When a man dies in the process of trying to save another soldier on a battlefield he has shown the highest degree of courage that can be imagined. He didn't risk his life trying to save somebody, he gave his life doing it, it is unlikely that he did not know the risk of his actions, or the slim chances of success yet he went about it anyway, what on gods green earth could be more courageous than that? Using the standards some seem to thing should be used, this guy deserves the CMH, and no living recipient doesn't, while they may have showed great bravery, obviously they weren't facing certain death, or they would have also received the medal posthumously as well.

Why don't you open a reading primer and engage your mental capacity, I have no doubt about these men being deserving of our nations highest honors, and I didn't say anything to the contrary. What I pointed out is that there are some on here who feel that a man who did what the subject of the original post did doesn't deserve that honor, that his sacrifice and courage were somehow less than what others have shown. My point that was clearly stated (well to those with a high school reading ability anyway), was that the man died in an act showing the utmost bravery and heroism knowing that he was far more likely to be killed trying, than to live, yet some people here do not see that as being as brave or courageous as what others have done.

The CMH is our nations highest honor, and I do not feel that it should only be awarded posthumously, there are many fighting men who have committed acts of bravery and heroism far above and beyond the call of duty that deserve this honor and have not been awarded it. I don't think that there is, nor should there be a generic criteria for awarding of the CMH. In the case of the subject of the original post, the criteria has been met, in the instances that you gave I also feel that the criteria of the medal have been met.


I know a man who was awarded a Silver Star in Viet Nam, he was a helicopter crew chief, the helicopter he was in was flying a mission to extract Marines from an LZ that was being over run, and was nearly twenty miles behind enemy lines. As they approached the LZ they were informed that the last of the Marines had already been evacuated, and his flight turned around. His helicopter was hit by heavy small arms fire, lost control of the tail rotor and crashed into the jungle. The pilot was killed in the crash, the copilot was seriously wounded, he had internal injuries, and two broken legs. Still nearly 15 miles outside of an area that was under friendly control, he pulled the copilot from the now burning wreckage, saw that the pilot was dead, and collected his dogtag, then returned to the wreckage now fully engulfed in flames and retrieved some C-rations, his M16 rifle and two canteens of water. He immediately recognized the danger of capture, and also that capture would likely mean death to the badly wounded copilot, as the enemy was know to have little or no medical capacity, and the man needed medical treatment badly. He immediately carried the copilot away from the wreckage, and without a map made his way back to an area controlled by friendly forces. It took him two days of walking to get to a South Vietnamese outpost, during his journey he was pursued by Viet Cong, and North Vietnamese soldiers on foot, and was discovered several times. He expended all of the ammunition he had for his M16 rifle, and when he arrived at the South Vietnamese fire base, was armed with a Mosin Nagant rifle he had captured from a Viet Cong soldier he killed. The copilot lived, he eventually walked again, and several years later was allowed to return to military service and flight status. This man went on to spend 30 years in the Army, he retired as a Test Pilot with the rank of CW4.

Myself I feel his actions should have earned him a CMH, but the powers that be decided a Silver Star was in order, and that is what he was awarded. As far as he is concerned he would have been happy with a 30 day R and R trip to Hawaii and a plane ticket for his wife to meet him there. On an interesting note, this man retired less than two months before Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, he was recalled to Active Duty, and flew on several combat missions in formation with the man he had carried 15 miles through enemy territory over twenty years earlier. The man he saved was awarded a Bronze star with V device for action taken on the ground during the First Gulf War.