I read on CBS News an article by John Blackstone relating how a U S Naval steward was a hero during WW II and saved a Navy ship all by himself. In May of 1945 he was attached to the U S Navy Destroyer Aaron Ward when it was attacked by Japanese Kamikaze aircraft. He was one person on an eight-man firefighting crew aboard the destroyer.
According to Carl Clark’s version of events all seven other members of the firefighting crew were killed as the first plane struck the ship, leaving only himself to fight the resultant fire. As his story goes, five more Kamikaze pilots managed to hit the destroyer one after another. Carl Clark was the sole person responsible for fighting each of the resultant fires, thus saving the ship from a dastardly fate.
Still according to Carl Clark when the battle report was written by the ship’s captain his name was not mentioned. Mr. Clark attributes this to the fact he is a black man. Sixty-six years later he has been awarded a distinguished service medal for his self-proclaimed heroism.
Thus, if John Blackstone has filed an accurate report, the United States Government has taken away one more little bit of an honor system. When a person can receive a medal for heroism merely because that person proclaims himself to be a hero, with no corroborating evidence or statements from any other person involved, then my Navy is a lesser organization.
Any medal awarded to any military person is of little consequence when fairly given, as compared to what was given by the person, but when a military person can receive a medal under the above circumstances, then what value does that medal really have? America’s Distinguished Medal has deteriorated a bit today. Some of its luster has been lost. It no longer stands for what it did previously. Because he is a black man? No, because it is a mockery of the system as it has always been known.
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