to carry out economic espionage ,-com,-com ma diplomatic espionage, national security espionage altogether but none of those millions of attacks for were what his audience in that congressional briefing room in the wider bullard -- body politic thought when he said attempts at a digital pearl harbor or cyber 9/11. for example digital pearl harbor and cyber 9/11 have not been used in a series of government speeches that have been reported in the media over a half million times. essentially what happens when people are talking about cyberattacks as they are bundling together these various things simply because they involve the internet. and its related technology. the parallel with a lot like say a group of teenagers with firecrackers political protesters in the street with the smoke bomb, a terrorist with a roadside tom, james bond and

his pistol and a russian cruise missile -- missile. these are all one in the same because they involve the technology and the chemistry of gunpowder, right quest of course not, we would never do that but somehow it's accessible in this space. or take the organizations for example i had a senior u.s. military official argue with me that -- and al qaeda were the same thing. wherever you stand on anonymous and i have a good outfit i am more pathetic towards them than anyone in the d.c.'s security establishment but the bottom line is wherever you stand on than they differ from al qaeda in everything from their organization, their personnel, their profile, there means, their ends, pretty much the only thing they share is they are

doctors that begin with the letter a. these gaps in understanding the disconnect of policy reality intact knowledge he mean that we are not only seeing growing tension. it's one of the things that is feeding into the u.s. china relationship but it also means we are being taken advantage of. we are taken advantage of at the individual level by the e-mail you receive from your mom saying i'm stuck in iceland. can you send me your bank account information? oh goodness i didn't know mom was in iceland that i had better help her. we smile and laugh about that but this hits even the most senior people. a group of diplomats at the ge 20 conference most important international conference of the year, received what is known as a spear fishing e-mail. it gave them an exciting offering and said if you this link you will be able to see

photos of the former french first lady. a great offer. many of them clicked the link and downloaded spyware from and espionage agency into their computers. or being taken advantage of at the organizational level, the business level for the university level of like. alternative -- alternatively not being doing enough to protect ourselves or hiring hucksters who promise 100% security through some kind of silver bullet solution. frankly we are being taken advantage of at the national political level which i think is behind a number of the issues that played out with the snowden nsa revelations. reportedly obama expressed his quote frustration that the complexity of the technology was overwhelming policymakers. now our inability to have a proper discussion about all of

this not only can create a distortion of threats but even more so a misapplication of resources. maybe the best illustration is another number. 31,300. that's the number of academic journal and magazine in press articles that are focused on the phenomena of cyberterrorism. zero. that's the number of people who have been hurt or killed by a real incident of cyberterrorism. i joke that cyberterrorism is a lot like discovery channel's shark week where we obsess about the danger of sharks even though you were 15,000 times more likely to be heard on your toilet. while jobs was fictional people have been hurt by sharks. maybe 100% clear here. i'm not saying that terrorists don't use the internet. there are several chapters in the book about house they use the internet which is much the

way the rest of us use the internet. i'm also not saying that there is not a possibility and even more so the likelihood of cyberterrorism in the future with real-world impact as for example stuxnet the first cyberweapon revealed. but that very same story shows how it's not the way it's too often depicted where you know whether it's the dye hard scenario of which is have to break it is plan and all the power of the u.s. will go down or it's the way for example of former u.s. military official talked about how a couple and this was his description, a couple of teenagers sitting in their parents basement wearing flip-flops sipping red hole could carry out it wmd style attack. as stuxnet reveals one, there is danger here but it also requires to carry out something at that

high operational level a wide, deep set of expertise so stuxnet involves not just the top cyberexpertise in the world that everything from intelligence analysis and collection to expertise in fields that range from engineering to knit your physics. it's not something that a couple of teens sipping red bull -- my point here is to put it a different way. to sum it up al qaeda would like to but it can't. china could but it doesn't want to. for both of them, yet. now what i'm trying to say is that a larger level strategy whether it's national political strategy, business strategy or your individual strategy it's always about choices, priorities. so we need to weigh the

centrality of oakley talk about and what we obsess about and what we focus on versus what is real and are there greater threats out there? for example while squirrels have taken down power grids zero times than hackers has doesn't mean it's going to happen. the fictionalized scenario versus the real largest theft in all of human history that is happening right now. the massive campaign of intellectual property theft that involves an economic security impact by one measure over a trillion dollars of value lost to a national security winnakee jewels of the defense technology are lost maybe decades worth of advantage loss on a potential battlefield. what i'm getting at is these may

