Customer Reviews

Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty

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I always feel reverence for the service given by the veterans of our armed forces. For me, it matters little what they did because they spent a portion of their life supporting the defense of our freedom. Everyone in the military matters.

Even so, those who have faced the rigor of combat have earned an even deeper gratitude. What they face in battle changes their life forever. It can never be the same. An evidence of this is how difficult it is for combat veterans to describe their experience of the war to those of us who have never shared in that experience. The closest most of us get is watching documentaries on The History Channel or reading serious books on the history of the various conflicts that have required so much of our soldiers.

This is a wonderful and serious book. Our country has awarded the Medal of Honor, our highest military award, to only about 3,400 recipients since the award was created. Of that number, fewer than 140 are alive today. This book provides portraits of those still living. One page provides a current photograph of each man and another page briefly tells about what was done to merit the award. Each story causes me to shake my head in disbelief. These stories describe acts of selflessness, of duty, of courage that inspire a deep gratitude and admiration for these men and the thousands like them who have passed on.

As I turned the pages of this book, I felt I was in a sacred place. I looked at the picture of the young man who became a hero, read the words of his heroism, and then look in the face and eyes of the older man who has lived so long after those acts, and yet I suppose that day is ever with them. I do not know, but from my own life I know that there are certain pivotal events that are never far from the surface.

Millions of soldiers have faced combat and each has my gratitude. In know that there are countless acts of service and heroism that are never recognized. Those included in this book are only representative of the heroism so many have shown in combat. To all of them, I say thank you. To each of the men included in this book I also offer my deepest gratitude. Your stories inspire us and provide examples of the highest qualities for future generations.

We can all aspire to such selflessness, duty, and courage if and when we are called to face an extreme challenge. It is good to document and remember these acts of heroism even if they are only representative of the truly large number heroes who have served our nation. Those honored here are indeed special men with special stories. As we hold these to our hearts with thanks we also need to think about the millions of stories we do not know and remember them as well.

It was wonderful to read about the heroes from World War II and Korea that are still with us. However, I was especially gratified to read about those whose heroic acts were given in Vietnam. It is past time for us to take seriously our neglect of these veterans and realize all that was given in service on our behalf. We owe then a debt and we need to pay it. A first step is to get to know what was done for us and learn the truth instead of simplistic anti-war propaganda.

You owe it to yourself to take a tour through this book and think about what these men, and so many like them, were asked to do and what they did to answer that call.

My father, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Dyess, USMCR, earned the Medal of Honor in World War II. He is also the recipient of America's highest award for civilian heroism, the Carnegie Medal, which he earned at age 19. He is not included in Medal of Honor by Peter Collier because he was killed in combat and only the living Medal of Honor recipients are profiled in this book. On March 25, 2005, Mr. Robert Avilla wrote and very unfavorable review of this book because it did not include a profile on Roy Benavidez. Mr. Avilla may not have understood why Benavidez was not included in Medal of Honor. Since Benavidez died in 1998, he, like my father, was not included in the book which was not published until five years after Benavidez's death. Happily, Benavidez wrote an autobiography before he died. This book is available through amazon.com. In sum, Medal of Honor by Peter Collier is a magnificent tribute to our living Medal of Honor recipients. It should be required reading for every young person in America.

This is a classic coffee table book. It's too large to fit on your book shelves but just right to rest on your coffee table. And, since it includes 117 separate and distinct stories of living men who won the Medal of Honor, you can pick it up, read a page or two, then put it down and come back to it later without skipping a beat. Best of all, the stories are interesting enough that your friends will enjoy scanning the book while you're off making the margaritas.

In the book you'll meet such diverse characters as the man who won the [Congressional] Medal of Honor and then went on to become a janitor at the Air Force Academy, another who went on to become the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and still another who asked that his award simply be mailed to him. Then there's the fellow on whose body Forrest Gump's head was superimposed receiving the medal from President Johnson and the medical corpsman who rescued 75 GIs on Okinawa, all the while praying, "Dear God, let me get just one more man." And what about the fellow whose award was expedited so he could receive it before he died of his wounds, only to survive? And on it goes . . .

For those interested in American history and America's heroes, these stories are not only interesting but also awe inspiring. Some may bring a tear to your eye, while others will bring a swell of pride to your chest. Many will also make you wonder where such men come from and how they can do such heroic deeds.

My only complaint about the book is that I would like to have read about some of those who won the award but did not survive. But I guess that would be another story.

