The Medal of Honor Histories website has been created to provide ready and free access to research and documents that relate to several untold aspects of the history of the Medal of Honor. As our nation’s highest military award, the Medal and its history reflect the significant gallantry and sacrifice exhibited by its deserving recipients. There are, however, events and issues relating to the history of the Medal of Honor that have not been fully examined until recent years. The most notable and definitive examination is found in Dwight S. Mears’ 2018 book, The Medal of Honor, The Evolution of America’s Highest Military Decoration. Any Medal of Honor “historian” who has not read Dwight’s book is a “pretender.”
Building on the exceptional work of Mr. Mears, other details and facts have been discovered since his publication. The 2025 book entitled The Medal of Honor: Its Dark Sides is a reflection of those discoveries by one author, Michael Eberhardt. His book details how soldiers were denied Medals of Honor under a misguided Army policy not to award Medals of Honor to deceased soldiers until that policy was rescinded in 1918. The book further examines the issue of how at least 60 Medal of Honor recipients remain on the official Medal of Honor rolls despite having deserted after receipt of their Medals. It further provides several case studies for soldiers whose Medals of Honor were revoked under a flawed analysis by the 1916 Medal of Honor Review Board. Finally, the book examines the unjust and tragic consequences which resulted from the War Department’s misplacement of four lists of Civil War soldiers who were recommended in 1865 for the Medal of Honor.
Besides using this website to provide free access to the Medal of Honor: Its Dark Sides book, the future plan is to similarly provide website access to other material relating to the Medal of Honor. The focus of future material will be on some of the more controversial or untold issues affecting the Medal of Honor. This is not intended to detract from the significance of the actions that are reflected in the awards to so many gallant recipients. They are richly deserved. It will however be a means of fairly accounting for all aspects of the history of the Medal of Honor.
One of the areas of ongoing attention and concern is the credible work being performed by the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States (MOHHSUS) in its efforts to correct the many citation and related errors in the official Medal of Honor records. Over the years, MOHHSUS has been able — but only on a very limited basis — to secure corrections by the Department of Defense to its records. Generally, government officials have ignored or refused to address these errors. The MOHHSUS publication entitled “Medal of Honor Citation Errors” at the “Articles” tab to this website is indicative of some of those errors. Readers interested in joining the effort to address these errors should contact MOHHSUS at the website in its publication.
Three videos based on research found in the Medal of Honor: Its Dark Sides book are now available for viewing on YouTube. Please view them for more insight into three situations where injustices have occurred. Contact us if you have problems accessing these videos. The links are:
https://bit.ly/TheMedalofHonorKilledNoMedalDocumentary This is the story of six soldiers approved for the Medal of Honor, but their Medals have never been issued.
https://bit.ly/MedalsOfHonorForgotten This is the story of two soldiers whose Medals of Honor were issued in 2025, almost 119 years after they were approved because the War Department failed to notify the soldiers in 1906.
www.youtube.com/FORGOTTENHISTORYCHANNEL (search on the name “John B. Lynch) This is the story of Sgt. John B. Lynch who Medal of Honor was wrongly revoked and never restored. His Civil War Medal of Honor was approved for actions involving President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton, and General Grant.
Consult this website in the future for updates.
To read a free copy of The Medal of Honor: Its Dark Sides, open “Books” in the Menu and scroll to the bottom where the book can be downloaded.
If you are interested in a hard copy of Michael Eberhardt’s book, please use Book Order Form.