The Tuskegee Airmen have to BUY their own medals. Unbelievable -link added

[Little Wing]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I just read about this little factoid.

U.S. Honors Tuskegee Airmen, Though One Medal for All

Raleigh — The Tuskegee Airmen, America’s black fighter-pilot unit in WW II, was honored at the White House on Thursday for their service. President George Bush awarded a Congressional Gold Medal—the highest and most distinguished award the Congress has for civilians.

Over the course of the war, there were 994 pilots trained at the army air field in Tuskegee, Ala., Today, there are only a few hundred of the airmen left, and several of them live in the Triangle.

stuff

There is another battle yet, however.

“It's a start, but there's a postscript to that, too,” Hunter said.

The airmen together will receive one medal. Each must pay $38.50 for his own replica if he wants a medal to have.

“How can we be spending billions of dollars in Iraq, but we can't spend $30,000 on these guys 60 years after their accomplishment?” Eagleson asked.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1252846/

[Donnachaidh]

1. link please?

please?

[Little Wing]

5. done

in OP and http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1252846/

[Nickster]

6. Found it here.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1252846/

[IChing]

7. link

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1252846/

[IChing]

2. I was gonna post this earlier

It seems that Congress needs to take responsibility for this one
A hollow award for some very brave Americans.

[Virginia Dare]

3. WTF???

The government can't spring for $40 for these guys to get their medals? Geez, these guys are pushing 90 years old for cripes sake.

Why aren't they each getting the medal anyway?

[CrazyOrangeCat]

16. Sickening.

They were treated with disrespect while serving.

Sixty years later, they still have to face it.



Leave it to the Masters of War . . .:grr:

[Greyskye]

4. recommended, but needs link!

[Little Wing]

9. done

and in OP http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1252846/

[Spazito]

8. Sadly, this shouldn't surprise me but it does....

Why can't, just for once, the right thing be done instead of the pretense of the right thing being done.

It is appalling, imo.

It has taken 60 years to acknowledge them and, even then, it was primarily a photo op for bush rather than a REAL, long overdue acknowledgement that should have resulted in medals for EACH and EVERY surviving Tuskegee pilot.

[1monster]

10. Outrageous, but sooo typical.

Although it was not so overt, the military establishment treated the Vietnam vets quite badly too. That's one very big reason that I've always advised young people to think not just twice, but four or tens time before joining up.

This administration beats all for disrepect and the horrible treatment of our first line of defense.

Why would anyone who is informed want to join the military?

[IChing]

11. It is a Congressional award

so I think the ball is in their court, maybe an oversite.

[Donnachaidh]

18. oh yeah -- somethng the WH could have fixed BEFORE the ceremony?

But hey, they were so focused on that photo-op. No one in the WH knows how to count?

and why pass up an opportunity to make Congress look bad? If the WH had an OUNCE of class they would have made sure this got fixed before the flashbulbs started.

This was supposed to be about these Airmen. Yet another example of the Bush Admin putting politics ahead of everything else. ESPECIALLY ahead of the servicemen.

[Nickster]

12. Not so sure about the one medal thing. I found a pic of two of the airmen

It looks like they each have a medal.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-29-tuskegee_N.htm

[IChing]

13. Interesting But Why but why is one medal huge and the another medal small?

I didn't post this story earlier because I thought it needed some more verification

[mediaman007]

15. One of the got the $10.00 medal!

[Nickster]

17. I think you're seeing the design on his tie. The medal is under his jacket.

[Richard Steele]

36. Those 2 medals in that pic don't look the same to me. (not just size, design is different)

Perhaps one is some prior award that the pilot wore
to the ceremony?

EDIT- on further reading, it seems that every Congressional Gold Medal
is a custom, one-of-a-kind design for a specific commemoration.

So it's possible that the Airmen's small "replica" medals might
differ from their large group medal.

Or maybe one has flipped around and is showing its reverse side.

ANYway, I think the large one is the "real" medal awarded to
the Group & the smaller is one of the bronze replicas each
Airman recieves individually.

[Nickster]

14. I found this too.

"The actual medal for the airmen, made possible through legislation by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., will go to the Smithsonian Institution for display. Individual airmen will receive bronze replicas."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/ap/national/main2622511.shtml

[Spazito]

21. Hmmm, "...will receive bronze replicas." Does that mean

they will have the opportunity to purchase the replica or each will be given the replica? Given the OP it would be worth having it clarified, imo. I certainly hope it is the latter and not the former.

