Of the 3,517 Medals of Honor awarded since 1863, remarkably, there are two father-son recipient pairs. I previously profiled the first of the pairs, 1LT Arthur MacArthur and his son, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Click
here for that profile.
The second father-son recipients were the 26th president, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Jr., and his son, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt III, sometimes errantly referred to as “Jr.”
Teddy Roosevelt was awarded the Medal of Honor for his 1898 actions in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, while his son Ted was a recipient for his actions at Normandy in 1944 during World War II.
At the onset of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Teddy Roosevelt, a New York City native, resigned from his appointment as President William McKinley’s assistant secretary of the Navy, and he and COL Leonard Wood formed the Army’s First U.S.
Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the “Rough Riders.”
Determined to get in the fight in the battle of San Juan Hill, then-LTC Roosevelt later wrote: “On the day of the big fight, I had to ask my men to do a deed that European military writers consider utterly impossible of performance, that is, to attack over open ground an unshaken infantry armed with the best modern repeating rifles behind a formidable system of entrenchments. The only way to get them to do it in the way it had to be done was to lead them myself.”
As was the case with Gen. MacArthur’s Medal of Honor nomination, Roosevelt’s nomination was besieged with controversy. Though four general officers had recommended LTC Roosevelt, his nomination was denied without documented reason. It was only after decades of lobbying for this award after Roosevelt’s death that Congress repealed a statute of limitations on military decorations, and Roosevelt was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 — the only president to have received the honor.
According to his citation: “[Roosevelt], in total disregard for his personal safety, and accompanied by only four or five men, led a desperate and gallant charge up San Juan Hill, encouraging his troops to continue the assault through withering enemy fire over open countryside. Facing the enemy’s heavy fire, he displayed extraordinary bravery throughout the charge, and was the first to reach the enemy trenches, where he quickly killed one of the enemy with his pistol, allowing his men to continue the assault. His leadership and valor turned the tide in the battle for San Juan Hill.”
A good example of Roosevelt’s tenacious character occurred on October 14, 1912. When arriving at a presidential campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was shot from seven feet away by a deranged assassin. The bullet lodged in Roosevelt’s chest but was slowed after passing through his eyeglasses case and his printed speech folded in his coat pocket. An experienced hunter, he knew that, despite the considerable pain, the bullet had not entered his lung because he was not coughing up blood. Thus, he declined efforts to get him to the hospital, went to the platform, and delivered his speech with these opening words: “Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.”
A medical exam following that speech determined that the bullet had lodged in his muscle tissue, and it was considered less dangerous to leave it in place than remove it. Roosevelt carried that bullet with him for his remaining days, later telling a friend, “I do not mind it any more than if it were in my waistcoat pocket.”
“Bull Moose” became the symbol of his campaign.
Roosevelt’s four sons were inspired by their father’s military service, and all four, “Ted” III, Kermit, Archibald, and Quentin, served in World War I, the latter killed in action in 1918.
Ted received a Distinguished Service Cross for his service in WWI and post-war became one of the founders of the American Legion.
He remained a reservist after WWI, was recalled to active duty as a Colonel in WWII, and soon thereafter was promoted to Brigadier General. In 1944, he twice requested to be in the first Normandy wave on Utah Beach, but his requests were denied. After a third written request, his direct participation in the landing was approved. Notably, his own son, CPT Quentin Roosevelt II, was in the first wave at Omaha Beach.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, Ted was the oldest man (56), one of the first men onto the beaches, and the first of only two General Officers to storm the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Armed with his pistol and the cane he used for severe arthritis, then-BG Roosevelt, upon learning his wave had landed about a mile off course, declared, “We are going to start the war right here.” He earned his Medal of Honor at Utah Beach for “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty” while leading successive waves of his troops into fields of fire toward their objectives.
He had prepared for this day his entire life, writing after WWI of his father’s service: “I often walked to the office with [my father]. On the way down he would talk history to me — not the dry history of dates and charters, but the history where you yourself in your imagination could assume the role of the principal actors, as every well-constructed boy wishes to do when interested. During every battle we would stop and father would draw out the full plan in the dust in the gutter with the tip of his umbrella. Long before the European war had broken over the world father would discuss with us military training and the necessity for every man being able to take his part.”
According to Ted Roosevelt’s citation: “He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. Gen. Roosevelt moved from one locality to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties.”
As with his father, Ted’s Medal of Honor was also awarded posthumously, in his case in September 1944. He had died in July in France after the invasion. Ted had been selected for promotion to Major General and command of the 90th Infantry Division just prior to his death.
Theodore and Ted Roosevelt: Your examples of valor — humble American Patriots defending your fellow warriors and Liberty for all — above and beyond the call of duty, and in disregard for the peril to your own life, is eternal. “Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
(Please consider a tax-deductible gift to support the National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund. Make a check payable to NMoH Sustaining Fund and mail to: Patriot Foundation Trust, PO Box 407, Chattanooga, TN 37401-0407. Visit the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center at Aquarium Plaza. (https://www.MOHHC.org) Join us in prayer for our nation’s Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families.)
Mark Caldwell