Medal of Honor exhibit showcases Arizona's recipients

The first military action to earn a Medal of Honor occurred at Apache Pass in present-day Arizona in 1861.

So began the history of the Medal of Honor in Arizona — the subject of a new exhibit opening Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Arizona History Museum.

Army Assistant Surgeon Bernard J.D. Irwin’s rescue of troops surrounded by Chiricahua Apaches in 1861 was the first military bravery to earn the award. The honor was issued to Irwin in 1894, according to the award citation listed in the U.S. Army’s log of medal recipients.

More than 3,400 military members have received a Medal of Honor — the highest military award in the United States — since its inception in the 1860s.

About 160 of those individuals are connected to Arizona, either as enlisted men and officers who served here in the 1800s or Arizona natives who joined the military. Eleven of those are Apache Native Americans who served during the Indian Wars, said Les Roe, the director of the Arizona Historical Society’s southern division.

The Arizona Historical Society exhibit “Above and Beyond: Arizona and the Medal of Honor” may be traveling around the state, but its Tucson stop has a few local touches.

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The exhibit will feature a letter from Theodore Roosevelt — a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient — written during the Spanish-American War to Isabella Greenway’s mother. The letter commends the bravery of John Campbell Greenway, one of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, and the man who married Isabella, a future Congresswoman and founder of the Arizona Inn.

The letter from the former president about Greenway is a “neat connection to Arizona and Tucson specifically,” Roe said.

The exhibit will also feature uniforms, medals and a collection of military headwear from generations of Tucsonans.

The exhibit opens Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with a posting of the colors and a Medal of Honor history given by Larry Herndon, a historian from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

“It’s conspicuous gallantry that earns someone a Medal of Honor, risking their lives above and beyond the call of duty,” Roe said, paraphrasing language used by the U.S. Department of Defense. “The stories are incredible.”