How often is a soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?

My grandfather received the medal, and I was curious how often it was awarded. He was a staff sergeant when the plane he was on was shot down. He pulled his friend out before jumping out, and they became prisoners of war during WWII.

I'm just curious. How often is this medal awarded?How often is a soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?
http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html



Everyone ever awarded this amazing medal is listed on this site.



If Grandpa's name isnt on this website, he didnt get the CMH.



If his name is on this website, i stand in awe.



Its pretty rare nowadays. More frequent during the civil war, but since WW1 its VERY rare
Cannot describe how awesome this metal looks and to know, since George Washington initiated it, just over 3,000 have received it and if you check a huge amount of great people have received after their death.



Unfortunately, you need two witnesses to get nominated, and then, the sharks come out to disprove and the investigations begin ...



The are like the "devil's advocate"--they really would like to see medal awarded, but they are there to prove or disprove.



In the State of Conn., Harvey Barnum from Cheshire received it--his record is a miracle, way way beyond the call of duty, as it should be.

Many like Harvey are out there that should also have one, but most times there is only one witness or none survive long enough to get the info down.



You can hear many great hero stories by visiting your local VA hospital. Some of these unsung hero's stories could never have been made up, unfortunately only some that survive have been scarred for life and have been in the VA since they came home. Myself and a few friends, for years brought gifts and books to those that will never leave the VA. We should all go and give credit where it is due and help bring home humanity back to our soldiers, women too that are now part of our history.



For a couple of years the gov't wanted to dish this medal out to "non" military for various contributions to the military, but it has gone back to the original meaning, "beyond the call of duty" for any military personnel in any branch. I believe a few Seals have received it.



As for Harvey, his story is on line at the Metal of Honor site under Vietnam. Read some of them, it brings tears to my eyes that so many gave their lives to war that France didn't want to commit to and pulled out leaving us with the bag to defend those that didn't want to be communist. Ending the way it did has been painful. I have known many that came back from Nam with a metal or star, only to be spit on for being there by American citizens that avoided their obligation and ran off. A welcome back I hope we don't see again, ever.How often is a soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?
It is extremely rare. It is even more rare to have it awarded to someone who lived to receive it, because it is awarded to someone who did something extremely brave without regard to his own life. If he really did win the medal, then you should look into going to one of the service academies, because children and grandchildren of medal of honor winners can receive an automatic appointment to the academies.
Strictly speaking, it's called the Medal of Honor. The "Congressional" part gets added because it takes an act of Congress to approve this award. That means that 535 wanna-be presidents had to take time out from their busy schedule of taking campaign contributions from lobbyists to decide whether your grandfather's actions were sufficiently worthy of their attention. If they were, I don't have enough hands to salute him properly. My point is, it doesn't happen very often.How often is a soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?
it is very hard to get it.you haft to do as hard as your grandfather did.these day it is even harder to get one.it was not like the old day,s.you all most haft to die to get one or go over and be on the call of duty.this is as your grandfather did as he stayed to make sure other people are safe be for you.be proud of him and let him know you are and that i my self em proud of him as well.pray that they all come home in these day as well.god be with you and all.
highest award you can recieve in the military. many didnt live to see it, they gave all but it wasnt for the medal it was for all of us and the lives of their fellow soldiers
It is a very high honor. And those that have received one weren't thinking about metals when they performing them. Most lost a dear friend that day that they would gladly give the metal for the lost one. Be proud.
It's a tough one to get and most of the time it's awarded posthumously.

It's not a common award to be sure, but not unheard of.
its not awarded very often you have to do somthing brave and heroic or somthin liek that but its not give out very often
since the GWOT began in 2001 there have been 6 awarded so figure those numbers hundreds of thousands of people deployed and 6 earned the MOH give you an idea?
It's fairly rare. Only 3,456 have been given out. Only 4 in the Iraq War.