity and suicide.
read more here

The Civil War: The Gettysburg Address

The Civil War: The Gettysburg Address
Ken Burns

The Gettysburg Address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Learn the Address

Seventh-generation Soldier Reflects on Heritage

Seventh-generation Soldier Reflects on Heritage
American Forces Press Service
by Sgt. Christopher Calvert
Sep 16, 2013

FORT HOOD, Texas – For many service members, joining the military is a choice to serve their country and better their own lives. For one 1st Air Cavalry Brigade soldier, it’s a choice that runs deep in his bloodline for more than 200 years.

Army Sgt. Robert George III, a signal support systems specialist with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st ACB, 1st Cavalry Division, is no stranger to the military. It’s been a part of his family’s heritage since his fifth great-grandfather fought in the Continental Army.

In fact, the Tucson, Ariz., native has had members of his family fight in most major armed conflicts since the 18th century, including the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I and Operation Desert Storm.

Cpl. John Albright, George’s fifth great-grandfather, fought during the Revolutionary War in Valley Forge and the Siege of Yorktown. Albright was taken prisoner twice, once by the British for 11 months after the fall of Fort Montgomery, and once by Native Americans during the fall of Fort Stanwix, where he was forced to carry heavy loads to Canada before receiving his freedom in a trade.

After Albright received his liberty, he immediately returned to service to continue fighting for the Continental Army, George said.
read more here

Groups seeking to honor veterans' graves fight additional burden

Changes sought for Ohio, Ky. unmarked vets' graves
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 19, 2013

CINCINNATI -- Federal policy is preventing some veterans with unmarked graves from getting headstones and tombstones to mark their final resting places, and some supporters of historic cemeteries want that changed.

Supporters in Ohio and Kentucky are among those who want to change a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs policy they say is too restrictive, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The federal regulation defines "applicant" as the veteran's next of kin, a person authorized in writing by the next of kin or a representative authorized in writing by the veteran. But members of historical groups and those working to preserve Civil War-era cemeteries say the policy wasn't consistently enforced until last year. Some seeking to get markers for veterans' unmarked graves say they've been turned down because they weren't direct descendants, the newspaper said.

A national campaign to change the policy has launched an online petition asking that the VA make the regulation inapplicable to veterans who served more than 62 years ago. The petition collected 1,950 signatures as of Thursday, the newspaper reported.

"This is having an impact all across America," said Jeff Richman, leader of a committee behind the petition. Richman is the historian for Green-Wood Cemetery in a Brooklyn, N.Y. It contains graves of 3,300 Civil War veterans.

Richman said the policy creates an impossible and unnecessary burden for groups seeking to honor veterans who served generations ago.
read more here

Allowed to live or selected to die at Gettysburg

Who 'Dies' is Tough Decision at Gettysburg
Associated Press
by Genaro C. Armas
Jul 04, 2013

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - You're a Civil War re-enactor carrying an authentic musket, out on the field with your history-buff buddies making a charge under withering enemy fire. It's great fun except for one thing: Someone's going to have to "die."

And lying motionless in the grass on a sultry July day in a historically accurate wool uniform while others are performing heroic deeds all around you does not always make for an exciting afternoon.

That's why deciding who lives and who dies - and when they must fall - is one of the heaviest responsibilities a pretend commander at a Civil War re-enactment is likely to face.

"That is the age-old re-enacting question, and that is a tough one," said Bob Minton, commander of the Union re-enactor forces last weekend at Gettysburg, the small town where the pivotal battle between North and South was waged on July 1-3, 1863.

For those whose hobby is dressing up in the blue and gray of the Union and the Confederacy, the Battle of Gettysburg is the pinnacle, and this week's 150th anniversary events are a very big deal.

Re-enactors are sticklers for historical accuracy, but sometimes, in the heat of battle, things go awry. Some people, especially those who might have traveled a long ways for the event, don't want to get shot, bayoneted or put to the sword a mere five minutes into a scene and miss all the fun, and so they keep on marching.

To make sure things unfold realistically, some re-enactor groups draw up scripts and work things out ahead of time with the corresponding enemy unit, deciding in advance who will be asked to give what Abraham Lincoln would later call "the last full measure of devotion."
read more here

Letters provide soldier's account of Battle of Gettysburg

Letters provide soldier's account of Battle of Gettysburg
Jacqueline Baylon
Digital First Media
Posted:06/16/2013

This is Esek Hoff, 29, in uniform.
He joined the 111th New York Infantry Volunteers.
(Courtesy of Ken Harris)

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Union Army Sgt. Esek Hoff took cover on Cemetery Ridge under heavy fire as the Pennsylvania farmland filled with smoke.

Historians later would call the Civil War battle at Gettysburg a turning point for the United States, but all Hoff knew on that summer day in 1863 was that he was fighting for his life.

