UNCOMMON VALOR - THE MEDAL OF HONOR AND THE WARRIORS WHO EARNED IT IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

摘要

Ask most students of military history to name a winner of the Medal of Honor and the only one many can name is the highly decorated Audie Murphy from World War Ⅱ. Some who served in that conflict might also remember "Machine Gun Kelly," noted for his September 1943 heroics during the Allied landings at Salerno. While our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are much more recent, few can name its warriors who received our nation's highest military decoration and this well-written book seeks to correct that deficiency. The book summarizes the civilian and military lives of the first eight men to be awarded the Medal of Honor in the Middle East. Significantly none was a high-ranking officer whose feats were written up by a fawning aid. (As an aside, too many WWⅡ division commanders received Distinguished Service Crosses based on write-ups by a member of their staff.)