Rep. Salazar introduces ‘Military Valor Roll of Honor Act of 2007’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman John T. Salazar introduced bi-partisan legislation to create a database containing the names and citations of individuals who have been awarded the Medal of Honor or any other medal authorized by the United States Congress.  Twenty-four Members of Congress are joining Rep. Salazar as original co-sponsors of this legislation and it is supported by The Military Order of the Purple Heart.

The Military Valor Roll of Honor Act of 2007 requires the Department of Defense to establish a searchable database containing the names and citations of members of the Armed Forces who have been awarded our nations highest military honors.  Currently no comprehensive database exists for these records.  “Having a readily accessible and public database will not only give the tools to law enforcement to prosecute fraudulent claims, but will properly recognize those who have been honored with these citations,” said Salazar.

While copies of these original records exist (for Army and Air Force Awards), many remain in storage at the National Archives and are filed by command, number, and date. Each record usually contains the names and citations of a dozen or more recipients, but no index exists to enable a search by name. For this reason a family member or researcher is required to request a citation by those criteria, which are usually unknown to them, or to pay a researcher to sort through tens of thousands of pages. Even when this information is known, records often have to be requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a process that can take a year or more before the individual receives the requested documents.  Awards to members of the Navy and Marine Corps are preserved on nearly half-a-million index cards housed at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., where access to the general public is extremely limited.

“My father was proud of his military service, and when I ran for office I pledged to myself that I would work every day to honor his memory and the memory of all of our nations veterans for their service to our country,” added Rep. Salazar.

(Rep.  John T. Salazar (CO-03) is a veteran of the U.S.  Army and a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.