“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them.” —Thomas Jefferson (1775)
In 1787, George Washington and the Constitutional Convention delegates composed this preamble: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
For all Americans, and especially those of us who have sworn “to support and defend” our Constitution, securing the “blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity” is more than just an aspiration. It is our sacred duty. And indeed, generations of American Patriots have paid a great personal price in fulfillment of that duty.
March 25th is National Medal of Honor Day — the anniversary observance of the awarding of the first Medals of Honor.
It is a day to recognize all recipients of our nation’s highest military award for their “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” and recall their extraordinary service and sacrifice on behalf of their brothers in arms and in defense of American Liberty.
On this date in 1863, Private Jacob Parrott was the first of six men to receive the Medal of Honor from Abraham Lincoln, for their actions on April 12, 1862, as members of Andrews’ Raiders. They were volunteers from three Ohio infantry regiments, and their valorous actions were memorialized in books and films as “The Great Locomotive Chase.”
Those actions occurred just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Birthplace of the Medal of Honor and home of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
Within two weeks of the Great Locomotive Chase, all of the Raiders were captured and held in the Swims Jail in Chattanooga, where they were charged with “acts of unlawful belligerency,” while the civilians, including James Andrews, were charged as spies. They were all tried and convicted in military courts. Andrews was executed on June 7, 1862 in Atlanta, and seven additional Raiders were also hanged there.
The National Heritage Center’s educational mission is to instill the next generation of young people with the six character-trait pillars of the Medal of Honor — traits that are common to all recipients: Courage, Sacrifice, Patriotism, Citizenship, Integrity, and Commitment.
Notably, Chattanooga was also the field of service for the only woman who holds a Medal of Honor, Dr. Mary Walker.
Other well-known recipients from our area include World War I’s Alvin York, whose life story was immortalized in the film “Sergeant York.” It was also home to our neighbor for the last 20 years of his life, World War II’s Desmond Doss, whose heroic actions were featured in the movie “Hacksaw Ridge.” Other local recipients include T/Sgt Charles Coolidge and CPT Larry Taylor.
Since those first medals were awarded, American presidents and military commanders have, in the name of the United States Congress, presented Medals of Honor to more than 3,500 recipients. In a nation of some 330 million people today, there are fewer than 65 living recipients.
We invite you to read their Profiles of Valor.
“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” —Alexander Hamilton (1775)
For additional inspiration, read “Our Flag — What Do You See?” by Col. Thorsness.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the association of all recipients, has an outstanding Ode to Veterans video of recipients reading the poem, “Carry On,” by Robert William Service. (The words are posted below.)
Additionally, watch this video of recipients on what the Medal of Honor means to them: In Their Own Words.
In 1992, during Ronald Reagan’s final public address, he offered these words about honoring our legacy of Liberty: “My fondest hope for each one of you is that you will love your country not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never lose your natural, God-given optimism.”
Join us extending “the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity” by ensuring that we as Americans “never forget our heroic origins,” and by promoting and extending the legacy of all Medal of Honor recipients to the next generation. Please support this mission with a designated gift online or make a check payable to Patriot Foundation Trust (noting NMoHHC on the memo line) and mail to:
Patriot Foundation Trust
PO Box 407
Chattanooga, TN 37401-0407
Read about The Patriot Post’s Mission of Service to our Armed Forces, including Operation Shield of Strength supporting our Patriots in uniform and their families.
I’ll leave you with these words, which Medal of Honor Marine recipient Kyle Carpenter noted are the foundation for his service and sacrifice: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” —John 15:13
“Carry On” by Robert William Service
It’s easy to fight when everything’s right, And you’re mad with the thrill and the glory; It’s easy to cheer when victory’s near, And wallow in fields that are gory. It’s a different song when everything’s wrong, When you’re feeling infernally mortal; When it’s ten against one, and hope there is none, Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
Carry on! Carry on! There isn’t much punch in your blow. You’re glaring and staring and hitting out blind; You’re muddy and bloody, but never you mind. Carry on! Carry on! You haven’t the ghost of a show. It’s looking like death, but while you’ve a breath, Carry on, my son! Carry on!
And so in the strife of the battle of life It’s easy to fight when you’re winning; It’s easy to slave, and starve and be brave, When the dawn of success is beginning. But the man who can meet despair and defeat With a cheer, there’s the man of God’s choosing; The man who can fight to Heaven’s own height Is the man who can fight when he’s losing.
Carry on! Carry on! Things never were looming so black. But show that you haven’t a cowardly streak, And though you’re unlucky you never are weak. Carry on! Carry on! Brace up for another attack. It’s looking like hell, but – you never can tell: Carry on, old man! Carry on!
There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt, And some who in brutishness wallow; There are others, I know, who in piety go Because of a Heaven to follow. But to labour with zest, and to give of your best, For the sweetness and joy of the giving; To help folks along with a hand and a song; Why, there’s the real sunshine of living.
Carry on! Carry on! Fight the good fight and true; Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer; There’s big work to do, and that’s why you are here. Carry on! Carry on! Let the world be the better for you; And at last when you die, let this be your cry: Carry on, my soul! Carry on!
(Visit the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center website.)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
Join us in prayer for our Patriots in uniform and their families — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way, and for our nation’s First Responders. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic’s Founding Principle of Liberty, in order to ignite the fires of freedom in the hearts and minds of our countrymen. Thank you for supporting our nation’s premier online journal of Liberty.
The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring Their Sacrifice Foundation and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.
