Medal of Honor History: 27th Maine, the 1917 Purge and the Tiffany Cross

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Commanding General Winfield Scott opposed military medals as a European monarchical custom, but after his retirement Navy Secretary Gideon Welles pushed through a Navy medal that Lincoln signed in December 1861, with an Army version following in July 1862. As the only U.S. military decoration, it was awarded loosely for gallantry and other soldier-like qualities, including saving the flag and peacetime rescues. The surviving Andrews Raiders became the first recipients, though civilian James J. Andrews was not eligible. In 1863 Edwin Stanton offered the medal to 27th Maine men who reenlisted to guard Washington, and 864 were issued to the whole regiment.

In 1916 a board under retired General Nelson A. Miles reviewed every Army award, and in 1917 struck 911 names, including the 27th Maine, Lincoln's funeral guard, Buffalo Bill Cody and contract surgeon Mary Edwards Walker. The Navy instead created a combat-only Tiffany Cross in 1919, then gave it to Richard Byrd for flying over the North Pole, and retired it in 1942. A 1963 law set one combat standard for all services, and later reviews upgraded awards to Black, Hispanic and Jewish veterans passed over in earlier wars.

• Mary Edwards Walker kept wearing her medal until her death, and it was later restored.
• Byrd asked President Herbert Hoover in 1930 to swap his Tiffany Cross for the non-combat version.
• A 1993 Shaw University study led President Clinton to present the medal to seven World War II veterans in 1997, including Vernon Baker.
• The 2014 Valor 24 upgrades included Tibor Rubin, a Holocaust survivor and Korean War prisoner.
• The Pentagon denied Michael Blassie's family the medal from the Vietnam Unknown's tomb after DNA identified him in 1998.