Transcript TAKS Remediation Lesson #1

Supporting standards comprise
35% of the U. S. History Test
26 (F)
Congressional
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the America’s highest military honor,
awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.
The medal is awarded by the President in the name of Congress to
US military personnel only. There are three versions of the medal,
one for the Army, one for the Navy, and one for the Air
Force. Personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the
Navy version.
There have been 3,468 Medals of Honor awarded to the
nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and coast
guardsmen since the decoration's creation in 1861. There
were no military awards or medals in use at the beginning
of the American Civil War (1861–1865). As the only award
available during this conflict, almost half of all Medals of
Honor presented to date were awarded for actions in the
four years of the Civil War.
The Medal of Honor is usually presented by the President at
the White House in a formal ceremony intended to represent the
gratitude of the American people, with posthumous presentations
made to the primary next of kin. In 1990, Congress designated
March 25 annually as “National Medal of Honor Day.” Due to its
prestige and status, the Medal of Honor is afforded special protection
under U.S. law against any unauthorized adornment, sale, or
manufacture, which includes any associated ribbon or badge.
The medal was established during the civil war to give
recognition to men who distinguished themselves
“conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity” in
in combat
combat with
with an
an
enemy of the United States. There are two distinct protocols for
awarding the Medal of Honor. The first and most common is
nomination and approval through the chain of command of the
service member. The second method is nomination by a
member of the U.S. Congress, generally at the request of a
constituent, and the subsequent approval via a special Act of
Congress. In both cases, the Medal of Honor is presented by the
President on behalf of, and in the name of, the Congress. Since
1941, more than half of the Medals of Honor have been
awarded posthumously. Medal of Honor recipients are usually
personally decorated by the President. If the Medal of Honor is
awarded posthumously it is presented to the recipient’s family.
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to out national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(F) 1 Discuss the importance of Congressional
Medal of Honor recipients, including
individuals of all races & genders such as
Vernon J. Baker
Vernon Joseph Baker (1919–2010) was
a U. S. Army officer who received
the Medal of Honor, the highest military
award given by the United States
Government for his valorous actions
during World War II. He was awarded the
medal for his actions on April 5–6, 1945
near Viareggio, Italy. Baker was the only
living black American World War II
veteran of the seven belatedly awarded the
Medal of Honor when it was bestowed
upon him by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
Baker was born on December 17, 1919, in Cheyenne,
Wyoming, the youngest of three children. After his
parents died in a car accident when he was four, he
and his two sisters were raised by their
grandparents. His grandfather Joseph S. Baker,
a railroad worker in Cheyenne, taught him to hunt in
order to feed the family and became “the most
influential figure in Vernon's life.” Baker worked in
a series of menial jobs until his enlistment in the U.S.
Army in mid-1941. He attempt to enlist in April 1941,
but was turned away with the recruiter stating, “We
don't have any quotas for you people.” Baker tried
again weeks later with a different recruiter and was
accepted; he requested to become
a quartermaster but was assigned instead to
the infantry.
Baker entered the Army on June 26, 1941, six months prior to
the U.S. entry into World War II. He went through training
at Camp Wolters, Tx., Texas, and after completing Officer
Candidate School was commissioned as a second lieutenant on
January 11, 1943. In June 1944, Baker was sent to Italy with the
all-black 92nd Infantry Division. He was wounded in the arm in
October of that year, hospitalized near Pisa, and in December
rejoined his unit in reserve along the Gothic Line. In early
spring, 1945, his unit was pulled from the reserve status and
ordered into combat. On the morning of April 5, Baker
participated in an attack on the German stronghold of Castle
Aghinolfi. During the assault, Baker led his heavy weapons
platoon through German army defenses to within sight of the
castle, personally destroying a machine gun position, two
observation posts, two bunkers, and a network of German
telephone lines along the way. It was for these and other
actions including leading a battalion advance under heavy fire
that he was later awarded the Medal of Honor.
After the end of the war, Baker remained in Europe with
the Allied occupation forces until 1947, when he lost his
commission due to the lack of a college education. He was
re-commissioned during the Korean War and joined the
11th Airborne Division, but did not see any combat. He left
the military in 1968 as a first lieutenant. In 1993, a study
commissioned by the U.S. Army described systematic
racial discrimination in the criteria for awarding
decorations during World War II. At the time, no Medals
of Honor had been awarded to the black American
soldiers who served in World War II. After an exhaustive
review of files, the study recommended that ten
black Distinguished Service Cross recipients have their
military awards upgraded to the Medal of Honor. On
January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded the
Medal of Honor to seven of the World War II veterans;
Baker was the only living recipient of the medal at the
time.
Baker’s official Medal of Honor citation reads: For extraordinary
heroism in action on 5 and 6 April 1945, near Viareggio, Italy.
