What Do Medal of Honor Recipients Get?

On May 13, 2014, President Barack Obama will award Kyle J. White, a former active duty Army Sergeant, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry. Sergeant White will receive the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions while serving as a Platoon Radio Telephone Operator assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, during combat operations against an armed enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007. Earning the MOH will entitle White to privileges and benefits for the rest of his life.

Read more about Kyle White's gallant and heroic actions.

Medal of Honor recipients receive the following privileges and special benefits:

A Special Medal of Honor pension of $1,329.58 per month above and beyond any military pensions or other benefits for which they may be eligible.

Special entitlements to Space “A” air transportation.

Enlisted recipients are entitled to a supplemental uniform allowance.

Commissary and exchange privileges (includes eligible dependents).

Admission to the United States military academies for qualified children of recipients – without nomination and quota requirements.

10 percent increase in retired pay.

Allowed to wear the uniform at anytime as long as the standard restrictions are observed.

Many states offer Medal of Honor automobile license plates.

Interment at Arlington National Cemetery if not otherwise eligible.

Learn more about the Medal of Honor.

sudorobo on April 5th, 2018 at 06:31 UTC »

MoH recipients have been to hell and back. Their stories are incredible, and sadly, few survive to tell them. Here's the account from Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez from Vietnam (25min., or scroll to 16:02). Here's an excerpt from the citation from Wikipedia:

Sergeant BENAVIDEZ voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt. Realizing that all the team members were either dead or wounded and unable to move to the pickup zone, he directed the aircraft to a nearby clearing where he jumped from the hovering helicopter, and ran approximately 75 meters under withering small arms fire to the crippled team.

Prior to reaching the team's position he was wounded in his right leg, face, and head. Despite these painful injuries, he took charge, repositioning the team members and directing their fire to facilitate the landing of an extraction aircraft, and the loading of wounded and dead team members. He then threw smoke canisters to direct the aircraft to the team's position. Despite his severe wounds and under intense enemy fire, he carried and dragged half of the wounded team members to the awaiting aircraft. He then provided protective fire by running alongside the aircraft as it moved to pick up the remaining team members. As the enemy's fire intensified, he hurried to recover the body and classified documents on the dead team leader.

When he reached the leader's body, Sergeant BENAVIDEZ was severely wounded by small arms fire in the abdomen and grenade fragments in his back. At nearly the same moment, the aircraft pilot was mortally wounded, and his helicopter crashed. Although in extremely critical condition due to his multiple wounds, Sergeant BENAVIDEZ secured the classified documents and made his way back to the wreckage, where he aided the wounded out of the overturned aircraft, and gathered the stunned survivors into a defensive perimeter. Under increasing enemy automatic weapons and grenade fire, he moved around the perimeter distributing water and ammunition to his weary men, reinstilling in them a will to live and fight. Facing a buildup of enemy opposition with a beleaguered team, Sergeant BENAVIDEZ mustered his strength, began calling in tactical air strikes and directed the fire from supporting gunships to suppress the enemy's fire and so permit another extraction attempt.

He was wounded again in his thigh by small arms fire while administering first aid to a wounded team member just before another extraction helicopter was able to land. His indomitable spirit kept him going as he began to ferry his comrades to the craft. On his second trip with the wounded, he was clubbed from behind by an enemy soldier. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, he sustained additional wounds to his head and arms before killing his adversary. He then continued under devastating fire to carry the wounded to the helicopter. Upon reaching the aircraft, he spotted and killed two enemy soldiers who were rushing the craft from an angle that prevented the aircraft door gunner from firing upon them. With little strength remaining, he made one last trip to the perimeter to ensure that all classified material had been collected or destroyed, and to bring in the remaining wounded. Only then, in extremely serious condition from numerous wounds and loss of blood, did he allow himself to be pulled into the extraction aircraft.

howtotailslide on April 5th, 2018 at 05:00 UTC »

Very nice but over 60% of Medal of Honors since WW2 have been awarded posthumously. So the majority of recipients sadly don’t get to ever receive those bonuses.

Source: http://mohmuseum.org/wp-content/themes/cntheme-basic/assets/img/moh-medal-factsheet.pdf

Raqped on April 5th, 2018 at 03:57 UTC »

Medal of Honor Flag.