Men of ‘Honor’
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- November
- 4
The PBS documentary “Medal of Honor” — airing at 8 p.m. tomorrow on Thirteen/WNET — is a somewhat disjointed, somewhat prosaic exploration of our nation’s highest military honor. Still, it’s worth watching for what it says about the human will to endure.The documentary, produced and directed by Scarsdale native Roger Sherman, looks at the history of the award and some of the 3, 454 recipients. The lone woman was Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War doctor imprisoned as a Confederate spy.
The Medal of Honor was born during Walker’s war as a way to boost morale and reenlistments. Back then, it was frequently given to the soldier who played the pivotal role of flag-bearer. One such soldier who fulfilled that part when the flag-bearer in his company was shot was William Harvey Carney. Though he was wounded himself, Carney never dropped the flag. He became the first of 87 African-American recipients.
For a time, it seems as if all you had to was show up to get the Medal. (Vera Cruz, anyone?) But as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the restrictions were tightened to center on extraordinary acts of bravery or self-sacrifice committed by active-duty soldiers in battle. Sadly, it seems as if one has to make the ultimate sacrifice to receive one nowadays: Since the Vietnam War only seven have been awarded, all posthumously — two for service in Somalia, one in Afghanistan and four in Iraq.
Indeed, the standards have become so stringent that Dr. Walker’s award was rescinded. But showing the same independence of mind that led to her defy social and Army traditions and become a battlefield doctor, Walker continued to wear her medal daily, proudly. That’s a real maverick for you.
We meet a lot of mavericks in “Medal of Honor” — there are 102 living recipients — men like Hungarian immigrant Tibor “Ted” Rubin, who survived a Nazi concentration camp and the antisemitic Army sergeant who forced him to defend a hill by himself against the North Koreans during the Korean War. Rubin stashed weapons in various foxholes, jumping from one to the other to create the illusion that he was an entire company. He held that hill all alone for 24 hours. A POW once more, he saved the lives of more than 40 soldiers, drawing on his concentration- camp experience.
Others profiled include Green Beret Drew Dix, who during Vietnam’s Tet Offensive rescued a number of American and South Vietnamese civilians before he captured 20 of the enemy, including the highest-ranking North Vietnamese general. Dix (seen below courtesy of Florentine Films/Sherman Pictures) is among the most insightful of the interviewees, talking about the way fear can spur heroism, rather than constrict it.
Call it fear. Call it heroism. Call it God. Call it luck. Call it whatever you want, but the men of “Medal of Honor” have one thing in common: They refused to be defeated by their circumstances. And thus, they were able to see themselves and those circumstances in a larger context that in turn gave them the will to go on.
Unfortunately, “Medal of Honor” lacks their poetic grandeur. It jumps from war to war, story to story, in no particular chronological or thematic order, tellingly is jagged story in a mostly pedestrian manner. But it does remind us that history, like art, can offer solace and inspiration.
We live in terrible, exciting times. But others have been through worse with less. We, too, can soldier on.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 9:00 am by Georgette Gouveia.
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