The 24 Heroes finally receive Medal of Honor

CSPAN video on Medal of Honor Ceremony

Report from CNN

The color of valor: 24 minority veterans receive long overdue Medal of Honor
By Chelsea J Carter and Halimah Abdullah, CNN
updated 4:12 PM EDT, Tue March 18, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: "Their courage almost defies imagination," President Barack Obama says
NEW: Obama honors 24 veterans with the Medal of Honor
White House says they were passed over for the top medal because of discrimination
Only three of them are still alive; they served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam

(CNN) -- If not for the hue of their skin or their ethnicity, 24 soldiers who faced death in service to their nation would have received the most prestigious medals for their valor long ago.

But they were born and fought in a time when such deeds were not always fairly acknowledged.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government corrected the oversight.

President Barack Obama honored 24 Army veterans with the Medal of Honor -- the country's highest military award, given to American soldiers who display "gallantry above and beyond the call of duty " -- for their combat actions in Vietnam, Korea and World War II.

"Some of these soldiers fought and died for a country that did not always see them as equal," Obama said during a ceremony at the White House. "...Their courage almost defies imagination."

Only three of the soldiers are alive to receive the recognition.

The rest -- soldiers with last names including Garcia and Weinstein and Negron -- are dead.

Of the 24 honored, 10 never came home. The body of one -- Cpl. Joe Baldonado -- has never been recovered, Obama said.

For the few who survive, such as Melvin Morris, this day has been more than 40 years in the making.
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