Then Second Lieutenant Baker demonstrated outstanding
courage and leadership in destroying enemy installations,
personnel, and equipment during his company’s attack against a
strongly entrenched enemy in mountainous terrain. When his
company was stopped by the concentration of fire from several
machine gun emplacements, he crawled to one position and
destroyed it, killing three Germans. Continuing forward, he
attacked an enemy observation post and killed two occupants.
With the aid of one of his men, Lieutenant Baker attacked two
more machine gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy
soldiers occupying these positions. He then covered the
evacuation of the wounded personnel of his company by
occupying an exposed position and drawing the enemy’s fire. On
the following night Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion
advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the
division objective. Second Lieutenant Baker’s fighting spirit and
daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and exemplify
the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to out national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(F) 2 Discuss the importance of Congressional
Medal of Honor recipients, including
individuals of all races & genders such as Alvin
York
Alvin Cullum York (1887–1964), known also
by his rank, Sergeant York, was one of the
most decorated American soldiers in World
War I. He received the Medal of Honor for
leading an attack on a German machine
gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 28
German soldiers, and capturing 132 others.
This action occurred during the U.S.-led
portion of the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive in France, which was part of a
broader Allied offensive masterminded by
Marshal Ferdinand Foch to breach
the Hindenburg line and make the opposing
German forces surrender.
Alvin Cullum York was born in a two room log cabin
near Pall Mall, Tn., on December 13, 1887, the third of
eleven children born to Mary Elizabeth Brooks and William
Uriah York. The York family is of English and Ulster
Scots ancestry. York was also a violent alcoholic prone to
fighting in saloons and accumulated several arrests within
the area. His mother, a member of a pacifist
Protestant denomination, tried to persuade York to change
his ways without success. Despite his history of drinking
and fighting, York attended church regularly and often led
the hymn singing. A revival meeting at the end of 1914 led
him to a conversion experience on January 1, 1915. His
congregation was the Church of Christ in Christian Union,
a Protestant denomination that shunned secular politics
and disputes between Christian denominations. This
church had no specific doctrine of pacifism but had been
formed in reaction to the Methodists’ support for the Civil
War and now opposed all forms of violence.
In a lecture later in life, he reported his reaction to the
outbreak of World War I: “I was worried clean through. I
didn’t want to go and kill. I believed in my Bible.” On June 5,
1917, at the age of 29, Alvin York registered for the draft as all
men between 21 and 31 years of age did on that day. When he
registered for the draft, he answered the question “Do you
claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?” by writing
“Yes. Don’t Want To Fight.” When his initial claim
for conscientious objector status was denied, he appealed. In
November 1917, while York’s application was considered, he
was drafted and began his army service at Camp Gordon in
Georgia. From the day he registered for the draft until he
returned from the war on May 29, 1919, York kept a diary of
his activities. In his diary, York wrote that he refused to sign
documents provided by his pastor seeking a discharge from
the Army on religious grounds and refused to sign similar
documents provided by his mother asserting a claim of
exemption as the sole support of his mother and siblings. He
also disclaimed ever having been a conscientious objector.
York was drafted into the U. S. Army and served in
Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry
Division at Camp Gordon. Deeply troubled by the conflict
between his pacifism and his training for war, he spoke at
length with his company commander, Captain Edward
Courtney Bullock Danforth (1894–1973) of Augusta,
Ga., and his battalion commander, Major Gonzalo
Edward Buxton (1880–1949) of Providence, R. I., a
devout Christian himself. Citing Biblical passages about
violence (“He that hath no sword, let him sell his cloak
and buy one.” “Render unto Caesar . . .” “... if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants
fight”), they forced York to reconsider the morality of his
participation in the war. Granted a 10-day leave to visit
home, he returned convinced that God meant for him to
fight and would keep him safe, as committed to his new
mission as he had been to pacifism.
During an attack by his battalion to capture German
positions near Hill 223 along the Decauville
railline north of Chatel-Chéhéry, France, on October
8, 1918, York’s actions earned him the Medal of
Honor. He recalled: “The Germans got us, and they
got us right smart. They just stopped us dead in our
tracks. Their machine guns were up there on the
heights overlooking us and well hidden, and we
couldn’t tell for certain where the terrible heavy fire
was coming from. . . . And I’m telling you they were
shooting straight. Our boys just went down like the
long grass before the mowing machine at home. Our
attack just faded out. . . . And there we were, lying
down, about halfway across [the valley] and those
German machine guns and big shells getting us
hard.”
