Awards_data

Thursday, February 21, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have introduced a bill calling for the creation of a national database that would contain the names and citations of all military members awarded the Medal of Honor or any other medal authorized by Congress.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., introduced the bill Feb. 8.

The Military Valor Roll of Honor Act of 2008 would require the Department of Defense to establish a searchable database containing the names and citations of members of the armed forces who have been awarded all military honors given under general orders.

The proposed law is virtually identical to a bill introduced by Salazar's brother, Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., in the House Armed Services Committee last fall. The House bill has 42 co-sponsors, but has yet to make it out of the HASC's military personnel subcommittee.

In addition to making it easier to verify the status of military veterans, the database also will make it easier to identify individuals who falsely claim decorations, status and benefits as wounded veterans, according to Doug Sterner.

Sterner, the founder of a Web site called Home of Heroes ( www.homeofheroes.com), a virtual museum that offers the history of each Medal of Honor recipient, has made the creation of such a database his life's work.

Citizens and servicemembers alike are often surprised to discover that no comprehensive database currently exists, he said.

Sterner is working to collect the citations for all major military awards on his site, but says that ''it's a disgrace'' that such a massive effort should be left to a single volunteer.

Yet Sterner said Defense Department officials and the military services routinely cite Home of Heroes to members of Congress, the press and families who are searching for citations and other information on military members decorated for valor.

''It's a disgrace,'' he said. ''They should have had this [database] years ago. The technology certainly exists. It's just a matter of will, and we owe it'' to those who have been awarded the medals, he said.

Cannon Challenge

Senators introduce bill to create military awards database