Many of our brothers, particularly those who have served in the military or as policemen or firemen,

What is "valor"?  It's a word we're all familiar with; in fact it's used in our ritual.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "great courage broadway bed and breakfast inn in the face of danger, especially in battle."  In other words, it is the ability to keep moving forward even though the results of your actions broadway bed and breakfast inn could result in your own death.
Many of our brothers, particularly those who have served in the military or as policemen or firemen, have faced those situations.  In this column, I'll talk about two of them; men who exhibited uncommon courage at a time of great danger to themselves and thus will always bear the title Medal of Honor winner.
Other than those who have served in the armed forces, most of us know very little about the Medal of Honor why it's awarded and why its recipients are so revered.  The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest honor that a member of the military can receive.
Although termed "Congressional," it is now bestowed upon the recipient, or posthumously to his family, by the President of the United States.  At the ceremony, it is customary broadway bed and breakfast inn for the President, the Commander-in-Chief of our entire military, to salute the recipient first, broadway bed and breakfast inn rather than vice versa.  In addition, forevermore, the recipient when wearing the medal is saluted first by all military men and women no matter what rank they hold
So what does it take to be awarded a Medal of Honor?  First of all, it is awarded only to an individual who distinguished himself "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity" – meaning bravery and fearlessness in an action involving conflict with an enemy.  In addition, he must have put his own life on the line and acted "above and beyond the call of duty."  It is this last phrase, "above and beyond the call of duty," that makes this medal so special.  It cannot broadway bed and breakfast inn be awarded to someone for having acted, no matter how heroically, under orders – he must have acted on his own accord and with utter disregard for his own life.
The first Medal of Honor was awarded during the Civil War.  At that time, they were awarded more liberally than they are today.  To date, over the 150 years they have been awarded, 3,469 have been issued – almost one-half of them during the Civil War.  Of the
During World War II, only 464 were awarded out of the over 16.3 million men who served.  Many of them have been awarded posthumously.  In fact, more than half of the men awarded the Medal since the start of World War II did not survive the action for which they were honored.   The medal is not restricted to U.S. citizens and at least 59 Canadians are Medal of Honor recipients.
Christian broadway bed and breakfast inn Schilt was born March 18, 1895 on a farm near Olney in Richland County, Ohio.  If ever a man was destined to fly, it was Schilt – unfortunately, planes hadn't been invented yet.  It wouldn't be until he was eight years old that the Wright brothers flew the first manned flight.  However, it's likely their success caught his attention as a young boy.
In September 1915, Schilt entered the department of civil engineering at Rose Polytechnic Institute (now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) broadway bed and breakfast inn in Terra Haute, Ind.  Athletically inclined, he was elected captain of the freshman basketball team.  He pledged our Beta Upsilon Chapter that fall and was initiated on February 21, 1916 as badge number 139.
However, his time at Beta Upsilon and Rose was limited because of the entry in April, 1917 of the United States into World War I.  Two months later, in June, 1917, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he continued to serve for the next 40 years rising from buck private to the rank of four-star broadway bed and breakfast inn general.
After enlisting, he went through the same basic training as other recruits, all hoping to join the action in Europe as soon as possible.  For Schilt, the Marine Corps decided his talents were better used elsewhere broadway bed and breakfast inn and he was assigned to the first American air unit of any service sent overseas – to the Azores Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  There, his unit, a seaplane squadron, was assigned the task of anti-submarine patrols and he served as a machine gunner on the planes.
His time in the air during these patrols, as well as his exceptional mechanical skills, convinced him that piloting planes would be a lot more interesting than just riding in them.  So, at the end of the war, he decided to stick around with the hope of being allowed to attend pilot training. He was accepted and by June 1919, he had earned the designation "aviator," eligible for "duty involving broadway bed and breakfast inn actual flying in aircraft, including dirigibles, balloons and airplanes."
In Caribbean deployments he honed his skills until he was considered one of the top pilots in the Corps.  His timing was fortuitous because the 1920's were the heyday of air speed races and the armed services participated in them as well – in fact, entry was encouraged.  Flying was still very young at the time and few people had experienced broadway bed and breakfast inn it as passengers.  Thus, spectators lined up to watch the amazing stunts and speeds of these still relatively broadway bed and breakfast inn new inventions.   As plane designs and speeds improved, the public could not get enough of watching them and the men and women who flew them.