A dear friend highly recommended Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty so recently I was standing in the bookstore waiting for the clerk to find it on the computer. After the third try she told me it was not showing up on her screens when another shopper walked up to me and placed it in my hands. He said " I overheard you asking for this and I had just looked it over"

With this auspicious beginning, my journey into the world of Medal of Honor winners began. As I looked through this beautiful book, I found myself taken by the photography and absorbed by the accompanying text which details the events of each honoree. Although I looked at each page and the photographs, I found that I had to pace myself on reading the text and short biographies. That is a lot there on many levels so I used the photos as a guide to decide which ones to read during this first encounter.

This book evoked tears for me. I have served in the military although not in combat. Also I have served in the US Peace Corp so I have always been aware of the paradox of the human condition.

While reading, I found discovered some very ambivalent feelings. Respect and admiration for the portraits of courage was obvious. Yet, simultaneously, a soul felt sadness when I realized that the "enemy" described on several pages, could very well have been the beloved grandfather of a dear friend I stayed with in Germany recently.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to explore the challenges of the human spirit.

DG Mogle

I am one of those folks who reads about 50 books a year. Once in a while I read a book that so impresses me that I recommend it to all my friends. Last year the book was Seabiscuit. This year it is Medal of Honor. In fact, Medal of Honor is a better book than Seabiscuit. I am buying it as a Christmas present for friends and giving it to them now, so they can, in turn, buy copies for their friends before Christmas.

Portraits in valor is simply the most well done depiction of the men who have received our nation's highest award for military valor that has been compiled to date. Photographs of the living recipients (and including a few recipients who have recently departed us) depict these rare heroes in inspirational settings that highlight their individual personalities.

This elegant book highlights the remarkable lives of our living medal of honor recipients. The lead-in chapters by President George H. W. Bush, Senator John McCain and Tom Brokaw are both uplifting and moving.The individual profiles of these living recipients tell many remarkable stories. For instance, Jack Lucas, who shortly after Pearl Harbor, entered the Marine Corps at age 13 and when President Truman presented him the medal, Lucas was still too young to fight. He then returned home to reenter the 9th grade since he had promised his mother that he would complete high school when the war was over. This book, with its great stories and wonderful photography, makes a great gift for family members, friends, and, especially for young people who are looking for role models.

You cannot read Medal of Honor without tears in the eye and some reflection on what is meaningful in life. It is a book for all times: exciting, informative, attractive, and inspiring. A book not about war, but about remarkable people. And a nice lesson in American history to boot.

This is an untterly breathtaking book, a tribute to
men whose lives have been transformed by their own
courage, as our lives will be transformed by what we
learn of them. The tales of their heroism are great,
more, almost, than we can comprehend; but the images
of their faces are breathtaking, haunting, brilliant,
and will inform our souls with an indelible sense of
the majesty of theirs. In this unforgettable book, we
learn the true meaning of the terms "manhood" and
"warrier" in the most sacred sense.

Nick Del Calzo is more than a photographer; he is a
visionary of the human essence. His photographs not
only spell out the message This man is a Hero, but
also tap in to all that lives inside the man who
carries the title Congressional Medal of Honor Winner.
Indeed, Nick has captured the emotional and spiritual
essence of each of these men with such exquisite
respect, vision, and honoring, that we, too, can truly
see--and deeply honor--them.

This is more than a coffee table book of stunning
photographs. It is a book of images from--and to--the
depths of the human heart.

Daphne Rose Kingma
Author of The Men We Never Knew; The Future of Love

This book relates extraordinary stories of bravery and sacrifice in the most incredible situations by our most honored military heroes. Who would know that men could accomplish such feats against such overwhelming odds. The wonderful photographs and powerful essays by Tom Brokaw and Senator McCain clearly bring home the respect and honor these men have earned. There are a couple of special highlights that some readers might miss. One are the inspiring quotes inside the front and back covers from the men featured in the book such as World War II Veteran John Hawk who said, "I came when I was called and I did the best I could." Second is the final 117th portrait and story on the Tomb of the Unknowns where the author tells of the "soldiers" interred there, "known but to God," who have also been bestowed with the Medal of Honor. They symbolize the service of all those who came back from foreign battlefields where they served their country and those who died there. One cannot hope to read this book and feel anything other than profound pride in the raw courage and selfless service demonstrated by these men and all who serve in uniform today. It certainly brings home how important it is to perpetuate the legacy of what the Medal of Honor represents and how "ordinary men and women can challenge fate and literally change the course of history, if they have the courage to try," another quote in the book by Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha. This book is "must" reading because it embodies the values of courage, sacrifice, and patriotism, and the dignity and peace of the men who have received our nation's highest military honor.