List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II

This is a list of United States military personnel who received the Medal of Honor for their actions during World War II. Recipients are listed alphabetically by last name. Posthumous receipt is denoted by an asterisk.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict, the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War; the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland. [Official military histories in Commonwealth nations refer to the conflict as the Second World War, while the United States' official histories refer to the conflict as World War II. English translations of the official histories of other nations tend to resolve into English as Second World War also, for example "zweite weltkrieg" in German. See C.P. Stacey "Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War", for example. "Official" usage of these terms is giving way to popular usage and the two terms are becoming interchangeable even in formal military history.]

This global conflict split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", erasing the distinction between civil and military resources. This resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. [Dunnigan, James. Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Military Information No One Told You About the Greatest, Most Terrible War in History, William Morrow & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-688-12235-3] The financial cost of the war is estimated at about a trillion 1944 U.S. dollars worldwide, [Mayer, E. (2000) [http://emayzine.com/lectures/WWII.html "World War II"] course lecture notes on "Emayzine.com" (Victorville, California: Victor Valley College)] [Coleman, P. (1999) [http://members.aol.com/forcountry/ww2/wc1.htm "Cost of the War,"] "World War II Resource Guide" (Gardena, California: The American War Library)] making it the most costly war in capital as well as lives.

The Allies were victorious, and, as a result, the United States and Soviet Union emerged as the world's two leading superpowers.

During this conflict 464 United States military personnel received the Medal of Honor, 266 of them posthumously. Additionally, the only recipient for the United States Coast Guard received the Medal for his actions during this war.

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government and is bestowed on a member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself "…conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States…" Due to the nature of this medal, it is commonly presented posthumously. [http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/pis/med_of_honor.html Defense link Medal of Honor history] ]

A

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the * , indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

D

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

G

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

J

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

M

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

P

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

T

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

W

legend2|#e3d9ff|This along with the *, indicates that the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously|border=1px solid #AAAAAA

* N.B. An asterisk in the citation indicates that the award was given posthumously.

See also

* The Unknown American Soldier from World War II
* List of Medal of Honor recipients

References

*cite web
accessdate=2008-07-24
url=http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/HD/Whos_Who.htm
title=Who's Who list of Marines
work=Who's Who in Marine Corps History
publisher=History Division, United States Marine Corps
*cite web
accessdate=2008-07-24
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/moh.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work =
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007
**cite web
accessdate=2007-11-07
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/wwII-a-f.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = World War II (A - F)
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007
**cite web
accessdate=2007-11-07
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/wwII-g-l.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = World War II (G - L)
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007
**cite web
accessdate=2007-11-07
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/wwII-m-s.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = World War II (M - S)
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007
**cite web
accessdate=2007-11-07
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/html/moh/wwII-t-z.html
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = World War II (T - Z)
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007
**cite web
accessdate=2007-11-07
url = http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/mohstats.htm
title = U.S. Army Center of Military History Medal of Honor Citations Archive
work = Medal Of Honor statistics
publisher= Army Medal of Honor website
date = July 16, 2007