Medal of honor

Headnote

Father and Son Citizen-Soldiers decorated for valor

President Bill Clinton presented a posthumous Medal of Honor to the great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt January 16, more than 56 years after Roosevelt's son posthumously received the same decoration.

The elder Roosevelt received his for his actions during the Spanish-American War at San Juan Hill, Cuba, on July 1, 1898, while in command of the Ist U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, better known as the Rough Riders. Then a lieutenant colonel, Roosevelt led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill and into the pages of American history. Today's presentation makes him the first U.S. President to be a Medal of Honor recipient.

His son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received his for his actions during World War II at Utah Beach, France, on June 6, 1944, while serving as assistant division commander of the 4th Infantry Division. Then a brigadier general, Roosevelt was in the first wave at Utah Beach. He was the first general officer to land on a Normandy Beach on D-Day.

The Roosevelts are the second set of father and son Medal of Honor recipients in U.S. military history. The first pair was Arthur and Douglas MacArthur. Arthur MacArthur received his for his courage at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, during the Civil War. His son, Douglas, received his during World War II for his defense of Bataan and Corregidor.

Arthur MacArthur was a volunteer soldier in a Wisconsin regiment at Missionary Ridge but joined the Regular Army after the Civil War. Douglas MacArthur was a Regular Army officer throughout his career.

The father

Theodore Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the beginning of the Spanish-American War to accept a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Rough Riders, which he helped recruit, organize, train and lead to Cuba. When the regimental commander,

Col. Leonard Wood,...