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Dreaming... Part V

1/30/2022

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I guess the folks at Washington DC's Willard Hotel don't need a very large advertising budget.

Yesterday I did a Google search and  in .73 of a second the net found 3.2 million hits. Today I repeated this little exercise and it took a whopping .96 of one second to now get over 4 million hits.

Willard's of course is the same hotel which has been mentioned several times in the last 4 blogs. It was here that key Trump men met in their "war rooms" to devise a scheme to prevent Biden from taking his elected seat at the head of the US government as the President for all men,  women, and children regardless of political persuasions.

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It was also here at the earlier Willard's (top of above two) that the idea of a Medal of Honor was born, as noted in the last blog. It was also at this earlier building that secret meetings between leaders of dozens of states met to try and avoid plunging into the worst war in US history... the US Civil War. Tragically their hopes were destroyed, along with much of America in those 4 tragic years in the 1860's.

Jumping forward 4 decades the US closed its eyes as the Government and it's bureaucrats ignored the US Constitution and committed a horrible sin that still haunts  the US a century later. Worse yet, with eyes closed, they refused to see what was right before them.

Properly handled, the concept could have been a guiding light, a learning tool if you will, that might have played a major role in the antics of earlier this month.

That tool is the US Constitution!

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Representative Jordan claimed, without court support, that the election results were  illegal due to all of the questions his party raised to argue, unsuccessfully, that the votes cast could not be treated as valid.

Thus, if accurate, he noted, as above caption shows, that the votes were to be treated  as no votes whatsoever. His goal, if the above succeeded, was to have the various states elect their own two representatives as the only votes to be counted in the final tally.

And these, since coming from Republican states, would tally more than the Democrats, and then Trump would become  the winner of the election.

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Law maker Jordan then argued, as above shown, that no legislative action  that offends the Constitution can stand.

Too bad he wasn't around in 1916. If he was,  maybe he could have tried to stop the Purge of about 1,000 medals. But alas,  he wasn't around and the Purge went ahead. 

Had the Purge been properly handling in 1916, a lesson would have been on the books that could apply today. That being... Do not try to do anything that offends the constitution. But the lesson is not there and the US government now threatens to yet again disregard the law and kill 20 medals awarded at Wounded Knee.

The medals can be rescinded but only if using the Constitution's rules.

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George Hobday and Marvin Hillock are both Medal of Honor recipients who played a roll in the Battle of Wounded Knee. Both have Canadian connections.

Hobday's actual medal is shown above as is his first grave marker, complete with his name misspelled. A corrected  marker was later erected by members of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the US. For the past decade I have been a proud member and only member from Canada in this organization.

Both of these medals will suffer the same fate as the rest of the 20 medals awarded for that battle. One which clearly had terrible consequences... and slaughter of native men, women and children. The soldiers also suffered and bravery was evident on both sides of the battle.

I am not sure about the appropriateness of going backwards to kill medals but am very sure about the law with regards to taking such actions. That law, which was ignored, would have prevented about 1000 Medals of Honor from Civil War days and other events, from  being illegally rescinded. The same lurks on the horizon for those 20 above noted.

This US history has been mostly hidden for well over a century. It remains to this day as the biggest stain on the very virtues of the Medal of Honor and what it stands for!

Numerous past blogs in this space have articulated the issues involved in the original purge of 1916, and in particular, the story of the 27th Maine receiving about 800 medals when only about 300 should have been awarded. (Past blogs give exact numbers.)

After considerable pressure from various groups, and several attempts to have the medals cancelled, it came to a head with the  above noted Purge.

There were several issues regarding the Purge that needed, but did not get aired in any courts of law. Lawgivers demanding certain actions had their orders changed by subordinates without ever going back  to Congress for approval.

Medal of Honor recipients were then ordered to return all of the 27th medals. So to, for a handful of others!

In this process the authorities ignored certain provisions under the Constitution that called for the extension of rights such as being formerly accused of some form of a violation, an order to appear before a legitimate tribunal, have council, be able to present and challenge evidence given and  more.

None of this took place!

But all recipients involved were ordered to surrender their medals, and failing same, the wearing or displaying of them would be treated as a felony.

All of the medals, returned or otherwise,  were then put into such a documented status that they could be considered to be rescinded.

This injustice took place in 1916 and remains in place today. It is nothing short of the biggest stain on the very medal government seeks to honor today's heroes with. (In earlier days the awarding criteria allowed for the awarding of some medals for lower status than today.)

Had the law of the land been used in the years prior to the Purge dates, those in power would have realized that the rescinding was quite contrary to law.

Since then, later governments would have had some case law to guide them in their plans of the day.

One such scheme, on-going as I write, could have benefited from the case-law... that was never created, because of past incompetence. Current Democrat's proposal to have the President sign (without authority) and the Congress created law to rescind the 20 medals above noted. (Unless of course they comply with the requirement of the US Constitution above noted.)

Researching the subject over the past decades will produce lots of disparaging remarks regarding the 27th Maine. But at  the same time you will rarely see how the government acted illegally, as noted herein, and continued with the purge. Rather than following the law, the just flew by the seat of their pants. And got away with it!

And who is doing anything about it? Not a single person that I can find.

Should any government choose to rescind a medal, they should ensure that all of the appropriate  sections of the Constitution are  read, understood and applied first.

They may feel free to consult my past blogs to learn more about their laws regarding these matters.

I highly recommend all concerned with this topic to have a thorough read of this great book, though dated as it is. You may well come away with an entirely different view of the Medal of Honor and the incredible scandal that stands to this very day.

One that needs your attention!
 

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I welcome your comments.

Other pressing matters prevents me from appearing this space next Sunday, But I shall hopefully return the following week,

Cheers,

Bart

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    Author;
    Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
    Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers 

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