do medal of honor recipients get back pay

He spent his final days in Colorado with his wife and daughter. For these actions, he was awarded his second Medal of Honor.īaldwin retired after 40 years of service and was later recalled to the National Guard to help mentor soldiers entering World War I. When his unit received word that two women were captured by a superior force of Indians, Baldwin led a two-company-strong rescue to save them. Miles in 1874 and was responsible for rooting the violence from the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapahoe, and Comanche tribes. Baldwin also served under notorious Indian fighter Nelson A.

He spoke of then-Lieutenant Baldwin serving alongside him and how he was responsible for leading a company of Custer’s scouts in 7 degrees below zero weather and two feet of snow into Indian Territory on Thanksgiving Day. Harper’s Weekly sat down with Masterson and discussed their heroic campaign during the winter of 1868 to 1869. The 1864 Battle of Peachtree saw the captain leading “his company in a countercharge, under a galling fire ahead of his own men, and singly entered the enemy’s line, capturing and bringing back two commissioned officers, fully armed, besides a guidon of a Georgia regiment.” They were living legends in a time when turmoil between the nation and American Indian tribes could make or break the direction of our country’s future. Army officer, was recommended for the Medal of Honor three times while fighting two different adversaries and practically didn’t have an off-day from soldiering for 35 years across the American West! He served under George Armstrong Custer and alongside the legendary lawman “Bat” Masterson. Photo courtesy of War History Online.įrank Baldwin, a career U.S. Army Frank Baldwin in military dress (left), and also shown with Buffalo Bill in 1891. Remarkably, of the 19 veterans to earn the Medal twice, five of them were born in Ireland, which has a strong representation with 258 Irish-born U.S. Those that were recognized for their peacetime heroism now are awarded the Soldier’s Medal (Army) or the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. Regulations for the Medal of Honor today do not allow for two awards to be given for the same action. The most recent double Medal of Honor recipient earned the medal almost exactly 100 years ago in 1918 during World War I. Army officers were granted eligibility in 1863, and then it was open to everyone in the military. Added to that, the Medal of Honor was initially confined to only enlisted Navy sailors and U.S. Navy is the most awarded branch with eight sailors, some receiving the award not for combat heroism but life-saving actions. Fourteen have been awarded the medal for two separate events. Nineteen servicemen have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice.

Do medal of honor recipients get back pay