A half-century late, the Medal of Honor for seven black heroes of WWII

The last act of a grateful nation's half-century commemoration of the Allied victory in World War II may be a simple and long-delayed act of justice: Seven black American soldiers, all but one now dead, will be awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor and self-sacrifice while fighting for a segregated country in a segregated Army.

While 1.2 million black Americans served in World War II, not one received the nation's highest military honor, and only nine were awarded the second-highest, the Distinguished Service Cross. Now U.S. News has learned that after a selection process nearly three years long, the Pentagon has forwarded seven names to Congress and the White House. Only the president may award the Medal of Honor, but in this case Congress must waive the time limit for awarding World War II medals, which expired in 1952. The waivers for the seven are contained in the 1997 defense authorization bill, and such measures ordinarily are not passed until October..... (Continue reading the U.S.News story)

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More from the U.S.News Infobank...

• Profiles in Courage: Read true stories of America's war heroes from past issues of U.S. News & World Report
  
• Listen to Sound Bytes from three Medal of Honor winners (in RealAudio format)
  
  • Henry Erwin. Injured in a World War II bombing run over Japan, he wanted to give up. But 'God's angel' kept urging him on.
    
  • Hiroshi Miyamuri. He craved a chance to prove his loyalty, and on a battle-torn hilltop in Korea, he proved much more than that.
    
  • James Stockdale. A prisoner in Vietnam, his willpower kept saying, 'Over my dead body will I let me fellow prisoners down.'
    
• Hot links to related Web sites:
  • Homepage of the 366th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit that saw action in North Africa and Italy during World War II
    
  • The Congressional Medal of Honor Society
  • The Medal of Honor
  • National Medal of Honor Museum
  • World War I - Trenches on the Web
  • Welcome To The WWII U.S. Veterans Website
  • KOREANWAR PROJECT
  • VIETNAM VETERANS HOME PAGE
  • American Wars