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11 May 2008 Edition

Welcome to the Orders, Decorations and Medals Website, which we update every Sunday. The website consists of links to the latest news items and websites related to medals. Old news items are transferred to the Medals by Country section.  The accuracy of information in news items and websites should only be used as a starting point for research using reliable primary sources. We hope you enjoy your visit.
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Note: Moving, so updates will be on an irregular basis, if any, until further notice.
RAF Corporal David Hayden has become the first airman to be awarded the Military Cross Britain - Iraq hero receives medal from Queen An RAF serviceman who ran through a hail of enemy gunfire to rescue a fatally wounded colleague has become the first airman to be awarded the Military Cross. The citation for his honour stated how he repeatedly "showed the most outstanding courage" and that his bravery was of the "very highest order". The airman was awarded the Military Cross for showing outstanding gallantry when 1 Squadron RAF Regiment came under attack as they were out on patrol in the Iraqi village of Al-Waki, near Basra last August. When Leading Aircraftman Martin Beard was fatally wounded Cpl Hayden, who was second in command of a sub unit of B Flight, ran with a colleague to move him into cover and fired back at the gun-men, killing one. The citation for his honour stated: "Without a second thought for his own safety, Hayden volunteered to carry the injured man out of the fire fight. "He dashed across open ground under a hail of enemy small arms fire. Hayden ran fully upright with the man on his shoulders to safety, having been exposed to enemy fire for the whole distance." ukpress.google.com 7 May 08

Morocco - Hihi, chevalier de l’Ordre du Trône Hassan Hihi has been honoured by His Majesty King Mohammed VI by being made a chevalier de l’Ordre du Trône (Knight of the Order of the Throne), for his 26 years of service and contributions to Royal Air Maroc. Article in French. aujourdhui.ma 5 May 08

Corporal Michael Starker Canada - Corporal Michael Starker, of 15 Field Ambulance, was killed when he came under enemy fire during a patrol in the Pashmul region of the Zharey district.

Kazakhstan - Kazakh President awards veterans with "Astana's 10th anniversary medal  President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev awarded a group of the Great Patriotic war veterans with "Astana's 10th anniversary" jubilee medal. "By awarding you with the jubilee medal "Astana's 10th anniversary" we note, that we always remember your feat. Thanks to it today's generation live in peace, and we built the independent Kazakhstan and its capital," Nursultan Nazarbayev stated. eng.gazeta.kz 7 May 08

Maryland National Guard Staff. Sgt. Matthew Miller awarded Bronze Star United States - Md. Firefighter, Soldier Earns Medal Of Valor A member of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department was given the Bronze Star Medal of Valor for his role in saving the life of a girl overseas. Maryland National Guard Staff. Sgt. Matthew Miller played a key role in saving a child and an Iraqi soldier while on his second deployment in Iraq'. Miller, a medic with the 175th infantry of the Maryland National Guard, said during that tour of duty, his unit came across an Iraqi checkpoint that had just been attacked near the town of Sumara.  Miller said he went across a bridge with a scout team and saw a truck speeding toward them with a driver who had blood on his clothes. He said they could hear a woman screaming in the back, and then the driver saw a girl on the road who had been shot. Miller said he and another comrade rushed to give aid. He said the 6-year-old girl had been shot through the neck, and that she was awake and massively bleeding.  He said that while they were standing there, an Iraqi soldier who had been standing in front of him while he worked to save the girl's life was also shot. Despite the dire conditions and limited medical equipment, Miller and his team saved the child and the wounded soldier. wbaltv.com 7 May 08

United States - Medals awarded to Army unit 2nd Lt. Daniel Garrison stood at attention as girlfriend Heather Rangel pinned a Bronze Star Medal to his uniform. More than 100 visitors, family members and friends from across the state gathered at the Texas National Guard's Kilgore armory to see soldiers receive awards and medals during the Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 144th Infantry regiment barbecue award ceremony. The company spent nearly a year in Iraq. Many soldiers also spent additional months away training. Waving flags, snapping pictures and holding back tears, many family members sat anxiously as 97 medals and more than 100 certificates were handed out to the company of 130 soldiers. Garrison, who provided escorted security for people, weapons and goods, was one of seven soldiers to receive a Bronze Star.

Bronze Star recipients

- Sgt. 1st Class Derrick Armfield , Cedar Hill

- 2nd Lt. Daniel Garrison, Dallas

- Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Irvine, Texarkana

- Sgt. 1st Class Kenny Lopez, Dallas

- Sgt. Randal Pemberton, Lubbock

- 1st Lt. Justin Sisneros, Lubbock

- 1st Lt. Eric Zepeda, Nixon

Most of the Bronze Stars awarded are meritorious and do not have the V device, as are all of the Bronze Stars to soldiers in this unit.

