Valor Tales

Let’s compare America to British, Canada, and Australia when it comes to military medals for combat valor and performance. The British system was used in Commonwealth countries (including Canada) up to and through World War II. This began to change as countries such as Canada, Australian, and New Zealand started to create their own systems of honors in the 1960’s.  The year 1993 saw a major change in all Commonwealth countries’ honors. The formerly overseas territories, such as Canada and Australia, fully created their own system of military awards separate from that used by Britain. Further, in Britain, the military awards system there removed distinctions of rank within the awards. Now enlisted and officers would receive the same award for the same performances. Previously, there were separate awards for officers and enlisted.  COMPARATIVE AWARDS British and Continental countries have long, complicated histories. This can make it hard for Americans (such as myse...

AMERICAN AWARDS - A Brief History America, fiercely against many European military traditions, did not have a formal system for any awards or decorations for decades after its forming. In fact, they were so anti-European, that the US Navy didn’t have the rank of admiral until the Civil War (nearly 100 years after the country’s founding) because it was too Imperial. There were two Revolutionary War-era awards however. Both were awarded in exceptionally small numbers (three awards each) and neither were awarded beyond the end of the war. The oldest, and first, American award was the Fidelity Medallion. It was awarded to the soldiers who captured British Major John Andre. Andre was famously the British point of contact for Benedict Arnold (a disaffected American general who turned traitor and gave Britain intelligence in exchange for a British generalcy). Only three men of the New York Militia received the award and it was never bestowed again. Often referred to (incorrectly) as A...

As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the largest amphibious assault in human history, I’d like to highlight one man amongst the 150,000+ there on June 6, 1944. Of the tens of thousands of Americans that fought on D-Day, 12 received Medals of Honor. Nine of those awards were made posthumously. The subject of my article is one of those posthumous awards. Most people will have heard the name Theodore Roosevelt, I mean he is a legendary American historical figure. His face is one of only four on Mount Rushmore, and the only one from the 20th Century. He influenced American military and foreign policy all through today. He was a staunch conservationist and we have many national parks and the entirety of the US Forest Service due to him. He was also a true badass, surviving an assassin’s bullet to his chest, but not before giving a 50 page speech over the course of 90 minutes before seeking medical help. However, President Teddy Roosevelt’s contributions to today’s subject are purel...

In US Navy history, women were largely restricted to the Nurse Corps until World War II. There was a short period of women working in a variety of roles in the Navy during WWI, but all were discharged after the war. So from the beginning of the US Navy until 1942, women were only permitted to serve in the Navy as nurses. One such woman is my subject today. Ann Bernatitus, who retired as a captain from the US Navy in 1959, is a story worth telling. Bernatitus was commissioned as an ensign into the Nurse Corps in 1936 after graduating college in 1934 and completing a post-graduate program in operating room nursing in 1935. Her first postings were to naval hospitals in Massachusetts and Maryland. In 1940, as the world was succumbing to war, Bernatitus was assigned to USS Chaumont, a transport ship in the Pacifc. The ship's typical duties saw her moving men and materiel from Hawaii to Manila. In July, 1940, on one of these trips, now Lieutenant (J.G.) Bernatitus was re...