By Katie Cayer, Assistant Archivist & Curator, CMOHS

Every four years, athletes from every country gather to showcase their skills in hopes of bringing home a medal that signifies they are the best of the best in their respective sport. The first modern Olympic Games (which takes inspiration from the ancient Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD) was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. In July and August 2024, they have come to Paris, France.

Swimming has been a consistent sight at every modern Summer Olympic Games and has the second highest number of medal contested events. Many heroic actions that led to the Medal of Honor have a component of swimming, but at least three Medal of Honor recipients excelled at swimming as sport: Tedford Cann (who was meant to go to the 1920 Olympics in Belgium), David McCampbell, and Paul Bucha.

Tedford Cann, World War I

Tedford Cann was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on September 3, 1896. He attended the High School of Commerce in New York City where he was the captain of the basketball and swimming teams. At age 17, he defeated Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, an event he later declared to be a greater thrill than receiving the Medal of Honor.

In 1917, Cann was one of the best known amateur swimmers in the East and was the holder of the National Amateur Athletic Championship at 100 yards and of the New York Metropolitan Championships at 100 yards, 200 yards, 440 yards and a half mile. He swam for the New York Athletic Club.

Cann was the fastest male freestyle swimmer of his time and one who unfortunately never reached his full potential. Cann, along with two other American swimming champions, were expected to take part in the Olympic Games in Belgium in 1920, but were seriously injured when the taxi they were riding in struck an elevated railroad pillar. Cann sustained a broken leg and internal injuries, thus ending his journey to the 1920 Olympics.

Cann, the first naval reservist to be decorated during World War I, received the Medal of Honor for saving the U.S.S. May when it sprang a leak. He, and another seaman, Ora Graves, volunteered to enter the bilge flooded with eight feet of water and closed the opening in a pipe connection to the sea. No doubt his swimming training helped in the feat.

David McCampbell, World War II

David McCampbell was born on January 16, 1910 in Bessemer, Alabama, and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, at an early age where his father was in the furniture business.

McCampbell attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia and Georgia Tech before being appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He represented the Naval Academy Swimming Team as a springboard diver, where he held the South Atlantic Amateur Athletic diving championship in 1931 and the Eastern Intercollegiate diving championship in 1932. He was never world class, but he still executed the same degrees of difficulty as the best divers around.

He was awarded the 1986 International Swimming Hall of Fame Gold Medallion Award.

McCampbell received the Medal of Honor for his leadership and courage during aerial battles against enemy Japanese aerial forces in the first and second battles of the Philippine Sea. He became the Navy’s highest scoring pilot, with a total of 34 airborne enemy planes destroyed, the greatest number ever shot down by an American pilot during a single tour of combat duty. In one flight alone, he destroyed nine aircraft, and is also credited with the destruction of 20 grounded planes.

Paul Bucha, Vietnam War

Paul Bucha was born on August 1, 1943 in Washington, D.C., to Col. Paul A. and Mary S. Bucha. As a child, he and his three sisters lived in Germany, Japan, and in numerous United States cities.

He excelled in athletics as a teenager, attending Ladue Horton Watkins High School, where he was designated as an All-American swimmer. He was offered athletic scholarships to several universities, but felt a call to serve his nation, turning them down to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. As a cadet at West Point Academy, Bucha was a member of the Academy’s swimming team, swimming both freestyle and relay, once again achieving All-American status twice for the 400 Free Relay. He also was a member of the Army water polo team. He graduated from West Point, ranked 18th in a class of 596 in 1965.

In 1997, Bucha was recognized with the Gold Medallion Award of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Bucha was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service during a reconnaissance mission near Phuoc Vinh, Vietnam, in March 1968.

About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.

Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are fewer than 70 living Recipients.

The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including the Medal of Honor Museum, Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, and the Medal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.

As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.

Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives at cmohs.org.