Under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early, four
non-commissioned officers, including recently
promoted Cpl. York, and thirteen privates were
ordered to infiltrate behind the German lines to take
out the machine guns. The group worked their way
behind the Germans and overran the headquarters
of a German unit, capturing a large group of German
soldiers who were preparing a counter-attack
against the U.S. troops. Early’s men were contending
with the prisoners when machine gun fire suddenly
peppered the area, killing six Americans and
wounding three others. The fire came from German
machine guns on the ridge. The loss of the nine put
Corporal York in charge of the seven remaining U.S.
soldiers. As his men remained under cover, guarding
the prisoners, York worked his way into position to
silence the German machine guns. York recalled:
“And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down
the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the
Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a racket in
all of your life. I didn’t have time to dodge behind a tree or dive
into the brush. . . . As soon as the machine guns opened fire on
me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over
thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was
touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp
shooting. . . . All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I
didn’t want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I.
And I was giving them the best I had.” German First
Lieutenant Paul Jürgen Vollmer, commander of the First
Battalion, 120th Landwehr Infantry, failed to injure York and,
seeing his mounting losses, offered in English to surrender the
unit to York, who accepted. By the end of the engagement,
York and his seven men marched 132 German prisoners back
to the American lines. His actions silenced the German
machine guns and were responsible for enabling the 328th
Infantry to renew its attack to capture the Decauville Railroad.
York was awarded the Medal of Honor, presented to
York by the commanding general of the American
Expeditionary Force, Gen. John J. Pershing.
The French Republic awarded him the Croix de
Guerra and the Legion of Honor. Italy awarded him
its Croce di Guerra al Merito and Montenegro, its
War Medal. He eventually received nearly 50
decorations. His Medal of Honor citation reads:
“After his platoon suffered heavy casualties and 3
other noncommissioned officers had become
casualties, Cpl. York assumed command. Fearlessly
leading 7 men, he charged with great daring a
machine gun nest which was pouring deadly and
incessant fire upon his platoon. In this heroic feat
the machine gun nest was taken, together with 4
officers and 128 men and several guns.”
Of his deeds, York said to his division commander, General Julian
Robert Lindsey, in 1919: “A higher power than man guided and watched
over me and told me what to do.” York refused many offers to profit
from his fame, including thousands of dollars offered for appearances,
newspaper articles, and movie rights to his life story. Companies wanted
him to appear in advertisements or to pose with their products. Instead
he lent his name to various charitable and civic causes. To support
economic development, he campaigned to get Tennessee to build a road
to service his native region, succeeding when a highway through the
mountains was completed in the mid-1920s and named Alvin C. York
Highway. The Nashville Rotary organized the purchase by public
subscription of a 400-acre farm, the one gift that York accepted. It
proved not to be the fully equipped farm he was promised, and he had to
borrow money to stock it. He subsequently lost money in the farming
depression that followed the war. Then the Rotary, which was
purchasing the property in installments, failed to make the payments,
leaving York to pay himself. In 1921 he had to ask for help, resulting in
an extended discussion of his finances in the press, some of it sharply
critical. Debt in itself was a trial: “I could get used to most any kind of
hardship, but I’m not fitted for the hardship of owing money.” Only an
appeal to Rotary Clubs nationwide and an account of York’s plight in
the New York World brought in the required contributions by Christmas
1921.
“We, the descendants of the pioneer long hunters of the mountains,
have been called Scotch-Irish and pure Anglo-Saxon, and that is
complimentary, I reckon. But we want the world to know that we are
Americans. The spiritual environment and our religious life in the
mountains have made our spirit wholly American, and that true
pioneer American spirit still exists in the Tennessee mountains.”
York had refused several times to authorize a film version of his life
story. Finally, in 1940, as York was looking to finance an
interdenominational Bible school, he yielded to a persistent
Hollywood producer and negotiated the contract himself. In 1941,
the movie Sergeant York directed by Howard Hawks with Gary
Cooper in the title role told about his life and Medal of Honor
action. The screenplay included much fictitious material though it
was based on York’s Diary. The film received 11 Oscar nominations
and won two, including the Academy Award for Best Actor for
Cooper. It was the highest-grossing picture of 1941. York’s earnings
from the film, about $150,000 in the first 2 years as well as later
royalties, resulted in a decade-long battle with the IRS. York
eventually built part of his planned Bible school, which hosted 100
students until the late 1950s.
Supporting Standard (26)
The student understands how people from various
groups contribute to out national identity.
The Student is expected to:
(F) 3 Discuss the importance of Congressional
Medal of Honor recipients, including
individuals of all races & genders such as Roy
Benavidez
Master Sergeant Raul (Roy) Perez Benavidez (1935–
1998) was a former member of the U. S. Army
Special Forces (Studies & Observations Group) and
retired U. S. Army master sergeant who received
the Medal of Honor (1981) for his valorous actions in
combat near Lôc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2,
1968. Roy P. Benavidez was born in Lindenau
near Cuero, Tx.,in DeWitt County. He was the son of
a Mexican-American father, Salvador Benavidez and
a Yaqui Native American mother, Teresa Perez.
