Most Highly Decorated GI of all time

[decaro]

April VFW has just revealed the most highly decorated GI of all time based on a system developed by Erich Anderson where medals break down into the following points:

MoH -- 100
MCBM -- 75
CROSS - 50
SSTAR - 25
DDSM -- 20
DSM --- 20
DFC --- 15
MDL --- 15
LoM --- 10
DSSM -- 10
BSTAR - 10
PH ----- 5

Anderson made two list of the top 50, one with the MoH, the other regardless of the highest decoration won, and the same name is on top of both lists!

http://www.veterantributes.org/Top20MostDecorated.htm

[Twotribes]

Bet he did not include foreign awards? Where is Audy Murphy?

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: Twotribes

Bet he did not include foreign awards? Where is Audy Murphy?

MiA, and I counted only a handful of NCOs.

[Twotribes]

Hard to believe the most decorated soldier in WW2 is not on the list. Some of his awards were foreign though as I recall, the list probably does not count them.

[tevans6220]

He is on the MOH list. #29.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: tevans6220

He is on the MOH list. #29.

Thank you -- we were all looking for a sergeant!

[IainMcNeil]

I'm guessing the rank is the rank at the end of their career not when they won their awards which is why there are so few NCO's as guys like this are likely to make it up the ranks.

[KG Erwin]

I was pleased to see the late Col David Hackworth's name on the points scored list. He created some controversy during his career but his memoir "About Face" is a classic.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

I was pleased to see the late Col David Hackworth's name on the points scored list. He created some controversy during his career ...

"In response to Hackworth's investigation of Admiral Boorda, CNN and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather questioned the accuracy of Hackworth's own military decorations. In particular, the reports accused Hackworth of claiming a Ranger Tab to which he was not entitled and an extra Distinguished Flying Cross on his website. Hackworth threatened to sue CBS and requested a formal audit of his military records. In response to the military audit, the Executive Producer of CBS News sent a letter to Hackworth that stated:


"The Army's audit of its records has determined that the Army made an administrative error back in 1988, when it reissued your medals and awards. Along with numerous other decorations, the Army mistakenly issued you a Ranger Tab and two Oak Leaf Clusters for your Distinguished Flying Cross. The Army has thus verified what we reported as your explanation of the matter. As far as we are concerned, the Army audit makes clear that you did not at any time wear or claim any military honor not actually issued by the U.S. Army, based on its official records, including the service record you signed and dated. At the same time, CBS continues to believe that our reports did not state or imply that you knowingly wore or claimed decorations not issued by the U.S. Army and that any such inference drawn from the reports would be mistaken. Similarly, we do not believe our reports in any way equated your conduct with that of the late Admiral Boorda's. Indeed, as we believe we made clear in our reports, by all accounts you are a man who has shown extraordinary heroism in your service to our country, and has deservedly been awarded many of the nation's most coveted awards for valor.

In 2002, Hackworth was asked about the controversy in an interview with Proceedings. In the interview he stated:


"I had served in the 8th Ranger Company; later I served in the 27th Raiders of the 25th Infantry Division. On the Raiders' tenth mission, the regimental commander awarded every trooper the Ranger Tab. When all this fell out after the Boorda story, I immediately had my records audited. And they reflected that I was awarded the Ranger Tab. It was on my official records; it's not something I claimed falsely. Let me tell you how the regulation reads now. To rate a Ranger Tab, you had to have been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) while a member of the 8th Ranger Company. But I got my CIB with Company G, 27th Infantry Regiment. Thus, the 1951 award of the tab did not meet the 1980s criteria. I take all the blame. All the guys in the 27th Raiders got the Ranger Tab, but they were not Rangers. When the Boorda story exploded, people were looking for chinks in my armor. So I'm a defrocked Ranger. As it turned out, though, in the Army's vetting of my record, they found I had ten Silver Stars, not nine."

http://www.ask.com/wiki/David_Hackworth ... ap=ask.com

Hackworth was also a journalist who had much to say about the deficiencies in both the M-16 and the 9 mm.

[WarHunter]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I'm guessing the rank is the rank at the end of their career not when they won their awards which is why there are so few NCO's as guys like this are likely to make it up the ranks.

SgtMaj Daniel J. Daly, USMC
The only man to be on both lists as an enlisted man.

Major General Butler described Daly as, "The fightin'est Marine I ever knew!" Daly reportedly was offered an officer's commission twice to which he responded that he would rather be, "...an outstanding sergeant than just another officer."
/salute