THE MEDAL OF HONOR - Information

The first award of the Medal of Honor was made March 25, 1863, to Private Jacob Parrott, and five others. Since then there have been:

• 3,466 Medals of Honor Awarded     

• For 3,460 separate acts of heroism     

• Performed by 3,447 individuals (including 9 "Unknowns")

Today, there are 102 living Recipients of the Medal of Honor.    

• 42% of the living Recipients earned their Medals more than 50 years ago
  while serving in WWII (29) or Korea (14)     

• The average age of the living recipients is 74 years of age.

• All of the 30 recipients from WWII are over the age of 80.

• The oldest living recipient is John W. Finn, age 98.

• Of the 61 living recipients from Vietnam, 5 are under the age of 60.

• The youngest living recipient is Gordon R. Roberts, age. 57.

• There were no awards of the Medal of Honor during Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, or Desert Storm.

Since 1993, 46 other Medals of Honor have been awarded to correct past errors, follow up on lost recommendations, or were the result of new evidence. Of those 46 recipients, 15 were living at the time the Medal of Honor was presented.

The last medal to be presented was a posthumous award to the parents of PFC Ross A. McGinnis, U.S. Army, for action in Iraq on December 4, 2006. It was presented by President George W. Bush at the White House on June 2, 2008.