When he was two years old, his father died
of tuberculosis and his mother remarried. Five years
later, his mother died from tuberculosis too.
Benavidez and his younger brother, Roger moved
to El Campo, where their grandfather, uncle and
aunt raised them along with eight cousins.
Benavidez shined shoes at the local bus station,
labored on farms in Texas and Colorado, and worked
at a tire shop in El Campo. He attended school
sporadically, and at the age 15 he dropped out to
work full-time to help support the family. Benavidez
enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard in 1952
during the Korean War. In June 1955, he enlisted in
the regular U. S. Army. In 1959, he married Hilaria
Coy Benavidez, completed airborne training, and
was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort
Bragg, N. C. In 1965 he was sent to South Vietnam as
an advisor to an ARVN infantry regiment. He
stepped on a land mine during a patrol and was
evacuated to the United States, where doctors at Fort
Sam Houston concluded he would never walk again
and began preparing his medical discharge papers.
As Benavidez noted in his 1981 MOH acceptance speech,
stung by the diagnosis, as well as flag burnings and media
criticism of the US military presence in Vietnam he saw
on TV, he began an unsanctioned nightly training ritual
in an attempt to redevelop his ability to walk. Getting out
of bed at night (against doctor’s orders), Benavidez would
crawl using his elbows and chin to a wall near his bedside
and (with the encouragement of his fellow patients, many
of whom were permanently paralyzed and/or missing
limbs), he would prop himself against the wall and
attempt to lift himself unaided, starting by wiggling his
toes, then his feet, and then eventually (after several
months of excruciating practice that by his own
Benavidez
Roy O’Connor
admission often
left himwith
in tears)
pushing himself up the
provided
eyewitness
wall with who
his ankles
andthe
legs.
After over a year of
account
leading
to receipt
hospitalization,
Benavidez
walked
out ofofthe hospital in
Medal
Honor
July 1966, with histhe
wife
at hisofside,
determined to return
to combat in Vietnam.
Benavidez returned to Fort Bragg and began
training for the elite Army Special Forces.
Once qualified and accepted, he became a
member of the 5th Special Forces Group; and
the Studies and Observations Group (SOG).
Despite continuing pain from his wounds, he
returned to South Vietnam in January 1968.
On May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces
patrol which included
nine Montagnard tribesmen, was surrounded
by a NVA battalion. Benavidez heard the radio
appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to
respond. Armed only with a knife, he jumped
from the helicopter carrying his medical bag
and rushed to help the trapped patrol.
Benavidez “distinguished himself by a series of daring
and extremely glorious actions. . . and because of his
gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were
in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to
withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped
despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at
least eight men.” He was evacuated to the base camp,
examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a
body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was
suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help. A
doctor came and examined him and he too believed
Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zipper up
the bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face,
alerting the doctor that he was still alive (see medal
citation below). Benavidez had a total of 37 separate
bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six hour
fight with the enemy battalion.
Benavidez was evacuated once again to Brooke Army
Medical Center, where he eventually recovered. He
received the Distinguished Service Cross for
extraordinary heroism and four Purple Hearts. In
1969, he was assigned to Fort Riley, Ks. In 1972, he was
assigned to Fort Sam Houston, Tx., where he remained
until retirement. In 1973, after more detailed accounts
became available, Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel
Ralph R. Drake insisted that Benavidez receive
the Medal of Honor. By then, however, the time limit
on the medal had expired. An appeal
to Congress resulted in an exemption for Benavidez,
but the Army Decorations Board denied him an
upgrade of his Distinguished Service Cross to the
Medal of Honor. The Army board required
an eyewitness account from someone present during
the action, and Benavidez believed that there were no
living witnesses of the “Six Hours in Hell.”
In 1980, Brian O’Connor, a former member (radioman) of
Benavidez’s Special Forces team in Vietnam, provided a tenpage report of the engagement with the NVA on May 2, 1968.
O’Connor had been severely wounded (Benavidez had believed
him dead), and was evacuated to the United States before his
superiors could fully debrief him. O’Connor learned that
Benavidez was alive by chance. He had been living in the Fiji
Islands and was on holiday in Australia when he read a
newspaper account of Benavidez from an El Campo
newspaper. It had been picked up by the international press
and reprinted in Australia. O’Connor soon contacted his old
friend Roy and submitted his report, confirming the accounts
already provided by others, and providing himself as the
necessary eyewitness to Benavidez’s actions on May 2, 1968.
Benavidez’s Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the
Medal of Honor by the Army. On February 24, 1981, President
Ronald Reagan presented Roy P. Benavidez the Medal of
Honor. Reagan reportedly turned to the press and said: “If the
story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe
it.”
Fini