[Nickster]

23. My guess, based on that murky report is that they were awarded one unit

award, which is going to the Smithsonian and then each given individual medals. I'm betting that the purchase is to get a replica of the unit award, not their individual awards.

[Spazito]

29. Ahhh, that makes eminent sense, thanks for your response!

I have no concern if that is the case and, given the photo, it certainly seems likely.

[tanyev]

19. Oh, Gawd!!

The Tuskegee Airmen helped win a war, and you helped change our nation for the better. Yours is the story of the human spirit, and it ends like all great stories do -- with wisdom and lessons and hope for tomorrow. And the medal that we confer today means that we're doing a small part to ensure that your story will be told and honored for generations to come. ...and Karl will be waiting at door to collect your $38.50. Chumps! (Heh, heh, heh)

[hlthe2b]

20. the whole "honor" was handled so poorly, I'm not surprised

Boehner gave the initial speech and repeatedly throughout mis-pronounced TUSKEGEE as Tusk' ee gee with a soft g in "gee" as in GEE WHIZ...


It was such a disrespectful, ignorant display.... I saw the video somewhere, maybe C&L...

[IChing]

22. I saw that too, I hate the politicalization of real heroes

I think the issue will be resolved soon, I just called Pelosi office and are aware of the problem.
When the reporter called Pelosi's office it was closed, that said, is why they received no answer.
The reporter failed to mention that.

[cascadiance]

26. The video clip is here...

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2F2007%2F03%2F29%2Fboehner-tuskegee%2F

What a BONER!!!! (my spelling intentional on this one!)

[wicket]

24. Those rat fucks!

:grr:

[cascadiance]

25. Who has the contract to make those medals, Halliburton?...

That would be worth checking out!

This sounds kind of like that older story that Wal-Mart was telling its employees that it had to pay bucks to get an copy of their W-2 forms. Now it wasn't obvious from that article on whether it was you just had to pay to get EARLY access to your W-2 forms and they'd ultimately still be mailed free to folks if they waited for the deadline, or if everyone had to pay to get these W-2 forms, but in either case it seems discriminatory to penalize those with less means so that they can't get an earlier start on getting their returns back.

[qanda]

27. I heard something like this earlier on the news

They said the main medal would be going into the Smithsonian and each man would be getting a replica. It sounded strange to me.

[Beelzebud]

28. Republican rule has destroyed a once great nation.

[Blackhatjack]

30. What an insult! Dem Party should pick up the tab and deliver with a note of t hanks!

Sheesh! They could have bought their own medals, and not have had to endure an AWOL President handing out one medal to all of them.

Why doesn't the Democratic Party pick up the tab for each medal, and deliver it with a note of thanks to each and every one of them? Money well spent!

And it would show the Republicans up for what they really are. I don't know whether they are showing a racist attitude or they are so greedy that they cannot bring themselves to spend the money to honor true American heroes by purchasing a medal for them.

[GETPLANING]

31. I would be honored to buy those medals for them

They sure as hell deserve more than a slap in the face. I'm fuckin' red- faced hearing this.

[Richard Steele]

32. Why are FIGHTER PILOTS given a medal intended for CIVILIANS? That's a goddamn insult right there.

DU veterans, am I wrong? (I often am, y'know!)

But that just jumped out at me- a civilian medal
for what they did in uniform- What the hell?

[Nickster]

33. It's not necessarily a civilian medal. If you look at the history it was primarily for

military leaders to begin with, then Congress opened it up to more categories. It's the highest award that Congress can bestow on a group or individual. I wouldn't take it as a kick in the teeth, I would take it as my nation saying thank you.

http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/goldMedal.html

[Richard Steele]

34. Thank you, Nickster! I reckon I stand corrected. nm

[Nickster]

35. No problem, you've set me straight many times. :-)

[Stinky The Clown]

37. I want to rage and I want to cry ..... but mostly I want to hang my head in shame for what is .....

.... being done in our name.

[file83]

38. We need to work hard to make sure that all this crap being done is in THEIR name...

...not ours. Bush (et al.) is single handedly destroying every last bit of diginity/respect/honor left in our country. But we must make sure that history knows THEY did it on their own.

[FourScore]

39. There are no words

to express the outrage...:grr: