The Medal of Honor: Race, Rank, and Recognition in the U.S. Military

Guided by Durkheim’s work on symbolic totems, Omi and Winant’s racial formation theory, and resource allocation theories of institutional discrimination, we examine how race has shaped the distribution of the United States’ highest gallantry award. To do so, we introduce the first cross-conflict dataset of Medal of Honor awards relative to killed and wounded in action (KWIA) by race, alongside new baseline data on combat casualties. Our findings reveal systematic racial disparities. Black service members were excluded entirely from Medal of Honor recognition in World War II, remained severely underrepresented in Korea, and continued to be underrepresented in Vietnam despite retrospective awards. Hispanic/Latino personnel were also substantially underrecognized in Korea and Vietnam, with disparities only partially redressed. In contrast, Asian American and Pacific Islander service members were generally overrepresented relative to combat exposure, with retrospective upgrades dramatically amplifying this pattern, while Native Americans were overrepresented across multiple conflicts. New evidence on posthumous awards and rank reveals cumulative inequalities in symbolic recognition, with Black enlisted soldiers in Vietnam considerably more likely to receive the Medal of Honor only after death than White officers. These findings demonstrate how military honors constitute a site of racial formation through which historical exclusion, retrospective correction, and contemporary recognition shape national narratives of heroism and belonging, with direct policy implications.