Theodore Roosevelt once called it  “That Infernal Medal of Honor.”

After tremendous bravery and what some would call “the most conspicuous gallantry” as he led his “rough riders” charge on San Juan hill in Cuba in 1898, Roosevelt went on to serve as President of the United States - but it was the Medal of Honor he coveted more.

Roosevelt pressured the Decorations Board who awarded the Medal,  and he enlisted powerful advocates in Congress, including the legendary Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to push for his nomination to receive the Medal of Honor.  Some say it was his very insistence that he deserved the Medal that ultimately offended the Secretary of War, who summarily denied Roosevelt the honor.  The President gave up his efforts, and resigned himself to the fact that his cherished pursuit was finished.

But forty six years later, as American troops stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, one Teddy Roosevelt did indeed receive the Medal of Honor – Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.  The president who was himself denied never lived to see America’s highest honor bestowed on his own son.  As President Franklin Roosevelt said that day of Teddy Roosevelt Jr., “His father would have been the proudest.”

Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.,  statesman, soldier, and president, was awarded the Medal of Honor himself – 82 years after his death -  by President Bill Clinton.