How many men received the Medal of Honor in History?

Answer 1

3,447 men, and one woman. Nineteen men received the Medal twice, so 3,467 have been awarded. There were an additional 911 awarded during the Civil War which were later vacated - some to civilians, 864 to every member of a single regiment for reenlisting, some to the members of Lincoln's Honor Guard on the train carrying his body home after he was killed. Dr. Mary Walker's award was among those vacated - this was in 1916, she was still alive, and refused to return the Medal. President Carter restored her award in 1977, a pure political move, just like Clinton upgrading lesser awards for some thirty-one recipients when he was in office, all to blacks and Hispanics.

The World War One and Two awards are almost all well-deserved. An exception would be the one given to General MacArthur, who was personally very brave, having earned a Distinguished Service Cross in WWI. But he did nothing to Merit the first WWII Medal of Honor, and probably more richly deserved the same fate given to General Short in Hawaii. Short's career was ended for being surprised. MacArthur knew of the attack on Hawaii, and was STILL surprised, but HE got the MOH.

By Vietnam "Medal inflation" set in. Bronze Stars were given out like party favors, and the number of MOHs handed out in Vietnam was more than half of the number for WWII. There were a LOT more Americans who saw a WHOLE LOT more hard service in WWII than in Vietnam, but that's the trend.

In WWI you could get the MOH for throwing yourself on a grenade to save your buddies. Nobody got one for doing this in WWII. Bush gave one out for exactly this in Iraq or Afghanistan, so its back in style.

In contrast, the British have awarded less than 1500 Victoria Crosses, an award which has been around about as long. The British saw much more action in both World Wars, at least judging by the relative numbers of dead suffered, as compared with the US. So they have maintained a VERY high standard for the awarding of the VC.