Tuesday, November 4th, 2025, 7pm to 10pm at Villas Clubhouse
An action movie will be played as a Guys Night Out.
The title of the movie will be announced a few days in advance.
For more information, contact Bob Turnage.
TWO CHOICE MOVIES - Pick the one you want to watch.
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Title: Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
TIME: 2 hr 19 min
PREVIEW:
DESCRIPTION:
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
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TITLE: Patton (1970)
TIME: 2 hr 52 min
PREVIEW:
DESCRIPTION:
The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.
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How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the Revolutionary War?
None.
There is no single "greatest" medal, but some of the most historically significant include the Congressional Gold Medal and the Badge of Military Merit. Congressional Gold Medal First awarded in 1776 to George Washington, it is the highest civilian honor the United States can bestow. It was awarded to military figures during the Revolutionary War for distinguished service. Badge of Military Merit / Purple Heart Established in 1782 by George Washington to honor soldiers for "singularly meritorious action". It is the oldest American military decoration and is the predecessor to the modern Purple Heart. The first recipients were Continental Army soldiers William Brown and Elijah Churchill.
When was the Medal of Honor started? 1861 - Army 1862 - Navy
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the US Civil war?
1,522 Medals of Honor were awarded for actions during the Civil War.
This is almost half of all the medals ever awarded to date.
This number includes:
1,198 for soldiers,
307 for sailors, and
17 for Marines.
How many recipients of the MoH have there been?
As of early 2025, there have been 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients?
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the World War I?
There were 126 Medal of Honor recipients, awarded to 121 individuals.
These medals were awarded to:
92 Army personnel,
21 Navy personnel, and
8 Marine Corps personnel.
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the World War II?
There were 472 Medal of Honor recipients.
This includes individuals from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army Air Force, with a single recipient from the Coast Guard.
Seventeen of the recipients were Japanese-Americans who served in integrated units or were part of the 100th Infantry Battalion.
Regarding WW2, What was the largest battle, from the perspective of Medal of Honor recipients?
The largest single-battle award was for the Battle of Iwo Jima, with 27 recipients.
However, other battles had almost as many.
Battle of Iwo Jima: 27 Medals of Honor were awarded for this 36-day battle, the most for any single battle in U.S. history.
Battle of Okinawa: The final major battle of the war saw 24 Medals of Honor awarded.
D-Day Invasion: The invasion of Normandy resulted in 10 Medals of Honor.
Battle of the Bulge: The surprise German offensive in the Ardennes resulted in 21 Medals of Honor.
Pearl Harbor: 16 Medals of Honor were awarded for the initial attack on Pearl Harbor.
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the Korea?
There were 147 Medal of Honor recipients.
Of these, 107 were awarded posthumously. Army: 98 Marine Corps: 42 Navy: 7 Air Force: 4
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the Vietnam?
There were 261 Medal of Honor recipients.
Of these awards, 156 were presented posthumously. Army: 179 Marine Corps: 58 Navy: 15 Air Force: 14
How many Medal of Honor recipients were there in the Afghanistan?
As of late 2025, 20 U.S. service members have received the award.
Posthumous Awards: 5 Living Recipients: 15
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Has anyone been awarded the MoH twice?
19 individuals have received the award twice.
Who was the the FIRST recipient?
Jacob Parrott, a Union Army private, received the first Medal of Honor on March 25, 1863, for his actions during the Civil War's Great Locomotive Chase. He was one of six recipients of the award from the Andrews' Raiders, who attempted to sabotage Confederate railroad lines
Who was the youngest recipient?
Willie Johnston - a Union drummer boy from the Civil War who was 11 years old when he earned the award during the Seven Days Battles. He was officially awarded the medal in 1863 for his bravery in refusing to abandon his drum during a difficult retreat.
WW2 - MARINES:
Jack Lucas. Youngest USMC Medal of Honor recipient in WWII.
He lied about his age and enlisted at 14. He had to promise his mother that he'd go back to school when the war was over or she'd have turned him in. He was found out when he was 16 and was being outprocessed when he went AWOL by stowing away on a troopship on it's way to Iwo Jima.
He earned the MoH by diving on 2 Japanese grenades to save his comrades. They marked him as dead and moved on. Graves registration realized he was alive and shipped him home.
After a year in the hospital, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman and medically discharged. He kept his promise to his mother and at 19, he enrolled in the 9th grade.
How many recipients are still alive?
Currently 61 living recipients as of early 2025.
Some recipients are still on active duty, such as Thomas Payne.
Vietnam War
Dwight W. Birdwell: Awarded for his actions in 1968.
Patrick H. Brady: Awarded for his actions in 1968.
Sammy L. Davis: Awarded for his actions in 1967.
John J. Duffy: Awarded for his actions in 1972.
War on Terrorism
Edward C. Byers Jr.: Awarded for actions in Afghanistan in 2012.
William K. Carpenter: Awarded for actions in Afghanistan in 2010.
Ty M. Carter: Awarded for actions in Afghanistan in 2009.
Who is the most recent recipient?
The most recent Medal of Honor recipients are
Privates William Simon Harris and James W. McIntyre, awarded in January 2025 for their actions during the Philippine Insurrection.
For a posthumous recipient,
Corporal Fred B. McGee was awarded on January 3, 2025, for his actions during the Vietnam War. The most recent living recipient was Larry Taylor, who died in January 2024, though his award was for an action in 1968.
Has a woman ever been awarded the MoH?
