<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of the Army Times.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div><div style="text-align: start;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Veterans group seeks MOH for Civil War colonel</b></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A veterans group will present a petition the week of April 21 to the New York congressional delegation asking that the Medal of Honor be awarded to Civil War Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who commanded the first unit of free African-Americans recruited into the Union army.</span></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">Shaw was killed while leading the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in an attack on Fort Wagner, S.C., on July 18, 1863. Half of the regiment was killed, wounded or missing following the</span><span class="abody"> failed attempt to take the fort, but the 54th’s bravery proved that black troops were courageous</span><span class="abody">warriors, paving the way for other black units to be raised in the North, according to the Massachusetts Historical Society.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">Actor Matthew Broderick played Shaw in the 1989 movie “Glory,” which ends with Shaw being buried</span><span class="abody"> in a mass grave along with his men.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">Because the Medal of Honor was not issued posthumously during the Civil War, Shaw was ineligible for the award at the time, Tom Levis told Military Times.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">Levis serves on the board of management of a group made up of veterans from the 7th Regiment of New York, in which Shaw served as a private in the opening days of the Civil War before being commissioned as an officer. Levis’ group is asking Congress to petition President Obama to award Shaw the Medal of</span><span class="abody"> Honor now.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">“In addition to Col. Shaw earning it in the heat of battle, we think he began to earn it when he accepted command of the 54th Massachusetts, because when he accepted that command, he accepted the mission to prove the battle-worthiness of the African-American soldiers — that was a prime consideration of the governor of Massachusetts and the Secretary of War [Edwin] Stanton,” Levis said.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">Shaw came from a wealthy but socially conscious family, Levis said. Massachusetts Gov. John Andrew</span><span class="abody"> approached Shaw’s parents, who were both abolitionists, about asking Shaw to accept command of the 54th.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">At first, Shaw declined the offer.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">“Upon reflection, he accepted it, but I’m sure his hesitancy was he knew what the mission involved — and frankly, in many ways, it was a suicide mission,” Levis said. “He had to get that regiment into one of the worst battle situations in order to prove conclusively the battleworthiness of his men —and he did that; and they did that. It was quite</span><span class="abody"> an accomplishment.”</span><span class="abody"> </span></div></span></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">--------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Colonel Robert Gould Shaw</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><img src="cid:62ED015F-23EC-4DF6-A204-E758234CFABB" alt="Robert_Gould_Shaw.jpg" id="62ED015F-23EC-4DF6-A204-E758234CFABB" width="609" height="673"></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-----------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>