Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Father and Son Medal of Honor Recipients

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States Armed Forces. It's given individuals who have displayed exceptional acts of valor in the face of enemy forces. It's been awarded 3,535 times since its inception in 1861. Of all the recipients of the Medal of Honor, only twice has it been awarded to a father and a son, and in both cases, they're families that you've probably already heard of. Learn more about the fathers and sons who have been awarded the Medal of Honor and their stories on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

Starting point is 00:00:49 ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. I'm doing this episode for two reasons. First, it's Father's Day, so I figured a theme of fathers and sons would be a good idea. Second, is that when I first came up with my original list of ideas for the podcast back in 2020,

Starting point is 00:01:24 this idea was near the top of my list. Before I get into the individual recipients in question, I should give a brief summary of the Medal of Honor. First, it's called the Medal of Honor, not the Congressional Medal of Honor, as it's often referred to. The confusion comes as it is awarded, quote, in the name of the United States Congress. To be awarded the Medal of Honor requires a presidential nomination and is usually awarded personally by the president to the recipient or next of kin. Finally, someone does not win the Medal of Honor. No one goes out of their way to seek a Medal of Honor. It is said that someone is awarded a Medal of Honor or that one is the recipient of the Medal of Honor. So with that, let's start with the first of the father-son duos to be awarded the Medal of Honor, Arthur MacArthur Jr., and his son, Douglas MacArthur.

Starting point is 00:02:13 While most of you are probably familiar with Douglas MacArthur, his father, Arthur MacArthur Jr., and his grandfather Arthur MacArthur, Sr., were both highly accomplished individuals. His grandfather was the governor of the state of Wisconsin, and was later a federal district court judge in Washington, D.C. Arthur MacArthur, Jr. was born in 1845. After the outbreak of the Civil War, his father attempted to get him an appointment to the United States Military Academy in West Point, but even a direct appeal to Abraham Lincoln couldn't get him in, as all the slots were full. At the age of 17 in August of 1862, he enlisted as a first lieutenant in the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. A year later, on November 25, 1863, he fought at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. During an assault on an entrenched Confederate position on a hilltop, the young MacArthur picked up the regimental flag, which had fallen, and planted it on

Starting point is 00:03:07 the hilltop to rally his unit at a critical moment in the battle. Shouting, on Wisconsin, his men rallied around him, capturing the Confederate position. By the way, his phrase, on Wisconsin, was later used as the title for the fight song of the University of Wisconsin. He was awarded the Medal of Honor at the age of 18. The next year, he was given a battlefield promotion to the rank of Colonel at the age of just 19. He was later gravely wounded, having been shot in the chest and leg at the Battle of Franklin.

Starting point is 00:03:37 He briefly left the army after the war, but returned and had one of the longest army careers in American history. He fought in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine-American War. In 1900, he was appointed the United States Governor of the Philippines, and in 1906, he was elevated to the rank of Lieutenant General, at the time the highest rank in the U.S. Army. He retired in 1909 after 47 years of active duty service. He was one of the last soldiers in the Army who had seen action during the Civil War. His youngest son was Douglas MacArthur, someone that most of you have probably heard of. Douglas MacArthur, love him or hate him, is probably worth an episode of his own, if not several.

Starting point is 00:04:19 He had arguably the greatest career of anyone in U.S. military history. Douglas followed in his father's footsteps and joined the military, earning a commission at West Point, having lived at Army bases his entire life. While at West Point, he academically scored 98.14%, which put him at the top of his class and was the third highest score ever recorded in West Point history. He was sent to the Philippines with an engineering unit and then was appointed aide to camp to his father. He later returned to the U.S. where he served in the White House at the request of President Teddy Roosevelt. In 1914, he saw action in the Vera Cruz expedition in Mexico.