Sgt. Cody Mitchell was one of eight to receive the Meritorious Service Medal for his work with the company's medical detachment.

Medals

- Army Achievement, a medal for noted service and achievement: 6

- Army Commendation, a medal for noted heroism and military achievement: 76

- Meritorious Service, a medal for outstanding non-combat service achievement: 8

- Bronze Star, fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth-highest military award: 7 news-journal.com 9 May 08

Staff Sgt James Wadsworth awarded with the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross Britain - Rare honour given to Basra bomb hero A bomb disposal expert who shed his protective gear to defuse a roadside bomb has been awarded a rare gallantry medal. Staff Sgt James Wadsworth, 29, of Over, near Cambridge, was with the Royal Logistics Corps last July when he removed the detonator from the 100lb bomb while under attack outside a hospital in Basra. He took off his protective suit to gain better access to the device, which had been spray-painted and covered in rubble to make it look like a stone block. At the moment he defused it a light flashed on, meaning a terrorist was trying in vain to blow it up. His bravery was described as an example of "the highest tradition of valour in the British Army" and the soldier, who has been in the Army since he was 16, will be presented with the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on June 4. Only 23 have been awarded. Speaking to an Army magazine, Mr Wadsworth said: "Normally you would spend three or four hours dealing with a device like that, but we were under fire in the city centre. I made it safe in 27 minutes. We only realised how big it was when we came to move it." cambridge-news.co.uk 9 May 08

The following articles will not be archived and are for information purposes only:
4 May 2008 Edition
Spc. Ross McGinnis, who was killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Iraq when he smothered a grenade with his body, will receive the Medal of Honor United States - McGinnis to receive Medal of Honor Spc. Ross McGinnis, who was killed Dec. 4, 2006, in Iraq when he smothered a grenade with his body, will receive the Medal of Honor. McGinnis, 19, is the second soldier to receive the nation’s highest valor award for actions while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. McGinnis, of 1st Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, is credited with saving the lives of four fellow soldiers. On Dec. 4, 2006, McGinnis was manning the turret in the last Humvee of a six-vehicle patrol in Adhamiyah in northeast Baghdad when an insurgent threw a grenade from the roof of a nearby building. “Grenade!” yelled McGinnis, who was manning the vehicle's M2 .50-caliber machine gun. McGinnis, facing backwards because he was in the rear vehicle, tried to deflect the grenade but it fell into the Humvee and lodged between the radios. As he stood up to get ready to jump out of the vehicle, as he had been trained to do, McGinnis realized the other four soldiers in the Humvee did not know where the grenade had landed and did not have enough time to escape. McGinnis, a native of Knox, Pa., threw his back against the radio mount, where the grenade was lodged, and smothered the explosive with his body. The grenade exploded, hitting McGinnis on his sides and lower back, under his vest. He was killed instantly. The other four men survived. McGinnis, who was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, will be honored during a ceremony at the White House. The ceremony is expected to take place sometime in June. armytimes.com 28 Apr 08

