Sergeant Vernon McGarity Medal of Honor recipient passed away

Vernon McGarity in 1945 with President Harry S. Truman

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announces that Technical Sergeant Vernon McGarity , Medal of Honor recipient, passed away Tuesday, May 21, 2025 in Bartlett, Tennessee at the age of 91. 

Vernon was born in Right Tennessee on December 21, 1921.  He attended Morris Chapel Grammar School and Morris Chapel High School in Morris Chapel, Tennessee.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman at a White House ceremony on October 12, 1945.  

Serving as a squad leader, Vernon was painfully wounded in an artillery barrage that preceded the powerful counteroffensive launched by the Germans near Krinkelt, Belgium, on the morning of 16 December 2024. He made his way to an aid station, received treatment, and then refused to be evacuated, choosing to return to his hard-pressed men instead.

During the day the heroic squad leader rescued 1 of his friends who had been wounded in a forward position, and throughout the night he exhorted his comrades to repulse the enemy's attempts at infiltration. When morning came and the Germans attacked with tanks and infantry, he braved heavy fire to run to an advantageous position where he immobilized the enemy's lead tank with a round from a rocket launcher. Fire from his squad drove the attacking infantrymen back, and 3 supporting tanks withdrew. He rescued, under heavy fire, another wounded American, and then directed devastating fire on a light cannon which had been brought up by the hostile troops to clear resistance from the area.

Funeral services are pending. There are 79 recipients alive today.

Medal of Honor recipient statue dedication in Stamford, CT

On Sunday, May 26, 2013, we will dedicate the statue of Sgt. Homer L. Wise. The ceremony to feature as the keynote speaker, Paul W. Bucha, Medal of Honor recipient, Vietnam, March 1968, West Point graduate and former President of the Medal of Honor Society.  The master of ceremonies will be Morton Dean, former CBS and ABC news anchor and correspondent. Mr. Dean covered the war in Vietnam for CBS and other wars throughout the globe.

Please try to attend this historic event. The ceremony will begin around 1 PM, in Veterans Park, Main and Atlantic Streets, in downtown Stamford, CT, following Memorial Day parade. Plenty of parking available.

It is time to honor our veterans who served to protect our freedom and to honor a very special soldier, Homer L. Wise, a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Thank you,

James S. Vlasto
Executive Director
Homer L. Wise Memorial Committee

Sandy Hook Heroes to be Awarded by Medal of Honor Recipients

Our nation's greatest war heroes -- Medal of Honor Recipients -- will honor teachers and staff from Sandy Hook Elementary School, who acted courageously to protect children during the December shootings. In a special ceremony three Recipients of the Medal of Honor will present the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's highest civilian award, the Citizen Honors Medal, to six staff members posthumously at Newtown High School on May 6(th) at 4:30pm.

Family members will accept the Citizen Service Before Self Honors (Citizen Honors) Medals -- on behalf of Rachel D'Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto. All six gave their live trying to protect children during the December shootings.

The Recipients will also present the CMOH Society's Certificate of Commendation to all of the teachers and staff of Sandy Hook who acted courageously during the tragedy.

"Many teachers and staff members disregarded their own safety that day to hide and protect the children in their care. Those acts of courage, sacrifice, and selflessness are the very same traits identified with the Medal of Honor; only they were demonstrated at a critical moment in hometown USA, not on a battlefield far from home. Recognizing these ordinary Americans who performed extraordinary acts at home is the very reason for our Citizen Honors program," explains Harold A. Fritz, President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Each year, the Society's Citizen Honors program takes nominations nationwide for hometown citizen heroes who've saved lives or changed fate in amazing ways. This year's nominations period closed at the end of 2012, and dozens of nominations were made for teachers and staff from the Sandy Hook school following the December 14(th) shootings.

After two rounds of judging, four other Citizen Honorees were awarded Medals on March 25 of this year -- Medal of Honor Day -- at Arlington National Cemetery. The Society decided the Sandy Hook heroes should be recognized separately with a special ceremony in Newtown.

For more information on this year's Honorees and the Citizen Service Before Self Honors (CSBSH) program, visit www.csbsh.org or www.facebook.com/citizenheroes.
More information on the Medal of Honor can be found at www.CMOHS.org.

