Prior to 1963, the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

could be awarded for actions not involving direct combat with "an enemy of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

" or "opposing foreign force (actions against a party in which the U.S. is not directly engaged in war with).DoD Awards Manual 1348.33, V1, Oct. 12, 2011 (Nov. 23, 2010). p. 31–32, 8. Medal of Honor (1) (a) 1., 2., 3. (k), ''p. 10, Title 10 US Code'' sections 3741, 6241, and 8741 (''Titles 14 & 38 not referenced by DoD'') 204 men earned the medal in this way. The vast majority of the non-combat medals were awarded to members of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for their actions during

boiler explosion A boiler explosion is a catastrophic failure of a boiler. There are two types of boiler explosions. One type is a failure of the pressure parts of the steam and water sides. There can be many different causes, such as failure of the safety val ...

s, man-overboard incidents, and other hazards of naval service. The list includes 10 Navy officers and men who earned the Medal of Honor for non-combat actions during the First World War and one who received it during World War II. The last award of the Medal of Honor for valor not in combat was Francis P. Hammerberg, a United States Navy diver who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for rescuing two fellow divers at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

in the then Territory of Hawaii. He lost his life during rescue operations on February 17, 1945. Given in the list below are the place and date of each recipient's Medal of Honor action, as well as their rank at the time of the action. A posthumous award is denoted by an asterisk after the recipient's name.

Medal of Honor

The

was created during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and is the highest military decoration presented by the

to a member of its armed forces. Currently, the recipient must have distinguished themselves at the risk of their own life above and beyond the call of duty in action against "an enemy of the

" or "an opposing foreign force." Due to the nature of this medal, it is commonly presented

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

. A Medal of Honor in non-combat has not been presented since 1945.

List of recipients

:''Note: Notes in quotations are derived or are copied from the official Medal of Honor citation''

Notes

References

* ** ** ** ** ** {{cite web , access-date=2009-06-29 , url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/interim1920-40.html , title = Medal of Honor recipients , work = Interim (1920–1940) , publisher=

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...

, date = June 8, 2009

Peacetime Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...