It’s Hard To Tell One Medal Of Honor Recipient From Another

It’s Hard To Tell One Medal Of Honor Recipient From Another
Heroes run into a blur for a busy President.
by John Hayward
06/24/2011

President Obama was at Fort Drum on Thursday, remembering all the good times he’s shared with the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army:

"Throughout my service, first as a senator and then as a presidential candidate and then as a President, I’ve always run into you guys. And for some reason it’s always in some rough spots.

First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there. I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously."

Sergeant First Class Jared Monti was, in fact, killed in action on June 21, 2006, in Afghanistan. Obama presented the Medal of Honor to his parents on September 17, 2009.

The living Medal of Honor recipient Obama alluded to was Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War. He received his Medal of Honor on November 16, 2010.

Chief Obama flack Jay Carney says Obama got the two heroes confused. Hey, that could happen to anyone. This is a President whose every thought, movement, and emission makes history. How’s he supposed to accurately remember the name of the man he awarded that first Medal of Honor? That was 220 long days ago.

This is not a tiny little goof. It’s a disgusting display of indifference from a man who has a gigantic taxpayer-funded retinue to prepare his speeches. He wasn’t answering a lengthy pop quiz about military heroes. He was trying to insert himself into the history of the 10th Mountain Division. He could have taken a little time away from fund-raising to get the names of these men right.

This is the same President who referred to himself a dozen times during his Afghanistan withdrawal speech, without naming any of the military commanders responsible for planning and executing the operation.

It’s also not the first time he’s gotten a military citation wrong, as he incorrectly identified Dr. Joe Medicine Crow as a Medal of Honor winner during a weird “shout out” after the Ft. Hood massacre, when the good Doctor actually received the Medal of Freedom… from Barack Obama, only 85 days previously. The Medal of Freedom is America’s highest civilian honor.

Heroes, both fallen and living, are honored through memory. SFC Monti and SSG Giunta went to the limits of human courage on our behalf, and Monti made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Every arrogant politician in this country owes them, and the nation they fought for, the effort required to recall their names accurately, during pathetic attempts to siphon off their glory.