Two Philippine Insurrection veterans to receive Medal of Honor
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 9:43 pm
This is a group picture of Young's Scouts in the Philippines in 1899:
This article appeared in the Stars and Stripes newspaper online, 1/17/2025. It is a very interesting article which many of you would like to read.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/202 ... 15911.html
This photograph shows a lot of cool things these soldiers are all wearing, from the dark blue Model 1883 shirts to the 100 round Mills cartridge belts.
A number of soldiers you can see are wearing sidearms, which are no doubt either Colt double action .38's or Colt single actions. And of course they are all holding what appears to be Model 1896 Krag rifles. Of interest, the man in the front row kneeling on the left is supporting a cartridge box that he is wearing like a belly box.
These are some tough looking hombres. Quite a variety of hat wearing styles. The entire unit, 21 members, were approved by President Theodore Roosevelt to receive the Medal of Honor. Two soldiers never received their medals because of a mix-up in their mailing addresses. The medals were returned to the government and nothing was done about it until now. The families will receive the medals from the Army, but with no official White House ceremony (which the families did not want, according to the article).
The elite group of scouts earned recognition for two battles in May of 1899; one in San Miguel and the other in San Isidro. In each battle the group of up to 25 scouts were outnumbered by the hundreds yet managed to complete their mission successfully. In San Isidro, the men recaptured control of a bridge. 13 of the 21 men who were still alive in 1906 received their medals. It was policy at the time for the Army not to issue the Medal of Honor to a deceased soldier, so 6 men did not get their reward. Harris and McIntryre were still alive when Roosevelt approved the awards, but never got the medals. Somehow the letters mailed to the soldiers informing them of the award were returned to the Army, where no further effort was made to locate these men. Both of these soldiers received veteran's pensions, and did short stays at U.S. Soldier's retirement homes.
- Youngs_Scouts.jpg (343.24 KiB) Viewed 1918 times
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/202 ... 15911.html
This photograph shows a lot of cool things these soldiers are all wearing, from the dark blue Model 1883 shirts to the 100 round Mills cartridge belts.
A number of soldiers you can see are wearing sidearms, which are no doubt either Colt double action .38's or Colt single actions. And of course they are all holding what appears to be Model 1896 Krag rifles. Of interest, the man in the front row kneeling on the left is supporting a cartridge box that he is wearing like a belly box.
These are some tough looking hombres. Quite a variety of hat wearing styles. The entire unit, 21 members, were approved by President Theodore Roosevelt to receive the Medal of Honor. Two soldiers never received their medals because of a mix-up in their mailing addresses. The medals were returned to the government and nothing was done about it until now. The families will receive the medals from the Army, but with no official White House ceremony (which the families did not want, according to the article).
The elite group of scouts earned recognition for two battles in May of 1899; one in San Miguel and the other in San Isidro. In each battle the group of up to 25 scouts were outnumbered by the hundreds yet managed to complete their mission successfully. In San Isidro, the men recaptured control of a bridge. 13 of the 21 men who were still alive in 1906 received their medals. It was policy at the time for the Army not to issue the Medal of Honor to a deceased soldier, so 6 men did not get their reward. Harris and McIntryre were still alive when Roosevelt approved the awards, but never got the medals. Somehow the letters mailed to the soldiers informing them of the award were returned to the Army, where no further effort was made to locate these men. Both of these soldiers received veteran's pensions, and did short stays at U.S. Soldier's retirement homes.