not be as as a cyber9/11 cyberpearl harbor discourse, we are talking about how the military uses it. the military definitely plays in this realm and let's focus on computer network operations versus the hollywood scenarios. we have learned from regular terrorism it's not really about the direct impact of something but it's about the ripple effects even more so urahn actions in response can determine the true story of how it plays out. what deeply worries me is how this critical value to the internet itself trusts is being damaged, being hollowed out. it's being damaged by the massive campaigns of cybercrime that is out there but it's also being damaged by other actions in response to threats so for example a fear over traditional terrorism led to a metadata

collection program that has been not only to america's national standing in relation with their allies but also to american technology companies. by one report they estimated over $180 million worth of revenue will be lost because of this or to be -- the impact on the growing attempts by authoritarian governments around the world most particularly russia and china to push for more state-controlled internet governance model and what does this mean for the future? what i'm getting at here is that this value of trust that has allowed the internet to the, to run successfully but to become i would argue the greatest force for political social economic change not just in my lifetime but maybe all of history, it's been threatened. the internet that i'd need to

grow and love than the one that we grew up with may not be the one that my sons inherit and that scares me. these disconnects also mean sometimes we act on bad assumptions or don't make connections across domains in ways that truly matter so take for example the discourse over offense and defense and international security circles versus cybersecurity circles. a notion has taken hold that cyberoffense is inherently privileged against the defense and in fact u.s. military rep board said it's not just add an advantage but it will be so quote for the foreseeable future as long as we can look out into the future cyber offense will dominate cyberdefense. the center has led the u.s. military to spend depending on the measure 2.5 to four times as much on cyberoffense research and development that cyber

defense research and development. there are three problems with this. the first is this a reference before cyber offense is not as easy as it is too often depicted you need more than that can of red bull particularly to do an actual campaign not just one attack. the defense in turn is not lying there helpless. there's a series of things you can do and it also carries out the status. it's not so simple as is often portrayed in upper state or sessions. the code of military history pretty much every time the military assumes the offense would dominate because of some of the technology they would get a wake-up call. the 100 year anniversary of one of the biggest abuses in all of history if you look back at the european armies in 1914 every single one of them thought because of the new technologtechnolog ies of the day that offense was dominant and in fact based ducts on the

defense so much that they urge their governments if there's any point of crisis we have to be the first to go because we don't want to be stuck on the defense. that was one of the forces that help spark world war i and they turned out to be wrong. actually the offense wasn't so dominant. the third issue is you think about in terms of metaphor and it illustrates the difference between applying some kind of cold war binary political framework to a more complex cyberworld. if you are standing in a glass house and you are worried about more than 100 different, everything from gangs of teenagers to military attack or the like the best way to secure yourself is not to say you know what i really need to why? is the own sharpening kit. that will solve my problems.

so what can we do? the last third of the book is although what can we do kind of questions everything like what we do from the global level the national level to the business organization to what can we do to an individual level to secure ourselves to help secure the internet? i'm not going to try to summarize 100 pages. what i would try to do is identified what i think are key things they carry through all of this. the first is knowledge matters. it's absolutely vital that to demystify this from a few per want to get anything done effectively in securing it we have to move past the situation which we are in right now where for example now where for example the president of the united states received a briefing on cyberissues and then ask for it repeated back quote this time in english. that same thing would happen to pretty much every major

corporation, every university and most households. we have to move past thinking that this is solely for the gifts or as one white house official put it to me the domain for the nerds. no, it's for all of us because we are ours on line. the second is people matter. cybersecurity is what they called one private -- privacy areas not because of the technical side but because of the people side. the people side makes a useful from a wider perspective because you can tell cool stories, everything from the role of corn in the history of internet and cybersecurity to the episode where pakistan accidentally kidnapped all the world's cute cat videos for a day. great stories but what it also means is if you're trying to set up responses at a global or business level etc. you have to

recognize that the people behind the machines are inherently part of every threat, and every response. this leads to the third incentives matter. if you want to understand why something is or isn't happening and cybersecurity look to the motivations, look to the relative costs, book to the tensions that play on the issues. there is a reason why finance companies are doing better not only with their own cybersecurity but also sharing information with others about it like for example power companies. they are incentivized to understand both the cost and the consequences in a very different way. this also points to the role that government can and should be playing in this space. some situations such as trusted information provider, researcher or researched and other

