A new stamp depicting the Army and Navy Medals of Honor, packaged with historic photographs of Medal of Honor recipients, is now available at post offices nationwide.
The recipients depicted include the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, whose widow, Irene Hirano Inouye, attended the first-day issuance ceremony Monday on Veterans Day at the National World War II Memorial in Washington DC.
Those attending Monday’s issuance ceremony included, from left, George Sakato, Army, Medal of Honor Recipient, World War II; Wilburn Ross, Army, Medal of Honor Recipient, World War II; Irene Hirano Inouye; Col. Harvey Barnum, past president, Medal of Honor Society; and Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO, U.S. Postal Service.
Also attending were living Medal of Honor recipients and family members of deceased honorees.
The cover of the stamp folio highlights historic photographs of the last 12 survivor recipients from World War II surrounding two Forever stamps.
The dozen were invited by the US Postal Service in January 2012 to participate in honoring all Medal of Honor recipients for their meritorious actions.
Four of the recipients: Inouye, Vernon McGarity of Memphis, TN , Nicholas Oresko of Cresskill, NJ and John D. Hawk of Bremerton, WA died before the stamps could be issued.
Those depicted in the folio are, clockwise from upper left, Charles H. Coolidge of Chattanooga, TN; Francis S. Currey of Selkirk, NY; Walter D. Ehlers of Buena Park, CA; Hawk; Inouye; Arthur J. Jackson of Boise, ID; Robert D. Maxwell of Bend, OR; McGarity; Oresko; Wilburn K. Ross of Dupont, WA; George T. Sakato of Denver, CO; and Hershel W. Williams of Ona, WV.
The two center pages of the folio list the names of all 464 recipients of the Medal of Honor from World War II. A key to the names of those in the cover photos are included on Page 2.
The remaining 18 stamps are found on the back page.
The Medal of Honor is the nation’s most prestigious military decoration.
Of the 464 recipients from World War II – out of 16 million members of the armed forces – more than six out of 10 received the award posthumously for their valorous actions.
Inouye received his Medal of Honor on June 21, 2000 for heroism on April 21, 1945 in Italy.
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