Honors awarded

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‘Despite intense pain and unchecked loss of blood,’ his Medal of Honor citation reads, ‘he pinned down the enemy with accurate rifle fire while a friendly squad captured the enemy gun by skirting the
minefield and rushing in from the flank.’

That was part of Monday’s obituary for Silvestre Herrera who was, as the story continued, ‘a Mexican-born World War II Medal of Honor recipient who captured eight German soldiers after single-handedly assaulting a machine-gun nest and continued fighting after losing both of his feet in a minefield during a second solo assault on another enemy position.’

The headline said that he had ‘won’ that medal, though, and several readers spoke up.

Clay Marston of Palm Beach, Fla., wrote, ‘Well-written piece on this amazing hero. However, it is never correct to say that a Medal of Honor recipient is a ‘ winner.’’

As other readers pointed out: No one is out to win a Medal of Honor, which is, as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society puts it, the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force.

The e-mail went to the editor who oversees the California copy desk, where obituaries usually appear and where those headlines are written. Senior copy chief Mark McGonigle acknowledged the readers’ point, and said that he’d send out a reminder to others on the desk.

One other error that is so common that it’s a part of the Times’ stylebook: Though the organization that represents those who wear it is known as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the name of the highest U.S. military decoration does not take the word ‘congressional’ before it. It is the Medal of Honor.