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UNITED STATES
NAVY and WORLD WAR 2
MEDAL OF HONOR
RECIPIENTS 1941-45
including Some
Observations on the Medal of
Honor and the British Victoria
Cross
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on
to
Medal
Recipients 1941
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| A history of the
U.S. Navy in World War 2 similar to my
"Royal Navy in World War 2" has long
been in the pipeline. Part of the work aims to
honour the men receiving the Congressional Medal
of Honor in the same way I have tried to honour
those of the British & Commonwealth forces
awarded the Victoria Cross. Hence these pages. |
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Summary of ALL
MARITIME MEDAL OF HONOR Recipients by Year,
Campaign and Service
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Year -
Campaigns,
Battles, Invasions,
Actions
grouped in
approximate date order
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1941
Pearl Harbor (15
citations)
Midway Island
Philippines Invasion
Wake Island
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1942
Java Sea
Rabaul
Doolittle Raid
Japanese POW
Coral Sea (4 citations)
Midway
Makin Island
Gualdalcanal (10)
Cape Esperance & Guadalcanal (5)
Anti-shipping air ops
French North Africa (2)
Solomon Islands
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1943
Submarine Ops
Air Ops (5 Citations)
Sicily
Lae
Bougainville (3)
Air Ops (2)
Submarine Ops
Tarawa (4)
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1944
Kwajalein (4
citations)
Air-sea rescue
Eniwetok
Battle of the Atlantic
Submarine Ops
Saipan (4)
Philippine Sea
Guam (4)
Tinian (2)
Submarine Ops
Peleliu (8)
Air-sea rescue
Submarine Ops
Leyte Gulf
Anti-shipping air ops
Submarine Ops
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1945
Lingayen Gulf
Corregidor Island
Naval Diving Ops
Iwo Jima (27 citations)
USS Franklin (2)
Submarine Ops
Okinawa (13)
Kamikaze Attacks
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Total
by
service |
| US
Navy |
16 (1 flag
rank) |
8 (2 flag
rank) |
4 |
7 |
7 |
42 |
| serving
with Marine Corps |
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7 |
7 |
| Naval
non-combat |
|
1 - POW |
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1 - diver |
2 |
| Naval
Aviation |
|
3 |
1 flying
boat sqdn |
1+1 flying
boat sqdn |
|
6 |
| US
Marine Corps |
1 |
7 |
7 |
23 |
32 |
70 |
| Marine
Aviation |
1 |
5 |
5 |
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11 |
| US
Coast Guard |
|
1 |
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1 |
| US
Army Air Corps |
|
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
| US Army |
|
2 |
|
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|
2 |
| Totals |
18 |
29 |
18 |
33 |
47 |
145 |
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SOME
OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEDAL OF HONOR and the
BRITISH VICTORIA CROSS
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| Different
criteria apply to the award of the Medal of Honor
and the Victoria Cross in maritime operations.
Thus, while the Medal of Honor would be awarded
to the US services in the following left-hand
column, the British equivalents might receive
other awards or be performed by the British Army
or RAF: |
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| US
Navy |
British naval
commanders of flag rank received other
awards |
| Naval
non-combat |
British equivalent
is the George Cross which was also
awarded to civilians, including the
island of Malta |
| Naval
Aviation |
Flying boat
squadrons were operated by RAF Coastal
Command |
| US
Marine Corps |
Most of their roles
were played by the British Army; again
distinguished British Army senior
commanders received other awards |
| Marine
Aviation |
Role performed by
RAF |
| US
Coast Guard |
Role
performed by RN |
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| Comment -
Britons tend to think the US awarded
more gallantry medals than Britain. I wanted to
see how true this is, especially with such
revered awards as the Congressional Medal of
Honor in the United States, and the Victoria (and
George) Cross in Britain and Commonwealth
countries. Straight-forward
comparisons are not easy, but after allowance is
made for the different award criteria in the US
and Britain, the respective sizes of their armed
forces, and the differences that do exist in
values and culture, I am struck by two things:
1.
The numbers of awards to naval forces in the two
countries are not too dissimilar, thus:
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| Royal Navy |
less: Fleet
Air Arm (2), Royal Marines (1) |
21 awards of the
Victoria Cross |
in 72 months |
| US Navy
plus US Coast Guard (1) |
less: commanders
of flag rank (3), serving onshore with
Marine Corps (7), Naval non-combat (2),
Naval Aviation (6), Marine Corps (81) |
40 awards of the
Medal of Honor |
in 45 months |
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| 2.
Many great naval campaigns, battles and actions
resulted in few or even no awards of the Victoria
Cross (or the Medal of Honour): |
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Examples |
Awards: |
No awards: |
| Royal Navy |
Battle of the
Atlantic |
one armed merchant
cruiser (AMC) action |
e.g. hundreds of
convoy actions |
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Mediterranean
surface warships |
one light cruiser
under aircraft attack |
e.g. many Malta
convoys and other surface actions |
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Auxiliary warships |
four including the
above AMC action |
e.g. hundreds of
minesweepers etc |
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Coastal forces |
one MGB in Raid on
St Nazaire |
e.g. hundreds of
MTB's, MGB's, ML's etc. |
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Invasions |
one during French
North Africa landings |
e.g. Sicily,
Salerno, Normandy, Walcheren |
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Royal Marines |
one in action in
Italy |
e.g. Sicily,
Salerno, Normandy, Walcheren |
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