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thedrifter
01-13-07, 01:02 PM
Leatherneck MOH statistics

60 Marines have received award for covering explosives
By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 13, 2007 11:16:34 EST

Until this week, 59 Marines had been awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing themselves on enemy explosives — most often hand grenades — to save their comrades from the lethal blasts.

At a White House presentation ceremony Jan. 11, 22-year-old Cpl. Jason Dunham took his place among them, the 60th Marine to receive the nation’s highest honor for making that sacrifice.

Dunham was severely wounded in Karabilah, Iraq, on April 14, 2004, after using his helmet and body to absorb the blast of a grenade dropped by the insurgent he was wrestling with at the time. He succumbed to his wounds at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., eight days later.

A review of Medal of Honor citations at an online database shows that no other action is so consistently recognized with the award than selflessly absorbing an explosion. The database also shows that the Corps has been producing men of Dunham’s caliber for more than 60 years.

According to the database, the list began in 1943 on Bougainville Island when Pfc. Henry Gurke covered a grenade with his body to shield a nearby Marine who was manning a weapon with more firepower than his own.

Like Dunham, Gurke died of his wounds and received the Medal of Honor posthumously. But among these 60 select Marine recipients are seven who lived to receive their medal in person.

Pfc. Jack Lucas used his body to cover two grenades during fighting on Iwo Jima, leaping on one, reaching for the other and pinning both between his chest and the black volcanic ash and sand below him. The explosion riddled his body with shrapnel and blew his right eye out of its socket, but doctors would later tell him that the volcanic ash in his wounds actually saved him from bleeding to death.

Though he eventually recovered, Lucas said the wounds he suffered on Iwo Jima have caused him pain his whole life and talks about a piece of shrapnel still lodged behind his eye, just millimeters from severing his ocular nerve.

But he said he has no regrets and that hearing stories about the children and grandchildren of the Marines he saved more than makes up for the pain he’s suffered.

Ellie

thedrifter
01-13-07, 01:03 PM
Bill would make MOH 90 percent gold

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 13, 2007 11:13:18 EST

The Medal of Honor would become more valuable, containing at least 90 percent gold, under legislation introduced Friday in Congress by two veterans.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., are sponsors of the bill.

“I was stunned to learn from a fellow veteran that the highest honor America bestows on our military heroes could be a brass-plated medallion that cost only $30,” said Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., an Army veteran drafted during the Vietnam War.

“Surely we can afford more than a $30 medal,” Baca said.

Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran who also served in Vietnam, said, “When we recognize their exceptional service, I believe the United States of America can do better than a $30 gold knock-off.”

According to Baca’s staff, the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, has a far higher cost than the Medal of Honor. Each Gold Medal, given to actors and entertainers and foreign dignitaries, costs about $30,000, with $3,600 to $4,200 of that stemming directly from the price of gold in the medal. The rest of the expense comes from the design and production, as each medal is designed specifically for the recipient. In comparison, the Medal of Honor varies in value from $29.98 to $75, depending on the service, as each has its own version. The Army has the least expensive, and the Air Force has the most expensive, Baca aides said.

This is not the first attempt to improve the value of the nation’s highest military honor. Kerry and Baca introduced similar bills in the Senate and House in 2005, requiring that the medal have 90 percent gold and 10 percent alloys.

Kerry’s bill was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees legislation involving commemorative coins and medals, but the bill never came to a vote. Baca’s bill was referred to the House Armed Services Committee, which is responsible for military awards, but the committee did not act on the proposal.

Ellie

yellowwing
01-13-07, 02:02 PM
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the
MEDAL OF HONOR
to

GUNNERY SERGEANT ALLAN J. KELLOGG, JR.
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS


for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Platoon Sergeant with Company G, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam on the night of March 11, 1970.

Under the leadership of Gunnery Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) Kellogg, a small unit from Company G was evacuating a fallen comrade when the unit came under a heavy volume of small arms and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior enemy force occupying well-concealed emplacements in the surrounding jungle.

During the ensuing fierce engagement, an enemy soldier managed to maneuver through the defense foliage to a position near the Marines, and hurled a hand grenade into their midst which glanced off the chest of Gunnery Sergeant Kellogg.

Quick to act, he forced the grenade into the mud in which he was standing, threw himself over the lethal weapon and absorbed the full effects of its detonation with his body, thereby preventing serious injury or possible death to several of his fellow Marines.

Although suffering multiple injuries to his chest and his right shoulder and arm, Gunnery Sergeant Kellogg resolutely continued to direct the efforts of his men until all were able to maneuver to the relative safety of the company perimeter.

By his heroic and decisive action in risking his own life to save the lives of his comrades, Gunnery Sergeant Kellogg reflected the highest credit upon himself and upheld the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.