Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients (Collective Biographies) [Library Binding]

Kieran Doherty (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up | Series: Collective Biographies

Biographies of eleven recipients of America's highest military honor: Jacob Parrott, William Carney, Mary Edwards Walker, Eddie Rickenbacker, Alvin York, John Bulkeley, Mitchell Red Cloud, Hiroshi Miyamura, Jay Vargas, Gary Gordon, and Randall Shugart.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-9. Only a small percentage of those who have served in the nation's armed forces have received the Congressional Medal of Honor, given for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. The well-written, often exciting accounts of the acts that led to the award introduce 11 recipients, including Jacob Parrott, who earned the first medal in 1863; William Carney, the first African American recipient; and Eddie Rickenbacker, the famous "Ace of Aces" in World War I. Readers and researchers will learn that only one woman has been awarded the medal (which was revoked by the government at one point and later reinstated posthumously, an interesting story in itself). The book does leave some questions unanswered: What guidelines are used to determine the award? How is the award different from such medals as the Purple Heart and the Silver Star? However, the book serves as a useful introduction, and the biographies give individual faces to those who have risked their lives for a greater good. Bibliography. Shelle Rosenfeld

From Kirkus Reviews

The most astounding information in this entry in the Collective Biographies series is not that there have been a total of 3,420 medals awarded as the ``nation's highest military honor'' for bravery (11 of whom are covered in this volume), but that only one woman, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, received one, in 1865. In 1916, an Army review panel struck her name from the roll of Medal recipients because she was not ``a sworn member of the military.'' Only in 1977 did the Army Board of Correction of Military Records determine ``that if Walker had not been a woman she would have been commissioned as an army officer in 1861'' and recommended that her medal be restored. Doherty recounts the bravery and patriotism of ten other recipients, from Jacob Parrott, a young Union Army soldier, to Gary Gordon and Randall Shughart, two members of the elite Delta Force who died in Somalia in 1993. The collection also includes William Carney, the first African-American recipient, and Hiroshi Miyamura, a Japanese-American hero of the Korean War. Despite the author's wish to honor those who fought bravely, some readers will wonder what makes a person risk all for country, regardless of loved ones back home. (b&w photos, not seen, chapter notes, further reading, index) (Biography. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Library Binding: 112 pages
• Publisher: Enslow Publishers (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0766010260
• ISBN-13: 978-0766010260
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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