situations like it's done in a wide variety of marketplaces that has to help change some of the incentive structures out there. the fourth . history matters. there is a history to how we got here with the internet and understanding that is key especially when you hear silly ideas that have been expressed in some serious places like well we need a new more secure internet. let's just build that instead. my joke in the book is the idea of rebooting the internet makes as much sense as rebooting beverly hills 90210. it's a bad idea and it never should have happened and we will act like it didn't happen. the point is not just needing to know or internet history and how it shapes the on line world but also that we can learn from other histories beyond. so for example if we are wrestling with how do we deal with individual criminal groups

i state linked groups in their domain of commerce communication and conflict we can actually look back for information from the age of sail and how they dealt with a different kind of tired and privateers back then. for example if we are thinking about what government action is needed let's look at the instances of the most successful government agencies out there. we look at the case of the center for disease control which starts with literally members of it taking a 10-dollar collection, $10 total in collections in that agency goes on to do everything from eradicate malaria inside of the united states at the global level the smallpox campaign to serve as a crucial channel to the soviets during the cold war. this leads to the fifth and final point. ben franklin had his saying that quote an ounce of prevention is

worth a pound of cure. the cdc did studies that found that franklin's idea actually does hold true and he tested out public health. prevention is really the best place to put your resources into and it goes a long way. it's the same thing in cybersecurity. despite all of the attempts to complex of five this space, to turn the fear factor up, spinal tap volume style, to frame it as something we need a man on cyberfor spec to come and save you whether it's a man in uniform or a man and a cybersecurity company. the reality is that very basic steps of cyber hygiene would go an incredibly long way. for example one study found the simple measures that top 20 controls would stop up to 94% of all cyberattacks.

people respond to that and sometimes they say i'm really special. i'm in the 6%. statistically we can't all be in the 6% in the second is to talk to your i.t. department. if they didn't have to spend so much time running down the low-level stuff they could focus in on the high-end stuff. finally the reality is many of the toughest challenges, but most dangerous threats use basic steps to get in to be stopped by cyber hygiene. for example the most important outside foreign spy agency penetration classified u.s. military networks happened when a u.s. soldier found a memory stick on the ground in a parking lot and thought it was a good idea to pick up the memory stice base and plug it into his computer to see what was on it.

that is not just cyber hygiene. that's basic hygiene. that's the 52nd rule. this idea of hygiene go is important not just because of the lessons in the idea of prevention going a long way but also the ethic that we need to build about our collective responsibility. again at the global level, the national level, organizational level down to the individual level. we teach our kids the basics of hygiene things like cover your mouth when you cough. we teach them not just to protect themselves but also to give them an ethic of their responsible for protecting everyone else that come into contact with during the day. that is the same kind of ethic we need to be building in cyberspace and that's the only way we will get to a greater sense of actual cybersecurity. so to bring this story full circle, at the beginning of the talk i explained how i was first

introduced to computers as a young kid. now if you had said to my 7-year-old self one day this machine will allow bad guys to steal money from people, steal their identity, may be be a weapon of mass disruption i would have told my dad not to turn on that big power button, don't do it. today we wouldn't have it any other way because this same machine that the world has created has given all of us what back then we would have thought of as superpowers, the idea that you could run down the answer to any question that you might have the idea that you could communicate and talk and see someone a world away, that you could even become friends with someone you literally have never met before.

those would have been viewed as superpowers back then and today we take them for granted. might point is the same as it was back then and the way it is now and where i think it should be in the future. we have to accept and manage the risks of the on line world and the real world because of all that can be achieved in it. and to steal a line from the title of the book, that is really what everyone needs to know. dank u.. [applause] i think we have got some time for questions or comments. i believe the protocol is to ask folks to come over here to the mic. no? raise your hand and stand up and introduce yourself. any questions or comments at all? right there.

>> my question is what about what is called the internet of things which means i have to watch out for somebody hijacking my refrigerator thermostat or something like that? how does that tie into your idea of hygiene? >> eight couple of things here. one, a it's one of those key trends much like mobile or changing internet users that is truly going to reshape the internet itself and how it is used. it offers incredible possibilities in ways that will benefit the world. i will illustrate it with a classic example. right now if you bought a new car it automatically will

communicate with the manufacturer when some part needs to be replaced and some will make the apartment -- appointment with the dealership. when you take this kind of network and connected across so your car communicates to your thermostat and you are 10 minutes away and your thermostat who has been on the most efficient setting because it's connected to the smart power grid will shift to where you like it. the problem is we are already seeing risks woven into this. we have parties seen car hacking where your car is literally filled with hundreds of computers and we have seen people causing computers to do things other than what the driver wants it to. it truly if we are looking at this from the cyberwar side this is where we move from thinking about this and there's a lot of stuff that has been called

