Medal Of Honor

WASHINGTON -- Alonzo H. Cushing is close to receiving the Medal of Honor, nearly 150 years after his heroic actions at Gettysburg. A little-noticed provision of a House-approved defense bill would waive the time limit for posthumously bestowing the nation's highest military honor, allowing the medal to be bestowed on the 22-year-old Union artillery lieutenant who died during Pickett's charge on July 3, 1863. If passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the measure would end a decades-long struggle by a 92-year-old resident of Cushing's native Wisconsin.

President Obama awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor to a Vietnam-era warrior Wednesday, commemorating his bravery as well as a generation of veterans often  forgotten, even shunned, by the nation they served. Obama presented the medal to the widow of Spc. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. in a televised ceremony from the East Room of the White House, 42 years after he gave his life to save his comrades from a North Vietnamese ambush in Cambodia. “He saved his comrades who meant more to him than life,” Obama said at the ceremony, also saluting other Vietnam War veterans.

A bipartisan group of California legislators has asked the secretary of the Navy to reconsider a request from the Marine Corps that the Medal of Honor be awarded posthumously to a Marine from San Diego killed in Iraq. The group says newly discovered video and a report from a noted pathologist merit a review of the decision by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates not to recommend that the Medal of Honor be awarded to Sgt. Rafael Peralta . Peralta, 25, an immigrant from Mexico, was killed in November 2004 while Marines were clearing insurgents from barricaded homes in Fallouja.

Reporting from Washington -- Israeli President Shimon Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this spring, President Obama announced at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington. "Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, 'slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity and freedom,'" Obama said as he announced the award. "He has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings.

The Supreme Court justices spoke with disdain about liars who claim to have earned military honors, but they sounded less sure how to handle another group known for shading the truth: politicians. "In the commercial context, we allow a decent amount of lying. It's called puffing. 'You won't buy it cheaper anywhere,' " said Justice Antonin Scalia. "So maybe we allow a certain amount of puffing in political speech as well. Nobody believes all that stuff, right?" The exchange came midway through Wednesday's argument over whether the freedom of speech shields people who falsely claim military honors.

Xavier Alvarez told of playing hockey for the Detroit Red Wings, marrying a Mexican starlet, piloting a helicopter in Vietnam and suffering gunshot wounds while rescuing the American ambassador during the Iran hostage crisis. All were lies. He got into legal trouble, however, when he stood up at a water board meeting in Pomona in 2007 and described himself as a retired Marine who had received the Medal of Honor. He joined a number of men who lied about their military service and claimed medals they did not win. More than a third of "Who's Who" profiles that listed top military honors could not be confirmed through military records, a Chicago Tribune investigation found in 2008.

Fred Milano Doo-wop singer with Dion and the Belmonts Fred Milano, 72, a singer who made rock 'n' roll history on doo-wop hits with Dion and the Belmonts in the 1950s, died Sunday, three weeks after his lung cancer was diagnosed, said Warren Gradus, who joined the vocal group in 1963. Milano lived in Massapequa, on New York's Long Island, and died in a hospital, Gradus said. Milano and his friends Angelo D'Aleo and Carlo Mastrangelo from the Bronx formed the Belmonts in the mid-1950s, borrowing their name from the borough's Belmont Avenue.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that President Obama remains proud to have awarded the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Dakota Meyer despite a report that suggests the account of Meyer's acts was embellished and, in some cases, untrue. As he presented the medal at a Sept. 15 ceremony, Obama recounted the official record of events of a Sept. 8, 2009, ambush in the Gangal Valley in eastern Afghanistan, in which Meyer is credited with saving the lives of 13 U.S. service members, killing insurgents at close range and repeatedly leaving his gun turret to rescue Afghan soldiers.

Symbol of courage Re "Valor in the 'kill zone,' " Sept. 16 How proud all Marines must be to see one of their own awarded the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, in a ceremony at the White House — lest we forget our troops defending our freedom 24/7 in places far from home. As the father of an active-duty Marine, I am particularly awed by the actions of Dakota Meyer, and I thank God every day that there are still those among us who answer to a much higher calling.