He Proved His Mettle, So Where's His Medal?

Korean War veteran Nyles Reed was wounded on June 22, 1952, while serving in the Marine Corps. Last week, he received an envelope with news that his Purple Heart had been approved.

But there was no medal. Just a certificate and a form stating that the medal was "out of stock."

"I can imagine, of course, with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's a big shortage," Reed said. "At least, I would imagine so."

The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal. [Link]

Stone Cold Busted

John Edward George, Jr., was a Korean War veteran, but not a Medal of Honor winner. Nevertheless, the words "Medal of Honor" were carved into his government-issued headstone. Upon learning that someone had lied about George's receiving the medal, the VA took appropriate action.

They [...] took the white marble stone to the maintenance yard at the national cemetery in New Bern.

There, they hit it with a sledgehammer.

They didn't stop until it was in chunks so small it was impossible to read the words that had once been carved into it. [Link]

My Cousin, The Hero

Genealogically speaking, Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham and I may or may not have shared a Y chromosome. (Most Dunhams in the Northeast descend either from Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Mass., as I do, or from Jonathan Singletary alias Dunham—proven by genetic testing to be from a distinct line.) But on this Veterans Day, I'll proudly count him as a cousin.

President Bush announced on Friday that the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, will be awarded posthumously to Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham.

In April 2004, Dunham was leading a patrol in an Iraqi town near the Syrian border when the patrol stopped a convoy of cars leaving the scene of an attack on a Marine convoy, according to military and media accounts of the action.

An occupant of one of the cars attacked Dunham and the two fought hand to hand. As they fought, Dunham yelled to fellow Marines, "No, no watch his hand." The attacker then dropped a grenade and Dunham hurled himself on top of it, using his helmet to try to blunt the force of the blast.

Still, Dunham was critically wounded in the explosion and died eight days later at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. [Link]

The bronze medal in genealogy goes to. . .

From The (Raleigh, N. C.) News & Observer of May 29, 2005:

Man gets medal for ancestor's Civil War service and death

The Associated Press

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Alexander Eaves of Guyandotte was 29 when he died in a Confederate prison in Salisbury, N.C., six months after his capture during the Battle of Kernstown-Winchester, Va., on July 24, 1864.

Eaves had also seen action at Hurricane Bridge, Point Pleasant, New River Bridge and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Eaves' commanding officer, future president Rutherford B. Hayes, wrote to Eaves' wife that the 13th Regiment of the West Virginia Volunteer Infantry "behaved splendidly" and were "worthy of special commendation."

But it took 140 years for his family to get that commendation.

[snip]

[Cordell] Adkins, 64, proved his connection to Eaves by researching military, census, birth and death records. He discovered he is a great-great-grandson of Thomas M. Eaves, Alexander Eaves' brother.

He received his ancestor's medal in Charleston on Jan. 29.

[Read the whole story]

Since when is a great-great-uncle an ancestor? Close enough for government work, I guess. To claim your own medal (4,000 are still available), visit the West Virginia State Archives website.