Cukela, Louis

[Subdeacon Joe]

"Next time I send damn fool I go myself!"

 

 

Have you ever, when you were firing the rifle range, been ordered to fix bayonets and charge? You might have if you had been a recruit at Parris Island in the late 1930s. That was when, during a particularly bad string of rapid fire, the range officer, Capt Cukela, snatched the microphone from his line noncommissioned officer.

"Cease fire. Clear and lock your piece. Fix bayonets. Charge the butts!" Cukela bellowed. Fifty bewildered recruits went galumphing downrange with fixed bayonets while Cukela urged them on. "You can't shoot them; you go stab them."

 

 

 

[Alpo]

Is there a difference between the Silver Star Medal and a Silver Star Citation?

 

Dumb question, probably.

 

You hear about someone's awards - "Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Silver Star, Navy Cross", etc, etc. In my head, the word "medal" goes after each of them. Purple Heart Medal, Silver Star Medal, etc.

 

But in that article, it says, "Along the way he collected a commission as a second lieutenant, as well as the Medal of Honor and four Silver Star Citations".

 

So, are they different, or is Citation the correct term, and people just CALL IT a medal, or what?

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Strange, but it seems he was awarded two Medals of Honor, one Army and one Navy, for the same action.

 

Well... a successful one-man bayonet charge on a machine gun nest might just do it!

 

Medal of Honor citations

Navy citation:

For extraordinary heroism while serving with the 66th Company, 5th Regiment, during action in Forest de Retz, near Viller-Cottertes, France, July 18, 1918. Sgt. Cukela advanced alone against an enemy strong point that was holding up his line. Disregarding the warnings of his comrades, he crawled out from the flank in the face of heavy fire and worked his way to the rear of the enemy position. Rushing a

machine-gun

emplacement, he killed or drove off the crew with his

bayonet

, bombed out the remaining part of the strong point with German

hand grenades

, and captured two machineguns and four men.

Army citation:

When his company, advancing through a wood, met with strong resistance from an enemy strong point, Sgt. Cukela crawled out from the flank and made his way toward the German lines in the face of heavy fire, disregarding the warnings of his comrades. He succeeded in getting behind the enemy position and rushed a machinegun emplacement, killing or driving off the crew with his bayonet. With German hand grenades he then bombed out the remaining portion of the strong point, capturing 4 men and 2 damaged machineguns.

 

 

[Old Scatterbrain]

Is there a difference between the Silver Star Medal and a Silver Star Citation?

 

Dumb question, probably.

 

You hear about someone's awards - "Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Silver Star, Navy Cross", etc, etc. In my head, the word "medal" goes after each of them. Purple Heart Medal, Silver Star Medal, etc.

 

But in that article, it says, "Along the way he collected a commission as a second lieutenant, as well as the Medal of Honor and four Silver Star Citations".

 

So, are they different, or is Citation the correct term, and people just CALL IT a medal, or what?

For most awards, I dare say all awards, you don't get multiple medals. You get a medal for the first award, and some sort of little doodad such as a star for consecutive awards. There also are awards that have no corresponding medal, only a ribbon. They tend to be lower awards. And technically the citation is the paper they read that describes what you did to earn the award.