Australia - Remembering bravery in times of war The Victoria Cross, Australia's supreme award for military gallantry, is dead. Yet despite the high regard in which it is universally held, its demise occurred with barely a whimper. As I researched my new book on some of Australia's most outstanding VC winners, I became aware that beneath the surface in military circles there is a rumbling of discontent but no one is prepared to confront the issue publicly. The director of the Australian War Memorial, General Steve Gower, expressed his unease with the wholesale changes to our military decorations when we separated from the imperial system in 1991, but his concerns are more about notions of tradition. Australia's leading authority on the VC, Anthony Staunton, is slightly more assertive. He says the top honour for gallantry now available to Australians is regarded by many servicemen as the "pup" VC. But no one is prepared to break ranks to mourn the loss of  something very special in our military history. Australia can claim 96 Victoria Cross winners from the 1353 recipients since the medal's inception 150 years ago. They have all added lustre to the award, which in turn has immortalised their memories. The medal itself has become ever more prized, its story ever more gloriously arrayed in myth and legend. Today at auction medals can fetch up to $1 million from private and institutional collectors. Australia's first VC winner, Neville Howse, won his award in the Boer War when he rescued a trumpeter under fire who had been shot from his mount in open country. Howse, a medico with the unit, leapt on a horse and dashed out to the fallen soldier and had his own mount cut from beneath him.  Reaching the wounded man, Howse staunched the flow of blood and lifted him on to his shoulders. Then in a series of short rushes he brought the young man back to the lines, where he discovered he had a perforated bladder. He operated immediately and the patient survived. In World Wars I and II, a parade of true heroes like Albert Jacka, Harry Murray, Joe Maxwell, Tom "Diver" Derrick, Hugh Edwards, Roden Cutler and Charles Anderson brought great distinction to the reputation of the Australian fighting man. No VCs were awarded to Australians in Korea but Vietnam saw four VCs awarded, including that to the only living winner, Keith Payne. Yet very quietly in 1991 the whole system changed. On January 15 of that year the Queen and then Prime Minister Bob Hawke signed a document that ended an era. The VC ceased to be an imperial honour. Even the title was changed. It became "The Victoria Cross for Australia" and its new warrant differed starkly from those for the previous 135 years. The new arrangement provided no particular process for recommendation and review up the chain of command, but made the Defence Minister the final arbiter. The minister would almost certainly take the recommendation to Cabinet, and it would be signed off by the Prime Minister of the day. The decoration would only be awarded for "the most conspicuous gallantry of a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy". But those eligible would not only include members of the defence force but "other persons determined by the Minister for the purposes of this regulation". This marks a reversion to the only other time when civilians were permitted to receive the VC: that is, during the Indian Mutiny. But even then they needed to be operating under the command of a military officer. Today not even that condition applies. There may well be a case for non-military bravery to be rewarded with the VC, not least because the George Cross has been abandoned. Nevertheless, by widening the field of eligibility and separating the VC from its traditional roots, the Hawke government can be accused with some justice of devaluing the honour, at least until the new regime develops its own tradition. Some important elements of the VC remain. Hancocks, the London jeweller, will continue to cast and engrave the medals for the Australian authorities; the source of the bronze will probably remain the Chinese canons not the Russian guns, as legend asserts that have provided the metal since the award's inception. But the changes to the VC are part of a larger process which includes the other imperial service awards now abandoned: the DSO, DCM, MC, MM and M-I-D in the Army and their equivalents in the other services: the Distinguished Service Cross in the Navy and the Air Force's Distinguished Flying Cross. In their place, for all branches of the service, have been substituted (in descending order) the Star of Gallantry, the Medal of Gallantry and the Commendation for Gallantry; the new unit awards are the Unit Citation for Gallantry and the Meritorious Unit Citation. War Memorial Director Steve Gower questions the change of designation. "I find them very hard to correlate to the former Imperial Awards," he says. "I think it's important to have our own. But I really don't know why they were not designated the Australian DSO, the Australian MC and MM." Whatever the merits or otherwise of the change, some universal and immutable truths remain: the best VC is the one that is never awarded, because war is the last and the worst resort. Its greatest heroes will always be those who hate it most and wish to end it quickest. And their stories will forever be a treasured part of our national heritage. Robert Macklin's book Bravest How Some of Australia's Greatest War Heroes Won Their Medals is published by Allen & Unwin. RRP $29.95 canberra.yourguide.com.au 25 Apr 08

Master Sgt Brendan O'Connor awarded Distinguished Service Cross United States - Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan. The 47-year-old Special Forces medical sergeant spoke with humor and humility after the medal was pinned on his uniform. Master Sgt. O’Connor, who resigned his commission as an officer and then took the rigorous training to become a Special Forces medical sergeant, said his “momentary courage” pales in comparison to people who cope courageously with difficult situations daily, such as Capt. Ivan Castro, who is blind, and Harry Hubbard, a friend who suffered a stroke in his mid-30s. The heroism of O’Connor and his team in the face of an attack by 300 Taliban fighters received national attention April 20 in a segment on the CBS news show “60 Minutes.” O’Connor led a quick reaction force June 24, 2006, in Kandahar province’s Panjwai District, described by Special Forces as one of the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan. He maneuvered his force through Taliban positions and crawled alone through enemy machine-gun fire to reach two wounded soldiers, the citation said. He tied a signal cloth to his back to identify himself to aircraft overhead. While under fire, he provided medical care and carried a wounded soldier more than 150 yards across open ground. He climbed over a wall three times under enemy fire to help wounded soldiers seek cover. Then he took over as the operations sergeant and rallied, motivated and led his team. fayettobserver.com 01 May 08

Britain - Prince Harry awarded campaign medal Prince Harry will be presented with a campaign medal for his service in Afghanistan by his aunt the Princess Royal. The 23-year-old will be among around 160 fellow Household Cavalry troops attending a ceremony in Windsor on May 5 to be honoured for their role fighting the Taliban. Prince Harry secretly flew to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan in mid-December to work as a Forward Air Controller. But his planned four-month tour was cut short after 10 weeks when a news blackout, agreed to prevent his comrades being put at extra risk, broke down at the end of February. Having served well over the required minimum of four weeks in theatre he is entitled to the Afghanistan Medal awarded to British forces who have taken part in Britain's Operation Herrick mission to the country. The Prince, who has recently been promoted from Second Lieutenant (or Cornet) to Lieutenant, will be able to wear the decoration alongside his Golden Jubilee Medal, a gift from the Queen marking her 50-year reign in 2002. He is the first member of the Royal Family to see active service in a war zone since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the Falklands War 26 years ago. The Princess will present the medals in her capacity as Colonel of the Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry. ukpress.google.com 28 Apr 08

