CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25851, 23 May 1945, Page 6

CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL

GALLANT AMERICAN PRIVATE PRESIDENT’S TRIBUTE TO INFANTRY WASHINGTON, May 21. American forces are . preparing to strike the Japanese with overwhelming force, President Truman told a joint session of Congress when presenting the Congressional Medal of Honour to 24-year-old Technical Sergeant Jake Lindsey, /the hundredth infantryman to receive the decoration in this war, ‘‘Through him we pay a grateful nation's tribute to the courage of our fighting men,” he said. “Lindsey’s inspiring deeds on the battlefield re ‘ quire no further praise from any man No officer ordered Lindsey to stand alone against a company of the enemy. No officer ordered him when wounded -to engage eight Germans in hand-to-hand combat. Those decisions were a flash of nobility which we like to think is part of every American. Since the beginning of this war 223 Medals of Honour have been awarded. 162 to the army. 33 to the navy, 27 to the marines, and 1 coastguard. Fifty ihedals have been awarded to infantrymen for acts performed in the field. “It seems fitting in this symoolic ceremony that we should honour the infantryman. There is little glamour In his service. He. faces hot only the enemy, but the cold, heat, rain, snow, dust, and mud. He endures and rises above them to such valorous deeds as those we celebrate. “ This occasion follows complete victory in Europe, and finds us striking devastating blows in the Pacific. We are preparing to strike them later in overwhelming force.” President Truman joined in the applause when Lindsey, accompanied by General Marshall, accepted the medal. It was the first time such a presentation has been made in Congress. General Marshall was overheard during the applause whispering’to Lindsey, “ Give ’em a bow.”