Starting point is 00:04:56 While there, he led a daring mission where he seized several railroad engines, was shot four times through his clothes, never once hitting him, and repelled three attacks, killing six personally. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but he was denied the medal because he had, had not gotten approval for his mission from his commanding officer, even though his commanding officer approved of what he did and supported him in receiving the medal. The board ultimately said, to bestow the award recommended might encourage any other staff officer under similar conditions to ignore the local commander, possibly interfering with the latter's plans. End quote. His military career continued in a spectacular fashion. He became the youngest U.S. General

Starting point is 00:05:35 during World War I and was nominated for a second Medal of Honor. He became the superintendent at West Point, the military commander of the Philippines, and in 1930 the Army chief of staff, head of the entire U.S. Army. When the Purple Heart Award was created in 1932, he was issued the very first one retroactively for injures he suffered in the First World War. He went to the Philippines to serve as the field marshal of the Filipino Army and as the primary U.S. military advisor to the country. His job was to create a Filipino army under the newly semi-independent Filipino government. His chief of staff, in the Philippines was an officer by the name of Dwight Eisenhower. He retired in 1937 at the age of

Starting point is 00:06:16 57, and almost everything that people know about him hadn't even occurred yet. In July 1941, the Filipino Army, still technically a U.S. territory, was federalized, and MacArthur was brought back to active duty service as the commander of the U.S. Army forces in the Far East. When Pearl Harbor took place, there was a concurrent attack on Manila and the Philippines. The Philippines had been under-equipped and undermanned for years. Within weeks, the Japanese took control of the island of Luzon, forcing American and Philippine defenders to retreat to the Baton Peninsula and his headquarters moved to the fortified island of Corrigador in Manila Bay. On the direct order of the president, MacArthur and his family escaped the Philippines by submarine. He traveled to Australia,

Starting point is 00:06:58 where he began efforts to begin the counterattack against the Japanese. After he left the Philippines, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. It was perhaps the most unique Medal of Honor ever awarded. There was no particular act of valor, which is usually required. At the age of 62, he was the oldest active recipient of the award in history, and as a four-star general, the highest-ranking soldier to have ever been awarded. He and his father also became the first father-son duo to have received the award. Having been twice nominated, MacArthur recognized the unique circumstances of the award by noting, quote, this award was intended not so much for me personally, as it is a recognition of the indomitable courage of the gallantial Army, which it was my honor to command. MacArthur went on to have one of the longest ten years

Starting point is 00:07:44 of anyone in U.S. military history, as well as being one of the most highly decorated and highest ranking soldiers ever. The next father-son duo begins with someone you again are probably familiar with, and the man who hired Douglas MacArthur to work as his assistant, Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. In 1898, he was the assistant secretary of the Navy, but when war broke out with Spain, he resigned his position and established the first U.S. volunteer cavalry regiment, which became known to history as the Rough Riders. The Ruff Riders were mostly a privately funded cavalry unit and were an odd mix of characters, ranging from Ivy League schoolboys, Native Americans, Cowboys, Tradesmen, and former soldiers.

Starting point is 00:08:28 They served as a unit under General Joseph Wheeler, who had been a general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Roosevelt's moment came on July 1st, 1898 during the Battle of San Juan Hill. The Rough Riders fought alongside the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a unit of black soldiers known as the Buffalo Soldiers, on whom I've done a previous episode. Their unit leader was a first lieutenant by the name of John Blackjack Pershing. Under constant enemy fire, Roosevelt led his men up a hill known as Kettle Hill. They reached the enemy lines with Roosevelt personally killing one soldier in their defense of fortification. His actions were a very important part of the overall Battle of San Juan Hill, which became the most important and decisive battle of the Spanish-American War.