Cpl Robert Moore being presented with the Military Cross by Queen Elizabeth II Britain - Queen honours our hero soldier The Queen presented a Westcliff soldier with the prestigious Military Cross for bravery while fighting in Afghanistan. Corporal Robert Moore, 31, from the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, received the cross at Buckingham Palace. The former Belfairs High School pupil, was honoured for fighting up to ten Taleban rebels in the Helmand province of the war torn country last April. He was shot in the arm and another soldier was killed before he received back-up. Despite his serious injuries, Cpl Moore kept fighting to protect other soldiers. echo-news.co.uk 2 May 08

Japan - Land of rising sun honours former premier Former West Australian premier Richard Court has received honours from the Emperor of Japan for his work promoting better relations between Japan and Australia. He has received the Order of the Rising Sun, the second highest honour that can be awarded to foreign nationals in Japan. The Emperor said the honour was to recognise Mr Court's work in strengthening economic ties between Japan and Western Australia. Dr Royall Tyler, the former head of the Japan Centre at the Australian National University also received the honour. abc.net.au 29 Apr 08

Togo - Togo Confers National Honours On Two Ghanaians President Faure Ezzozimna Gnassingbe of Togo conferred his country's highest honour, "The Commander of the Order of Mono," on two Ghanaian officials for their commitment to the deepening of bilateral relations. The Togolese President personally decorated Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Defence and Mr D.K. Osei, Secretary to President John Agyekum Kufuor. Five Togolese and a Burkinabe were also honoured at the function that climaxed the celebrations that included an anniversary parade. The Togolese officials expressed appreciation for the manner the two officials carried out their official duties in line with Ghana/Togo relations which had led to the creation of an enabling environment for peace, stability and development in Togo. The Ghana Armed Forces Central Band, which was part of the Ghanaian contingent to celebrate the day, thrilled the audience to local songs that drew protracted cheers. allafrica.com 29 Apr 08

Australia - Decision leads to dissent, discord The Rudd Government should reject the findings of the Long Tan review committee. Nobody doubts the importance of the Long Tan battle or the heroism of the Australians who took on and defeated a much larger enemy force nearly 40 years ago. Harry Smith, Dave Sabben and Geoff Kendall should have received their recommended decorations at the time. The review panel consisting of three retired soldiers found the original case for the gallantry awards for the trio should have been upheld. But John Faulkner needs to think carefully about the precedent he will set if he approves the review panel's recommendation. Approval of new gallantry medals will simply open a Pandora's Box that threatens to generate nothing but rancour and ill-will in the ranks of Australian ex-servicemen. In a further complication, the review panel says that Smith, Sabben and Kendall should beoffered the contemporary equivalent of the original imperial awards for which they were nominated. In Smith's case this means substituting the Star of Gallantry for the Distinguished Service Order. So where do we draw the line? Starting with John Simpson Kirkpatrick and Albert Jacka in WWI, thousands of Australian soldiers were unjustly denied gallantry medals. When it comes to decorations, grave injustices have come out of every conflict in which Australia has fought: some the result of official bastardry, others through oversight or plain bad luck. 
Military historian Peter Stanley says: "The logical implication isthat you have to go back over every decoration recommendation." He adds that acceptance of the review's findings will turn the honours system into a "cause of dissension and division". Stanley sensibly points out that the men of Long Tan are already Australia's most famed Vietnam veterans and singling out a handful of them for special treatment 40 years afterwards won't make a difference. The solution he says is to honour the heroism of our fighting men by writing about them. theaustralian.news.com.au 01 May 08

Philippines - Malaysian armed forces chief gets ‘Philippine Legion of Honor’ President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presented the distinguished "Philippine Legion of Honor" award to the chief of the Armed Forces of Malaysia, General Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Abdul bin Haj Zainal. President Arroyo handed the award "with the rank of Grand Officer" (Maringal na Pinuno) to Tan at Malacanang’s Reception Hall while his Philippine counterpart, General Hermogenes Esperon, looked on. The President “caused to be inscribed in the roster of the Philippine Legion of Honor" the Malaysian general’s name for having “distinguished himself in his chosen career." The general was also cited for having “helped strengthen further the close relations existing between the Philippines and Malaysia, particularly in the promotion of peace, security, and development in Mindanao." gmanews.tv 2 May 08

The following articles will not be archived and are for information purposes only:
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