Double Award Winners: Congressional Medal of Honor Society

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Double
Award Winners

Of the 3,429 Medals of Honor awarded since the inception of the award, 19 individual servicemen have received TWO awards of the Medal. It is these 19 DOUBLE AWARDEES that often create the greatest amount of confusion when one is examining Medal of Honor statistics. To better understand the numbers it is necessary to break these 19 heroes into three groups.

During World War I a total of 8 Marines received Medals of Honor. Two were Marine aviators of the 1st Marine Aviation Force. The remaining six were members of the 5th and 6th Regiments of the 2nd Division, working closely with their Army counterparts. Five of the six received BOTH the Army and Navy Medals of Honor for the same deed, with a separate citation from each branch of service. The sixth Marine, Fred William Stockham, received ONLY the Army Medal of Honor for the action that cost him his life.

The FIVE Marine Corps Heroes who received BOTH the Army and the Navy Medal of Honor for the same action during World War I are listed below.
	Name	Date of Action	Unit:
	GySgt Charles F. Hoffman aka: Ernest August Janson	Jun 6, 1918	2nd Division, 5th Regiment
	Sgt Louis Cukela	Jul 18, 1918	2nd Division, 5th Regiment
KIA	Sgt Matej Kocak	Jul 18, 1918	2nd Division, 5th Regiment
	Pvt John Joseph Kelly	Oct 3, 1918	2nd Division, 6th Regiment
KIA	Cpl John Henry Pruitt	Oct 3, 1918	2nd Division, 6th Regiment

The remaining 14 heroes received DOUBLE awards for SEPARATE ACTIONS (each of them performing two individual acts of heroism.) These 14 double awardees sometimes cause additional confusion when one views Medal of Honor statistics counted by war or period because 7 of the heroes received their Medal during the SAME WAR OR PERIOD so they are often counted only once, while 7 others received their awards in SEPARATE WARS OR PERIODS so they are counted twice.

The Seven Heroes listed here received TWO Medals of Honor for SEPARATE ACTIONS DURING THE SAME WAR OR PERIOD. *Indicates Non-Combat Award
Name		War/Period	1st AWARD	2d AWARD
2d Lt. Thomas Ward Custer	Army	Civil War	Apr 3, 1865	Apr 6, 1865
Pvt Henry Hogan	Army	Indian Wars	Oct 21, 1876	Sep 30, 1877
Sgt. William Wilson	Army	Indian Wars	Mar 28, 1872	Sep 29, 1872
O/Seaman Robert A. Sweeney	Navy	Interim 1871-1898	Oct 26, 1881*	Dec 20, 1883*
Cpt/MT Albert Weisbogel	Navy	Interim 1871-1898	Jan 11, 1874*	Apr 27, 1876*
Cpt/H Louis Williams aka Ludwig Andreas Olsen	Navy	Interim 1871-1898	Mar 16, 1883*	Jun 13, 1884*
Watertender John King	Navy	Interim 1899-1910	May 29, 1901*	Sep 13, 1909*

The Seven Heroes listed here received TWO Medals of Honor for SEPARATE ACTIONS DURING DIFFERENT WARS/PERIODS. *Indicates Non-Combat Award
Name			War/Period	Date
Frank Dwight Baldwin	Army	1st AWARD	Civil War	Jul 12, 1864
Frank Dwight Baldwin	Army	2d AWARD	Indian Wars	Nov 8, 1874
John Cooper aka: John Laver Mather	Navy	1st AWARD	Civil War	Aug 5, 1864
John Cooper aka: John Laver Mather	Navy	2d AWARD	Interim 1865-1870	Apr 26, 1865*
John Lafferty aka: John Laverty	Navy	1st AWARD	Civil War	May 25, 1864
John Lafferty aka: John Laverty	Navy	2d AWARD	Interim 1871-1898	Sep 14, 1881*
John Mullen	Navy	1st AWARD	Civil War	Mar 17, 1865
John Mullen	Navy	2d AWARD	Interim 1865-1870	May 1, 1865*
Daniel Joseph Daly	USMC	1st AWARD	China	Aug 14, 1900
Daniel Joseph Daly	USMC	2d AWARD	Haiti	Oct 24, 1915
John McCloy	Navy	1st AWARD	China	Jun 20, 1900
John McCloy	Navy	2d AWARD	Mexico	Apr 22, 1914
Smedley Darlington Butler	USMC	1st AWARD	Mexico	Apr 22, 1914
Smedley Darlington Butler	USMC	2d AWARD	Haiti	Nov 17, 1915

Since the reviews and changes of 1917 the laws governing award of the Medal of Honor have ended all DOUBLE awards of the Medal of Honor. All other awards in the Pyramid of Honor can be awarded multiple times for different acts, each successive award noted by a DEVICE worn on the ribbon for the first award. A soldier may be nominated repeatedly for the Medal of Honor, indeed during the Vietnam War Special Forces hero Robert L. Howard was submitted for the Medal of Honor three different times before he was finally awarded the Medal. But the Medal of Honor may now be awarded ONLY ONCE.