Jan. 3 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor to a group of military veterans and the Medal of Valor to several public safety officers.
The Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military award, is given to service members and others who have demonstrated exceptional valor in combat.
The six being honored posthumously include Pvt. Bruno R. Orig, Pfc. Wataru Nakamura, Cpl. Fred B. McGee, Pfc. Charles R. Johnson, retired Gen. Richard E. Cavazos and Capt. Hugh R. Nelson, Jr.
Spc. 4th Class Kenneth J. David is the only living veteran who will receive the award on Friday. He drew fire on himself in Vietnam to protect the wounded before being evacuated.
Orig, Nakamura, McGee Johnson, and Cavazos all served in Korea while Nison and David served in Vietnam. Orig, Nakamura, Johnson, and Nelson all died in battle.
Cavazos went on to rise to become a four-star general before dying in 2017.
Biden will also award the Medal of Valor, the hihgest award for a public safety officer, to eight first responders. Police officers receiving the award include Sgt. Jeffrey Mathews, Officer Rex Engelbert, Detectives Michael Collazo, Ryan Cagle, and Zachary Plese, who all responded to the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March 2023, killing the suspect.
Other awardees include Sgt. Tu Tran, who saved a woman who had fallen into a frozen pond in Lincoln, Neb.; Lt. John Vanderstar, a New York City firefighter who saved a mother and child from a burning building in October 2022; and New York City firefighter Brendan Gaffney, who in February 2023 rescued a pregnant woman and unconscious child from a fire.
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