[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E267-E268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


          1998 CONGRESSIONAL OBSERVANCE OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 11, 1998

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate African American History 
Month, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the 86 
African American recipients of the nations' highest military award for 
valor, the Medal of Honor. These medals of Honor were awarded for acts 
of bravery performed from the Civil War through the Vietnam Era.
  Last year the President took steps to right a serious wrong, by 
acknowledging that not one Medal of Honor was awarded to an African 
American during World War II due to discrimination and other factors. 
On January 13, 1997 the President awarded the Medal of Honor to seven 
World War II African American heroes. The Secretary of Defense William 
S. Cohen also hosted a Pentagon ceremony on February 19, 1997 and paid 
tribute to the three surviving African American recipients of the Medal 
of Honor. During the ceremony the ``Legacy of Valor'' videotape tribute 
was presented, followed by the unveiling of an exhibit honoring the 86 
African American recipients.
  I find the following words, as contained in the Department of Defense 
``Legacy of Valor'' tribute to be of particular significance;

       ``Eighty-six African Americans have earned the Nation's top 
     award for valor, the Medal of Honor. Their legacy of valor is 
     the thrilling story of African Americans in defense of 
     freedom and justice. The stories of these 86 Medal of Honor 
     recipients account for some of the most astonishing acts of 
     bravery and personal sacrifice in the history of our armed 
     forces. Through it all, despite an American legacy rooted 
     deeply in slavery, each and everyone of them, by supreme 
     sacrifice and devotion to duty, in the words of the great 
     African American poet, Langston Hughes, boldly declared, ``I 
     too am American.''

  They demonstrated that African Americans have earned the right 
through military sacrifice and achievement alone, to be true Americans 
economically, politically, and socially. All Americans can take 
heartfelt pride in this illustrious record which, unfortunately, too 
frequently has gone unnoticed.
  Although 86 African Americans received the Medal of Honor in military 
conflicts from the Civil War to Vietnam, due to discrimination and 
other factors, not one was awarded the Medal of Honor during World Wars 
I and II.
  In 1991, however, President George Bush awarded the Medal of Honor 
posthumously to a World War I African American hero.
  Additionally, on January 13, 1997, at a White House ceremony, 
President William Jefferson Clinton awarded seven Medals of Honor to 
African American WWII heroes. Six of those medals were awarded 
posthumously to the families of the honorees and the seventh Medal of 
Honor was presented to the only living WWII honoree.
  All Americans owe a special debt of gratitude to these 86 African 
American heroes. Despite slavery, segregation, discrimination, and 
bitter disappointment they defended America with their very lives. When 
the chips were down, to paraphrase the incomparable General Douglass 
MacArthur, they understood the hallowed words, ``Duty, Honor, Country, 
Freedom and Justice.'' These words were their rallying point to build 
courage when courage seemed to fail; to regain faith, when there seemed 
to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope became forlorn. 
These words taught them not to substitute words for action nor to seek 
the path of comfort but to face the stress and sharp spur of difficulty 
head-on; to learn to stand up in the storm, but have compassion for 
those who fall; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past. 
In their belief in God and family, in their strength, in their love and 
loyalty, many of them gave all that mortals can give.
  ``Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for 
purple mountains majesties, above the fruited plains . . .'' The 
wonderful song ``America the Beautiful'' begins.

[[Page E268]]

But as we look back over the valorous contributions of African 
Americans, it is the second stanza of America the Beautiful that all 
Americans can sing, with new meaning:
``Oh beautiful, Oh beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life . . .''
  For these are truly 86 African American heroes who proved in 
liberating strife on domestic and foreign soil that they loved their 
country more than themselves and mercy for their people more than 
life!``

               AFRICAN AMERICAN MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS


                          VIETNAM (1964-1973)

       *ANDERSON, James, Jr.
       ANDERSON, Webster
       *ASHLEY, Eugene, Jr.
       *AUSTIN, Oscar P.
       *BRYANT, William Maud
       *DAVIS, Rodney Maxwell
       *JENKINS, Robert H., Jr.
       JOEL, Lawrence
       JOHNSON, Dwight
       *JOHNSON, Ralph
       *LANGHORN, Garfield M.
       *LEONARD, Matthew
       *LONG, Donald Russell
       *OLIVE, Milton Lee, III
       *PITTS, Riley L.
       ROGERS, Charles Calvin
       *SARGENT, Ruppert L.
       SASSER, Clarence Eugene
       *SIMS, Clifford Chester
       *WARREN, John E., Jr.


                         KOREAN WAR (1950-1953)

       *CHARLTON, Cornelius H.
       *THOMPSON, William


                        WORLD WAR II (1939-1945)

       BAKER, Vernon J.
       CARTER, Edward A., Jr.
       *FOX, John R.
       *JAMES, Willy F., Jr.
       *RIVERS, Ruben
       THOMAS, Charles L.
       *WATSON, George


                        WORLD WAR I (1917-1918)

       *STOWERS, Freddie


                         WAR WITH SPAIN (1898)

       BAKER, Edward L., Jr.
       BELL, Dennis
       LEE, Fitz
       PENN, Robert
       THOMPKINS, William H.
       WANTON, George H.


                          INTERIM (1871-1898)

       ATKINS, Daniel
       DAVIS, John
       GIRANDY, Alphonse
       JOHNSON, John
       JOHNSON, William
       NOIL, Joseph B.
       SMITH, John
       SWEENEY, Robert Augustus (1 of 20 double recipients)


                      INDIAN CAMPAIGNS (1861-1898)

       BOYNE, Thomas
       BROWN, Benjamin
       DENNY, John
       FACTOR, Pompey (Black/Seminole; also used last name of 
     Facton)
       GREAVES, Clinton
       JOHNSON, Henry
       JORDAN, George
       MAYS, Isaiah
       McBRYAR, William
       PAINE, Adam (Black/Seminole)
       PAYNE, Isaac (Black/Seminole)
       SHAW, Thomas
       STANCE, Emanuel
       WALLEY, Augustus
       WARD, John (Black/Seminole)
       WILLIAMS, Moses
       WILSON, William
       WOODS, Brent


                          CIVIL WAR (1861-1865

       ANDERSON, Aaron (a.k.a. Sanderson)
       ANDERSON, Bruce
       BARNES, William H.
       BEATY, Powhatan
       BLAKE, Robert (Escaped slave)
       BRONSON, James H.
       BROWN, William H.
       BROWN, Wilson
       CARNEY, William Harvey
       DORSEY, Decatur (Escaped slave)
       FLEETWOOD, Christian A.
       GARDINER, James
       HARRIS, James H.
       HAWKINS, Thomas R.
       HILTON, Alfred B.
       HOLLAND, Milton Murray
       JAMES, Miles
       KELLY, Alexander
       LAWSON, John
       MIFFLIN, James
       PEASE, Joachim
       PINN, Robert
       RATCLIFF, Edward
       VEAL, Charles

               AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS
Vietnam..........................................................     20
Korea............................................................      2
World War II.....................................................      7
World War I......................................................      1
War with Spain...................................................      6
Interim 1871-1898................................................      8
Indian Campaigns.................................................     18
                                                                  ------
Civil War........................................................     24
      Total......................................................    86
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* The asterisk denotes killed in action. This information provided by
  the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.


  

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