In a Tuesday ceremony, President Obama will award the Medal of Honor to 24 veterans, many of whom were overlooked for their service during their lifetime.
The Medal of Honor is America’s highest military honor for bravery.
Most will be awarded postumously, as only three recipients are still living.
Nineteen of the honorees were determined by the Pentagon to have been the victims of discrimination during their terms of service, preventing them from rightfully receiving the medal.
“The unusual presentation will culminate a 12-year Pentagon review ordered by Congress into past discrimination in the ranks and will hold a particular poignancy when conducted by the nation’s first African-American president,” reported The Washington Post in late February 2014 about the then-impending ceremony.
Most of the honorees, part of the largest group to receive the medal since World War II, are Latino, Jewish, or African-American. “I never thought much about it and didn’t until recently,” Melvin Morris, an African-American who will recieve the Medal of Honor, told The Washington Post. A decorated Vietnam veteran, Morris has been retired from the Army for 22 years. “But I think that this is something the military always should address because, in almost every process we have, someone is overlooked.” President Obama will bestow the medals in the White House East Room. See pictures of all 24 recipients on The Washington Post Web site.
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