I don’t doubt that the movie will be “good.” A very capable director is attached to this, after all. It won’t look like a TV movie of the week.

However, dismissing concerns of people who outright say that they’re not ready to watch something like this—people who live in NYC and saw the terror up close and personal—is pretty damn insulting. (I’m not implying that R. Riley said this, but others have. As though there is an “us versus them” mentality and people that don’t want to watch this film somehow don’t understand terror and aren’t real Americans.)

First of all, I do agree that the civilian status should not be a hindrance. However, the fact remains that giving everyone on the plane a MOH is not appropriate because it is an award that is specifically for individuals based on their individual actions. Read the DoD official history, and you’ll see that it was always meant as an award for individual gallantry. Issuing MOH’s to everyone on the plane would fly in the face of this history and dramatically change the nature and meaning of the medal. It would be the equivalent of issuing a Presidential Unit Citation to an individual. I can certainly see, and would definitely support, the idea that certain individuals on the plane are deserving of the medal for their individual actions and leadership, but the evidence we have of what happened on the plane certainly does not support giving it to everyone.

The process for awarding a MOH is very stringent about evidence of action, and for the majority of people on the plane, there is simply no evidence of what they did or didn’t do. You cannot award the highest and most prestigious medal of the greatest nation on earth on the assumption that everyone on the plane participated in the attempted retaking with the honor and gallantry required for a MOH.

More problems arise if we look at the details and delve a little further. Would the flight crew who were murdered at the beginning of the flight be elidgible? Would their families receive a MOH? If not, then that is a slap in the face of those families. If they do get a MOH, then the minimum requirement for receiving it becomes not gallantry or heroism beyond the call of duty, but tragic death in a combat situation. I cannot see how this would not lessen the importance and significance of this award.

Finally, there is the issue of the citations. MOH citations must be very specific and completely accurate. How would each person’s citation be worded? Would they all be the same, even if, as is obvious, each persons actions were not the same. Which medals would be struck? The Army, Navy, or Air Force version?

Now I in no way wish to demean or lessen the significance of what the people on flight 93 did. They acted heroically and forced the terrorists to crash the plane into a field instead of the Capital, White House or CIA. They certainly do deserve special recognition for their actions. But the CMOH is not appropriate in this case for the reasons I’ve already stated. One alternative is for Congress to authorize a group award of similar stature to the CMOH. It could even be based on, or a derivitive, of the current MOH, with it’s own medal design and rules for a written group citation.

Finally, I’d like to close with an actual CMOH citation that I’ve picked at random:

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF. Place and date: Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam, 4 July 1967. Entered service at: Cleveland, Ohio. Born: 27 September 1948, Wellsville, Ohio. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a machine gunner attached to the 1st Platoon, Company F, 2d Battalion, on 3 and 4 July 1967. Pfc. Newlin, with 4 other marines, was manning a key position on the perimeter of the Nong Son outpost when the enemy launched a savage and well coordinated mortar and infantry assault, seriously wounding him and killing his 4 comrades. Propping himself against his machinegun, he poured a deadly accurate stream of fire into the charging ranks of the Viet Cong. Though repeatedly hit by small-arms fire, he twice repelled enemy attempts to overrun his position. During the third attempt, a grenade explosion wounded him again and knocked him to the ground unconscious. The Viet Cong guerrillas, believing him dead, bypassed him and continued their assault on the main force. Meanwhile, Pfc. Newlin regained consciousness, crawled back to his weapon, and brought it to bear on the rear of the enemy, causing havoc and confusion among them. Spotting the enemy attempting to bring a captured 106 recoilless weapon to bear on other marine positions, he shifted his fire, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and preventing them from firing the captured weapon. He then shifted his fire back to the primary enemy force, causing the enemy to stop their assault on the marine bunkers and to once again attack his machinegun position. Valiantly fighting off 2 more enemy assaults, he firmly held his ground until mortally wounded. Pfc. Newlin had single-handedly broken up and disorganized the entire enemy assault force, causing them to lose momentum and delaying them long enough for his fellow marines to organize a defense and beat off their secondary attack. His indomitable courage, fortitude, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of almost certain death reflect great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service

I realize that the MOH is not given to units or groups. I realize that it is not given to civilians. The point being that this is an extraordinary case and an exception should be made.

It is not my intent, as I said in the post, to cheapen the award. I just can’t think of a more powerful statement to make about how admirable their action was and how their actions speaks to the best things that America is.

I’ve actually seen the film (early cut) and it’s extraordinary. It’s important that 93 not go down the memory hole. But if I was waiting to see, say, Ice Age 2 and this trailer came up, I’d be upset. The film left me crying for a couple of days. I don’t think I could enjoy a regular movie after being hit with the trailer.

Only the fringiest of the fringy didn’t support the invasion into Afghanistan in the attempt to capture bin Laden. Where you lose us is Iraq and the utter mess made there.

I have no doubt this will play well in the Heartland. But does no one else think it’s strange that it’s movie audiences in New York, who lived through the horror much closer than the rest of the country, that are balking to this film? Are these muddled moonbats to be derided? Really?

I agree with Andrew Said that the MOH is not appropriate here. A Medal of Freedom is, however cheapened that has been for political reasons, and Rick Rescorla, chief of security for Morgan Stanley in the WTC, should get one of those too.

A better solution IMO would be striking a special medal for the purpose.

Right Wing Nut House: IT’S TIME: MEDALS OF HONOR FOR THE PASSENGERS OF FLIGHT #93

Comment: You have to be in the military, Rick.

1) The passengers WERE in the military. They were the unorganized Militia, like those at Lexington and Concord. As George Mason, one of the framers of the Constitution said “Who are the Militia? They consist now of the whole people, except for a few public officers.”

2) The MOH has been awarded to a civilian in the past. http://www.medalofhonor.com/TheOnlyWoman.htm. Dr. Mary Walker was a civilian, an assistant surgeon with the 52nd Ohio Infantry. She received the award on Jan. 24, 1866, it was withdrawn after WW1 and restored by President Carter on June 11, 1977. Today, it’s on display in the Pentagon’s women’s corridor.

3) Never have so many owed so much to so few. The acts of those on board 93 may well have saved Congress itself.

4) We send soldiers into battle well prepared. They have training, equipment, intelligence and support. Those on board U93 had nothing. They were ordinary men and women. Untrained, unarmed civilians, thrust into battle without notice. They organized, got intelligence and counterattacked with nothing but their fists and fingernails. Because of them, the era of Bin Ladin lasted 90 minutes.

5) The Gold Medal actually has a longer history than the MOH - it was created by Congress for George Washington. But in our time, it’s become a lifetime achievement award for celebreties and public servants. John Wayne, Betty Ford, Danny Thomas and Rosa Parks are all wonderful, deserving people. But they died in their beds.

6) In addition to military honors, I believe that the battle for Flight 93 should be remembered as that - a battle. We name ships for battles (There were 5 USS Lexingtons from 1776 to 1943). I think it is proper that a ship of the line be named for this battle - the first of the 21st century, and the first to be waged against a foreign agressor within the United States.