Comments for Today's Medal of Honor Moment for 5 August

Today's Medal of Honor Moment for 5 August

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:19:38 -0600

5 August - We make up for the 8 Medals in the past four days as we open with the Civil War with a Medal for Baton Rouge in 1862 and then a huge number of Medals for the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. I would note that Yeoman Atkinson had an interesting career. The Battle of Mobile Bay is be the most be-Medalled battle in the history of the Medal - with 97 awards. This day in history has thus far generated 101 total awards. Almost 3 percent of the total awards of the Medal stem from this one day of the year - and the bulk of that from one battle in1864. This didn't occur often, and after the Spanish-American War didn't happen at all. Today, these actions would be covered by Navy Commendation Medals, Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, and Navy Crosses, in addition to the Medal. But only the Medal existed in this era. By contrast, Operation Tidal Wave, the air attack on the refineries at Ploesti, Romania in August of 1943 was every bit as desperate as Mobile Bay, but only (if "only" is an apt word) resulted in 5 awards of the Medal - which is a singular event in what could be termed the modern era for the Medal of Honor. This first week in August, is a fascinating week, including as it does the greatest single day for the Medal and a day for which, as yet, no Medals have been awarded.

Comment from Tim on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:12:17 -0600

Monty Python and The Holy Grail wasn't a documentary? Shoot - now I have to change my whole worldview.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:04:48 -0600

Well, me too, actually. But they *are* history posts....

Comment from Tim on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:52:25 -0600

Meh. I like my etymology better.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:40:34 -0600

For those who aren't familiar with the term: Holystone.

Comment from Tim on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:37:04 -0600

A "hand holystone"? Is that derived from the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?

Comment from dave on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:16:48 -0600

I read them daily and thank you for providing it, just do not feel qualified to comment. After reading all the Mobile Bay citations I feel the need to research how the battle played out.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:57:58 -0600

Whee! Someone actually *reads* these!

Comment from Chuck Simmins on 2009-08-05

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:32:32 -0600

""Smith threw a hand holystone into one of the ports at a rebel using abusive language against the crew of the ship." There's gotta be an abusive language medal. There just has to be.