Starting point is 00:09:12 Roosevelt was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but was blocked by senior army officers over the amount of attention Roosevelt received in the press. His war heroics were part of the reason he was selected by William McKinley as vice president in 1900, and subsequently became president just a year later. The Medal of Honor was awarded to Theodore Roosevelt posthumously in 2000, 2001 by President Bill Clinton. He is the only U.S. President to have been awarded the Medal of Honor and the only Medal of Honor recipient to have won a Nobel Prize. Teddy Roosevelt's son was Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the president's eldest. Technically, his father was actually

Starting point is 00:09:49 Theodore Roosevelt Jr., so he was Theodore Roosevelt III, but given his father's fame, everyone referred to him as junior. The younger Roosevelt attended Harvard and served in the First World War where he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war, he was he helped establish the American Legion, and he followed in his father's footsteps by serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He later served as the Governor of Puerto Rico and the Governor General of the Philippines. In the business world, he was the chairman of the board of the American Express Company, and all the while he remained active in the Army Reserve. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted again, entering the Army at the rank of Colonel. He was soon promoted to Brigadier General

Starting point is 00:10:27 as the Assistant Division commander of the First Infantry Division. He saw action in the the invasions of North Africa and Sicily, and was later assigned to the fourth infantry division in England to prepare for the invasion of Normandy. Roosevelt, a 56-year-old general, actually requested that he be in the first wave that landed on the beaches of Normandy. His request was denied several times, but he eventually made a formal written request that said, The force and skill with which the first elements hit the beach and proceed may determine the ultimate success of the operation, with troops engaged for the first time, the behavior pattern of all is apt to be set by those first engagements. It is considered

Starting point is 00:11:08 that accurate information of the existing situation should be available for each succeeding element as it lands. You should have when you get to shore an overall pitcher in which you can place confidence. I believe I can contribute materially on all of the above by going in with the assault companies. Furthermore, I personally will know both officers and men of these advanced units and believe it will steady them to know that I am with them." End quote. His request was finally accepted, but his commander, General Raymond Tubby Barton, told him that he assumed he would never see him again alive. Roosevelt was the highest-ranking officer, the oldest soldier, and the only one who also had a son land in the first wave on D-Day.

Starting point is 00:11:48 He was one of the first off-his landing craft on Utah Beach. Walking with his cane, he made an assessment of the landing and realized that they had drifted off-course by a mile. He then made the decision, on the ground, to fight from where they were. rather than trying to get to their original assigned position. He said, quote, we'll start the war from right here. He organized all of the ground units on Utah Beach to change their objectives, which they did without difficulty. He served as a traffic cop directing in the opening hours of the invasion, proving his assessment correct of having a high-ranking officer on the beach.

Starting point is 00:12:23 He also provided encouragement to the men on the beach because if a 56-year-old general could walk around with a cane under enemy fire, then things couldn't be that bad. When the senior staff finally landed that day, General Roosevelt had a complete assessment of what was happening on the ground, especially considering that everything had to be improvised after missing their landing point. On July 12, 1944, a little over a month after D-Day, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died of a heart attack. At his funeral, his pallbearers were all generals, which included Omar Bradley and George Patton. Almost every general involved in the invasion said he was arguably the bravest American general to fight in the war. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery and leadership during the Normandy invasion.

Starting point is 00:13:08 He was laid to rest at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. All four of these men had very different stories about the actions for which they were awarded the Medal of Honor. One they do have in common is that their bravery and valor were all passed along from father to son. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Joe Proctor from Apple Podcasts in the United States. He writes, A Gift of Information. Hi, Gary.

Starting point is 00:13:40 My father, Scott and I discovered this podcast nearly a year ago, and since then you have filled our days with little bursts of information that we would have never thought to have researched ourselves. The topics you come up with are fascinating and always keep us on our toes for what tomorrow's episode might be about. My favorite episode I've listened to so far has been the origins of words and phrases volume one. Personally, I've always wondered where the phrase, Kill Two Birds with One Stone came from, so I hope to see a volume two soon. I wanted to write this review in honor a Father's Day and my Father's Birthday,

Starting point is 00:14:10 which happens to be on the same day this year, and to thank you for consistently delivering an entertaining educational listen day after day. Thanks, Joe. Happy Birthday to your father, and happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. The origins of words and phrases has become a regular feature,

Starting point is 00:14:26 so look out for more of them in the future. Remember, if you leave a review, or some of you a boostagram, you two can have it around in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Father and Son Medal of Honor Recipients

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