List of Medal of Honor Recipients - Foreign

Foreign

While current law, (e.g., 10 U.S.C. ยง 6241 (relating to service members in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps), beginning in 1918, explicitly states that recipients must be serving in the U.S. Armed Forces at the time of performing a valorous act that warrants the award, exceptions have been made. Apart from these rare exceptions, Medals of Honor can only be awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces, although being a U.S. citizen is not a prerequisite. Sixty-one Canadians who were serving in the United States Armed Forces have been awarded the Medal of Honor, with a majority awarded for actions in the American Civil War. Since 1900, only four have been awarded to Canadians. In the Vietnam War, Peter C. Lemon was the only Canadian recipient of the Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor has also been presented to several unknown soldiers: the British Unknown Warrior in the United Kingdom by General Pershing on October 17, 1921; later the U.S. Unknown Soldier was reciprocally awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry, on November 11, 1921. The Medal of Honor was also presented to the Romanian Unknown Soldier, the Unknown Soldier of France, entombed under the Arc de Triomphe, the Unknown Soldier of Belgium and the Unknown Soldier of Italy, entombed in the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II.

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Famous quotes containing the word foreign:

    “’Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
    —George Washington (1732–1799)

    “If you don’t know foreign languages, you don’t know anything about your own.”
    —Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)

    “Maybe it’s understandable what a history of failures America’s foreign policy has been. We are, after all, a country full of people who came to America to get away from foreigners. Any prolonged examination of the U.S. government reveals foreign policy to be America’s miniature schnauzer—a noisy but small and useless part of the national household.”
    —P.J. (Patrick Jake)