Donald Trump Gets Award at National Medal of Honor Ceremony - Newsweek
President Donald Trump received a "Champion of Honor" award from the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation on Thursday, recognizing what the organization described as his support for preserving the legacy of Medal of Honor recipients and promoting national awareness of the nation's highest military award for valor.
During a ceremony in Arlington, Texas, attended by foundation officials and supporters, Trump was praised for backing efforts to honor recipients and for his support of the Herschel "Woody" Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, which seeks to establish a permanent monument on the National Mall in Washington.
The foundation said the award was presented in appreciation of Trump's commitment to ensuring that Medal of Honor recipients' stories are preserved and celebrated for future generations.
During the ceremony on Thursday, Trump repeated a previous suggestion that he would like to award himself the Medal of Honor.
"I would give it to myself, I have no problem, but I'm not allowed to," he said after noting that 15 of the 16 living recipients were in attendance. "I would give it to myself, so it would make it instead of 15, we'd have 16." He then added: "I'm only kidding. Actually, I'm not kidding."
While the president presents the Medal of Honor on behalf of Congress, federal law limits the award to members of the U.S. armed forces who distinguish themselves through extraordinary acts of valor in combat. Trump, who did not serve in the military, does not meet the statutory eligibility requirements.
The comments echoed remarks Trump made in February, when he said that his 2018 trip to Iraq was so courageous that he considered awarding himself the Medal of Honor and said he might "test the law" someday.
Additionally, at a campaign event in August 2024 in New Jersey, Trump said the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a "better" award than the Medal of Honor.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to civilians "who have made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
"It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor," Trump said of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "But the civilian version, it's actually much better because everyone that gets the Congressional Medal of Honor.
"They're soldiers. They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they're dead."
The Veterans of Foreign Wars group blasted Trump for his comments, calling them "asinine."
The Medal of Honor is the United States' highest military decoration, awarded to service members who distinguish themselves through acts of extraordinary valor in combat.
Since the medal was established during the Civil War, more than 3,500 Medals of Honor have been awarded to members of the armed forces, although the number of individual recipients is slightly lower because a handful of service members received the award more than once.
Recipients come from every branch of the military and include service members from conflicts ranging from the Civil War and World Wars I and II to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president traditionally presents the award in the name of Congress, but recipients are generally referred to as "Medal of Honor recipients" rather than "winners" because the honor recognizes sacrifice and heroism rather than competition.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society says only a few dozen recipients are still living, underscoring the award's rarity. Trump met with around a dozen on Thursday.
The Medal of Honor is awarded extremely rarely. While thousands have been presented since the Civil War, awards are not given on a regular schedule and can go months or years without being conferred. Instead, each case undergoes an extensive review process that can take years or even decades.
Many modern awards recognize actions that occurred years earlier. Some recipients have received the medal decades after their acts of heroism due to historical reviews, newly uncovered evidence, or congressional action waiving statutory deadlines. The rarity of the award reflects the exceptionally high standard required for approval.
Recent presidents have awarded the medal only to a small number of service members, often in ceremonies honoring acts of battlefield heroism during past conflicts.
Federal law and Defense Department regulations set a stringent standard for receiving the Medal of Honor. Service members must have distinguished themselves through "gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty" while engaged against an enemy of the United States or in combat-related military operations.
Recommendations must be supported by extensive documentation, including eyewitness accounts and detailed reviews of the actions in question. The nomination is examined through multiple levels of the military chain of command before advancing to the Defense Department and ultimately the president for approval.
Because the medal is reserved for the most extraordinary acts of valor, many heroic actions that receive high-level decorations such as the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross or Air Force Cross do not meet the threshold for the Medal of Honor.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Dave Siminoff, Gray R. Thomas