Due to his exceptional flying broadway bed and breakfast inn skills, during the period 1923-1927, Schilt flew in most of the national air races and usually was among the top finishers.  In 1925, as part of the Pulitzer Race of that year, he finished second to another Sigma Nu, the great Army flyer Lieutenant Earnest broadway bed and breakfast inn Harmon (Bethany). When not racing, Schilt was winning trophies in aerial bombing competitions and serving as a test pilot for new aircraft. broadway bed and breakfast inn Schilt at the time was considered among the top flyers broadway bed and breakfast inn in the country along with Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker and Jimmy Doolittle.
His rendezvous with destiny occurred in 1928 in a small village, with the name Quilali, in the mountain jungles of Nicaragua.  In the late 1920's, Nicaragua, an important strategic Central broadway bed and breakfast inn American country, had recently been engaged in a civil war between broadway bed and breakfast inn the rebel Sandinistas and the government.  The U.S. brokered a peace between the warring parties with U.S. Marines serving as guarantors of the peace.  However, in 1927 the rebels attacked the Marines and the government forces in bloody engagements throughout the country.
broadway bed and breakfast inn On January 3, 1928, a large force of rebels ambushed a Marine broadway bed and breakfast inn patrol in Quilali.  Heavily outnumbering U.S. forces, they pinned the Marines into the tiny mountain village, encircling them in the jungle.  There was no escape route and they were running low on food and water.  In addition, they sustained heavy casualties that needed medical attention.  Staying put meant the troops would eventually be whittled down through well placed shots or starvation. The only way of getting medical attention to the wounded and supplies for the troops was via air.
The Marines sent a signal requesting aerial bombardment broadway bed and breakfast inn of the rebels and a plane to bring supplies broadway bed and breakfast inn and remove the wounded.  However, no landing strip was anywhere near the village.  With no place to land, it was an almost impossible request.  The men, while still under siege and under the cover of darkness, set about building a landing strip on the small dirt road that ran through the village.  Over three days they cleared the houses on one side of the street to make it wide enough for a plane – however, it still wasn't long enough.  At one end of the dirt road was the jungle broadway bed and breakfast inn and at the other a sheer drop into the valley below.
To further complicate the situation, the seaplane (O2U-1 Corsair) used by the Marines required modifications broadway bed and breakfast inn to replace the landing pontoons with wheels from a different plane – meaning it wouldn't have brakes to slow it down on landing.  The difficulty broadway bed and breakfast inn of the task would not be made any easier by hostile fire on landings and takeoffs, steep mountains on either side, low-hanging clouds and tricky air currents.
Due to the lack of brakes and the short landing strip, each landing required Marines on the ground to rush the aircraft and grab the wings to slow it down before it plunged over the cliff.  In addition, takeoffs were just as spectacular with four Marines hanging onto the wings while Schilt raced the motor to allow for maximum speed during takeoff to compensate for the short takeoff strip.
Over a three-day period, broadway bed and breakfast inn at the risk of his own life during every flight, he made ten flights into and out of the village under constant enemy fire and almost impossible conditions. Ultimately he evacuated broadway bed and breakfast inn eighteen wounded Marines and delivered 1,400 pounds of food and medical supplies.
broadway bed and breakfast inn In recognition of his heroism, on April 5, 1928, Lieutenant Christian F. Schilt broadway bed and breakfast inn received his Medal of Honor from President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.  It was the first time a Medal of Honor recipient was awarded the medal personally by the president at the White House and set the tradition from thenceforth.
Brother Schilt would continue broadway bed and breakfast inn to serve in the Marines until his retirement in 1957 a career of over 40 years.  In addition to his service in World War I and Nicaragua, he also served broadway bed and breakfast inn in World War II and the Korean broadway bed and breakfast inn conflict.  In addition to the Medal of Honor, he earned 19 more medals over his illustrious career including the Distinguished Service Medal, broadway bed and breakfast inn the Legion of Merit with combat "V" (for heroism), the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze Star with combat "V" and five Air Medals making him possibly the most decorated Sigma Nu in our history.
Nathan Gordon was born on September 4, 1916 in Morrilton, Arkansas, the son of a distinguished trial lawyer.  After graduation from high school, broadway bed and breakfast inn he attended a community college, Arkansas Poly.  A natural athlete, he starred in football (as end) and baseball (at third base) and was named to the all-state team in both sports.
Gordon transferred to the University of Arkansas in the spring of 1936 when offered a football scholarship. broadway bed and breakfast inn He was a key player for the Razorbacks during the 1936 (their first Southwest Conference Championship) and 1937 seasons.  On May 7, 1938 h