Obama giving Medal of Honor to 24 vets from 3 wars

These images provided by the U.S. Army show World War II veterans, from left, Pvt. Pedro Cano, Master Sgt. Manuel V. Mendoza and 1st Lt. Donald K. Schwab. AP

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is moving to right old wrongs by belatedly awarding the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor, to 24 Army veterans who served during World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Just three of those being honored during Tuesday’s ceremony at the White House are still alive, all of them combat veterans of Vietnam.

The honors are being awarded after Congress ordered a review to determine whether service members of Jewish or Hispanic heritage or others had been wrongly denied the Medal of Honor due to prejudice. All of those being honored had previously been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest military award.

Overall, eight of the 24 fought in Vietnam, nine in Korea and seven in World War II.

RELATED STORY

Chaplain gets Medal of Honor 62 years after death