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Hi, I’m Secretary of State Mark Martin, and welcome to This Week in Arkansas History.
November 18th is the anniversary of the dedication of the Congressional Medal of Honor memorial
at the Capitol.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award given to a member of the armed services. The president
awards it in the name of Congress to those extra-ordinary warriors who have gone above
and beyond duty in action against an enemy. Arkansas has twenty-five Medal recipients
from the Civil War to Vietnam. Over the next several months, I’ll tell you about them.
The first recipient was Henry Wheeler, who was born in Fort Smith. He joined the army
in Maine and fought at Bull Run, Virginia. He voluntarily helped his commanding officer
remove dead and wounded soldiers from the battlefield while under heavy artillery fire.
We’ll talk about more recipients of the Medal later. Join me next week for more Arkansas
history.