Dr. Mary Walker is the only woman to receive the award; her medal was initially rescinded but reinstated. She was a civilian Army contract surgeon during the Civil War.
Has a US president received the Medal of Honor?
Theodore Roosevelt is the only U.S. president who is a sole recipient of the Medal of Honor. He earned the award for his actions as a Lieutenant Colonel with the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War's Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898. Although initially overlooked, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honor in 2001.
Has anyone ever refused a Medal of Honor?
Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States turned it down. He served as Captain of artillery during WWI and was an army reserve Colonel before retiring from the military. However, he refused to accept it.
Has a foreigner ever been awarded the MoH?
Yes, there have been numerous foreign-born Medal of Honor recipients, including immigrants from countries like England, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Mexico.
There is no requirement for a recipient to be a U.S. citizen at the time of their service, but they must serve in the U.S. military.
In fact, about 20% of the recipients are immigrants.
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HIS HARDEST MOMENT
Several years before he passed away, a nephew asked Bing Crosby:
What was your hardest moment during a performance, expecting comments about Hollywood or the entertainment industry.
instead, Bing answered:
I was performing "White Christmas" for 15,000 homesick troops in France in December 1944.
I had to keep my composure and vocal control while singing the song to soldiers who were crying.
I knew and they knew they would soon be sent to the front lines for the Battle of the Bulge.
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NOT ALL HEROES ARE SOLDIERS
In 1944, a Michigan factory built 100 bombers in three days - and the workers were mostly women who'd never touched an aircraft before the war.
At Ford's Willow Run plant in Michigan, history wasn't made on the battlefield. It was made on the assembly line.
By November 1943, something extraordinary was happening in Ypsilanti Township, just outside Detroit. Ford's massive aircraft factory - a building so large it had its own climate inside - was producing a brand-new B-24 Liberator bomber every single hour.
Let that sink in.
A four-engine heavy bomber, with 1,550 square feet of wing surface, weighing 36,500 pounds empty, complex enough to require 1.2 million parts-rolling off the line every 63 minutes.
This wasn't a miracle. It was the result of the most ambitious manufacturing experiment in American history.
When the government asked Henry Ford to build bombers in 1940, he was 77 years old and hadn't designed a new factory in years. But he understood mass production better than anyone alive, and he knew America would need planes - lots of them, fast.
Ford's team designed Willow Run to be unlike any factory ever built.
The main assembly building stretched 3,500 feet long and 1,200 feet wide - so massive it earned the nickname "the Arsenal of Democracy" before a single plane rolled out. The assembly line was a mile long.
Workers used bicycles to get from one end to the other.
But the real innovation wasn't the building. It was the people.
When production ramped up, Ford needed workers - tens of thousands of them. But the men who normally filled factory jobs were overseas fighting the war. So Willow Run became staffed primarily by women — housewives, secretaries, teachers, young women who'd never held a wrench or driven a rivet in their lives.
They learned. Fast.
"Rosie the Riveter" wasn't just a poster - she was real, and she was building bombers at Willow Run. Women operated massive machines, assembled complex aircraft systems, learned precision manufacturing on the job, and matched or exceeded any production metrics set by male workers before them.
One worker later recalled: "We knew every plane we finished was going to help bring the boys home. That kept us going through the double shifts, the exhaustion, everything."
The numbers tell an astonishing story of what they accomplished:
By November 1943: One bomber every hour - 24 planes per day.
By August 1944: Peak monthly production hit 428 aircraft - more than 14 bombers per day, every day, for an entire month.
And then came the sprint that proved what American workers could do when it mattered most:
Between April 24 and 26, 1944 —just three days- 100 B-24 Liberator bombers rolled off the Willow Run assembly line.
One hundred four-engine heavy bombers. In 72 hours.
That's one complete bomber every 43 minutes, sustained for three straight days.
If you've ever assembled IKEA furniture and thought it was complicated, imagine building a 27-ton aircraft with four engines, ten machine guns, and the fuel capacity to fly from England to Berlin and back - and doing it in less time than it takes to watch a movie.
By 1945, the plant operated around the clock with 42,000 workers running multiple shifts. Ford's Willow Run was building 70% of all B-24 Liberators used in the war - supplying the majority of these heavy bombers to the Army Air Forces, the Navy, and Allied nations.
In total, Willow Run produced 8,685 B-24 Liberators: approximately 6,792 complete aircraft plus 1,893 knock-down kits that were shipped to other facilities for final assembly.
The result? The B-24 became the most-produced American heavy bomber in history - 18,482 total from all manufacturers, with Willow Run accounting for nearly half.
It was a powerful symbol not just of American military might, but of industrial strength and the capacity to mobilize an entire nation's workforce toward a common purpose.
Those bombers flew over Europe and the Pacific. They dropped supplies to resistance fighters, bombed strategic targets, and helped turn the tide of the war. Every one that rolled off Willow Run's assembly line represented hundreds of hours of labor by workers who understood exactly what was at stake.
But Willow Run was building more than planes.
It was proving that ordinary people - given a purpose, the training, the urgency BUT MOST IMPORTANT THE BELIEF THEIR WORK MADE A DIFFERENCE - could accomplish the extraordinary.
That women could master complex manufacturing just as well as men.
That American industry could pivot from making cars to making bombers and do it faster than anyone thought possible.
The B-24s built at Willow Run helped win World War II. The workers who built them-especially the women-proved that capability isn't about gender or background, it's about opportunity and determination.
And the factory itself demonstrated that American industrial might, when fully mobilized, was one of the decisive factors in the Allied victorv.
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