SOURCE The Congressional Medal of Honor Society & Foundation
/Web site: http://www.cmohs.org/

Six Mile will honor four Medal of Honor recipients on Memorial Day

Charles H. Barker

The nation’s highest military honor has been awarded four times to residents living near Pickens County (SC). Pickens County, in fact, has more Medal of Honor recipients per capita than any other county in the United States, local officials said.

The town of Six Mile plans to recognize recipients Charles Barker, Furman Smith, Donnie Howe and, from nearby Liberty, William McWhorter at Memorial Day celebrations May 27. At the ceremony, relatives of the four men will be recognized, and a remembrance wreath will be laid at the Memorial Marker at Six Mile Town Hall.

Donnie Howe

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Town Hall at 106 S. Main St. In case of rain, the event will moved indoors.

Six Mile Mayor Roy Stoddard said he became aware of the four Pickens County men’s service at the town’s centennial celebration in 2010. The 32-year Navy veteran said the town had a monument to the servicemen, but it was in an out-of-the-way location.

“We moved the monument to Town Hall, where it can be easily seen,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard said the four men served, separately, in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Special invitations have been sent to living relations of the four servicemen for the Memorial Day event, and many have accepted the invitation, Stoddard said.

Maj. General Robert E. Livingston, the adjutant general of South Carolina and an Afghanistan War veteran, is scheduled to speak at the event.

Source: Six Mile to honor four Medal of Honor recipients on Memorial Day

WWII museum, Medal of Honor foundation receive grant from GE

Maj. Gen. James Livingston

NEW ORLEANS — The philanthropic arm of General Electric announced Tuesday that it is giving a combined $750,000 to the National World War II Museum and the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.

The Warehouse District museum will receive $500,000 of the grant from the GE Foundation. The money will support the “What Would You Do?” experience, an exhibit that presents visitors with decisions people faced during World War II.

GE has previously given $100,000 to the museum.

The remainder of the new grant — $250,000 — will go to the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation to support the Character Development Curriculum in the state’s schools. That program uses the stories of living Medal of Honor recipients to inspire students and teach skills associated with the Common Core State Standards, a set of expectations for what students should master between kindergarten and senior year of high school.

GE has previously given $175,000 to the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation’s Character Development Program.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, made the announcement of the newest grants at the museum’s new U.S. Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center as shareholders descend upon the city for their annual meeting. It was also the same day his company dedicated its Capital Technology Center in the Central Business District. That office has 75 employees but will expand to 300 during the next two years.

Students from Sci Academy in eastern New Orleans were in attendance for the announcement and were able to ask questions of Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. James Livingston, a former chairman of the board of the museum.

The retired Marine was wounded while leading a company in Vietnam. Injured by two grenade blasts and gunfire, he ordered his men to leave him behind while he tried to continue to fight from a prone position. His men disobeyed him and dragged him to safety.

Livingston used his time with the students to urge them to do their best in school and life.

“The Marine Corps didn’t promise me a rose garden,” he said. “That’s what the Marine Corps taught me — to push myself.”

Read more: GE grants $750,000 to WWII museum, Medal of Honor foundation

Medal of Honor recipient Terrance Graves remembered

Terrance Graves

Madison County (NY) historian Matthew Urtz recently completed a series of articles on a Medal of Honor recipient with ties to Madison County. Urtz submitted this information that tells about the only non-Civil War recipient, Terrance Graves, who is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Hamilton.

Graves was born on July 6^th, 1945 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He moved with his family to New York and eventually they settled in Edmeston in Otsego County. Upon graduation from Edmeston Central High School in 1963 he attended Miami University of Ohio playing varsity baseball and serving as a battalion commander of his Naval ROTC unit. Following graduation he was commissioned as a Marine Corps Second Lieutenant and attended the Basic School in Quantico, Va. in November 1967.

Graves was assigned duty as a platoon commander of the 3^rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 3^rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3^rd Marine Division when he arrived in Vietnam in December 1967. While on a long-range patrol in the Quant Tri Province, Graves was killed on Feb. 16, 1968 when the helicopter he was riding in crashed. His leadership and bravery prior to the crash earned Lieutenant Graves his Medal of Honor.

Read more: Remembering a Medal of Honor recipient