Medal of Honor awarded 151 years later

[Grunt]

1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing will be awarded the Medal of Honor 151 years after his actions during the Civil War.

According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, "The recognition for the West Point graduate marks the longest span of time between the event and the bestowal of the award."

There is no doubt after reading this that he deserves the honor.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/medal-of-honor-gettysburg-hero/index.html?iref=allsearch

 

[DA SWO]

Friend of mine, Col (Ret) J. Cushing is a distant relative.
Col Cushing was an Artillery Officer, which I thought was cool.

 

[Brill]

Why after 150 years?

 

[DA SWO]

Why after 150 years?

Who knows, they periodically review submissions to see if an individual was overlooked.

This almost made it a few years ago but (then) Sen Webb from VA stripped it out of the defense bill.

 

[yarles87]

According to the NPR piece I was listening to yesterday, the MoH at the time was only given to living military members. Obviously, he was killed in action and it was forgotten by all but those in his hometown (Wisconsin I believe). They rallied attention to the cause over the past 150 years, which is impressive in a variety of ways.

Either way, congratulations to the recipient and descendents of the two gentlemen awarded. Hard motherfu**ers.

 

[Il Duce]

NYT had a good article on the topic a few weeks ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/u...Search&mabReward=relbias:r,{"1":"RI:11"}&_r=0

Here's the cut and pasted argument on why it took so long:

"The long delay owes to a variety of factors that speak to how Washington works, or does not. At the time of Lieutenant Cushing’s death, the medal was not awarded posthumously, so he was ineligible. Once the rules changed and his cause was taken up, it lingered for years in the bureaucratic and legislative trenches of the capital, where some worried that honoring him would open the floodgates to other requests. Mr. Kind said some Southern colleagues were also less than enthusiastic."