The 29-year-old Hoff and his unit, the 111th New York Infantry Volunteers, were in the middle of the Union's defensive line, trying to hold off advancing troops led by Confederate Gen. George Pickett. Hoff's unit was looking to redeem itself after surrendering to Stonewall Jackson's veterans at Harpers Ferry and getting branded "Harpers Ferry Cowards."

On July 2-3, 1863, they successfully held the center of the Union line, playing a key role in a battle that turned the tide of the Civil War.

On the 150th anniversary of that battle, which totaled about 51,000 casualties, Americans are pausing to remember the terrible fighting and what it means today. As re-enactors prepare to put on uniforms and head to Gettysburg, Hoff's detailed letters offer eyewitness accounts of that fight and others.

"I do not want nor would anyone desire to see such a sight again," Hoff wrote near Gettysburg on July 5, 1863, after the battle had ended. "Well in the charge of the rebels we lost some of our best men."
read more here

Civil War Sailors laid to rest at Arlington after 150 years

USS Monitor Civil War sailors to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery 150 years later
Published March 08, 2013
FoxNews.com

ARLINGTON, Va. – Two unknown crewmen found in the USS Monitor's turret will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery 150 years after the Civil War sank off the North Carolina coast.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is scheduled to speak during Friday's ceremony, which will include Monitor kin who believe the two Union sailors are their ancestors.

Sixteen sailors died when the Monitor went down in rough seas off Cape Hatteras on March 9, 1862. The two crew members' skeletons and the remains of their uniforms were found in 2002 when the ship's rusted turret was raised from the ocean floor.

The Monitor made nautical history when it fought in the first battle between two ironclads. The battle with the CSS Virginia was a draw.
read more here

Old Guard Soldier in new Lincoln movie

Old Guard Soldier Takes Talents to the Big Screen
Nov 21, 2012
Army.mil News
by Staff Sgt Megan Garcia

"The civil war era was very familiar to me because my whole family are war re-enactors," said Hague. "I've been a war re-enactor since I was four years old."

"This whole thing was really top secret in a sense that we weren't allowed to talk about it to anyone," said Staff Sgt. James Hague. "I wasn't allowed to talk about this big Spielberg film that was coming out."
Hague, drum major, United States Army Fife and Drum Corps [FDC], 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), explained his recent experience in the new Steven Spielberg movie, "Lincoln", which debut this weekend.

Members of The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps wear uniforms and white wigs modeled after musicians of Gen. George Washington's Continental Army. They play on 10-hole fifes, handmade rope-tensioned drums and single-valve bugles to replicate the sounds of that period. During the movie, Hague said fitting into the part of an 1865 Marine Band piccolo player was fairly easy due to his experience as a FDC fifer.

"They're not the same instrument, but they are related. The fife has no keys on it but the piccolo does," said Hague, who joined FDC in 2006. "Also, being that the role was in a military band, I was able to fit right in."
read more here

Bone collector fined after taking Civil War soldier's bones

Man Fined for Taking Civil War Soldier's Bones
Nov 08, 2012
The Kansas City Star
by Brian Burnes

A Springfield, Ill., man has been fined and sentenced to community service after admitting he dug up and took from a Civil War battlefield several bones belonging to a soldier.

Coy Matthew Hamilton, 31, took the bones last year at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield near Springfield, authorities said Wednesday. A collector of Civil War artifacts riding a canoe down Wilson's Creek spotted a bone jutting from an eroded creek bank and stopped for an impromptu -- and illegal -- dig.

Hamilton on Tuesday took a deal to avoid federal prosecution, promising to pay $5,351 in restitution and perform 60 hours of community service. He'll work alongside National Park Service rangers at Wilson's Creek, site of the Aug. 10, 1861, battle -- a Confederate victory considered the first major engagement in the Civil War's western theater.
read more on Militay.com

PBS looks at "Death and the Civil War,"

PBS looks at "Death and the Civil War," Tuesday, September 18
Saturday, September 15, 2012
The Civil War by Martha M. Boltz
Times Communities
Washington Times Communities

VIENNA,Va., September 15, 2012 — If Public Broadcasting has a crown, the “American Experience” is surely the brightest jewel in that crown. Now comes its latest production Death and the Civil War, promising to be one of the best moments on TV’s “vast wasteland.”

It will air on Tuesday, September 18, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. on local PBS stations.

Directed and produced by Ric Burns, brother of acclaimed documentarian artist Ken Burns of The Civil War series, Burns is recognized in his own right for his work on Coney Island, The Donner Party, The Way West, amongst other standouts.

The timing was designed to fit in with the 150th Anniversary of the War and specifically to coincide with the commemoration of the Battle of Sharpsburg, or Antietam, said to be the single bloodiest day in history with the deaths in the astronomical figures.
read more here