cyberwar that is not disruptions. it's a combination of what i mentioned before in weapons like stuxnet but also new targets like the internet of things that give it a much greater impact so now he were able to design a weapon that is intense not just to steal information but actually to co-opt the system and cause it to do something physically different so stuxnet for example cause the iranian nuclear research centrifuges not to damage what they were working on but also to spin out of control and damage themselves etc.. now we are talking about the world of the civilian side. to link to the prior book that john mentioned that i'd did, this is where drums and robotics comes back to cyber. when you don't have the human inside the weapons system where they are either remotely operating or it's autonomous or

semi-autonomous or whatnot you move from battles being about destruction, destroying any tank to what i call battles of persuasion co-ops the tank if you can get access which the cyberattack is about getting access. you can cause that tank or that drone what not to do something other than what its owner wants to do. this is something we have never seen before in war. we have never been able to take the arrow in mid-flight to make a go at different traction or the bullet tooth fly back at the fire. you can't get into tom cruise's brain in top gun and say maverick decode american f-14s and vice versa. the point though is what can we do about it and this hits that idea of we.

there are some things that we can do in terms of individual consumers and the settings and with those devices are allowed to access but it also connects back to the responsibility of the manufactures and the responsibility of government. one of the things we have to do and we have a roomful of a lot of engineers here is make security much more intuitive, much more user human friendly and also understand from examples like there's a big difference and we used the example of states and driver's licenses and organ donor. is it an opt in or opt out and the setting reinforces good behavior or not. we need the same when it comes

to the security woven into the products and in turn government is going to have to start to require that first is where we are stuck right now. government is doing a great job of trying to create optional standards but that's different than enforcement. to use the example of the titanic saying everyone should have this number of life votes versus saying if you don't this is the fine you will pay. we are going to need that next step. >> i'm the director of the program that john mentioned in science and technology studies and i'm a historian as well so the history matters and we need to think about these problems as individual institutions and technologies and that resonates with me. i want to ask you a question about considering the internet, the life of the internet as a historical phenomenon. 20 years ago or so john barlow

said that this is a space completely different and now it seems conventional wisdom has come full circle on these talk shows. my question is do you think the internet is a tryon for something that has liberated us or is it a tragedy? is something we have great hopes for that turns out to be -- [inaudible] >> great question. we could write several books just on that. it's sort of a two level issue. the first is this idea, so marlowe famously wrote the declaration of independence for the internet that essentially said you thinks of the old world governments you have no role in this space. he was both right and wrong and

on one hand this is a space that is incredibly challenging governments because it seemingly has no orders. it's a space that is empowered by a wide range of year's. collectives of people that want to share cute cat videos and people for wanting gauge and cyberattacks to punish those that violate internet freedom and they want to do it anonymously. we have seen it empowering small states and giving them ways -- the recent iranian linked attacks. it is empowering the empowering is the way the traditional sovereign would be uncomfortable with except when they say government has no role or interest here and no power here. the first is governments

definitely have an interest one because governments are responsible to the needs of their citizens and we are in such a cyberdependent world that they have to care about what's going on and how it impacts them. oh by the way the government's own operations depend on it so you could say you got no role here except that away u.s. military you depend on it for 90% of your communication and second is the notion that governments have no power here. it shows ways they are able to do things never thought possible but also that government can go after them. wikileaks is a good illustration of this were on one hand it's bringing transparency to various episodes that clearly governments did to have happened. on the other hand the founders stuck in an embassy right now because it believes he will be prosecuted so there is a back and forth to this.

the argument is the same if we talk about the threats. yes nazi actors can carry out forms of cyberattacks but the states are still the big dogs. that is the first part of it. the second was your question about ultimately is this a triumph or a tragedy? i just think it's a revolutionary technology and the reality throughout history is that and ice a revolutionary the game-changer eight disruption and the world was fundamentally different before and after so much so that the people before would have have a hard time imagining the world after. every time there has been a technology it has been used good and bad. the first tool some human at some point picked up a stone and did they use it to build or to bash someone in the head? or probably the best parallel

for the internet would be the printing press. the printing press on one hand led to mass literacy, new models of citizenship, democracy. sports illustrated some should model edition. at the same time it led to reformation. if you are protestant you think it's a great thing. if it's the pope not so much. if you're looking at casualty flows approximately one third of europe is killed in the wars that followed. so the internet has been again to me it's been one of the most if not the most important tool for political economic and social change in the world but that change you know has enabled a lot of good and a lot of bad things. i don't know if we are going to be able to put a tragedy or try and model but i'm more of a

tryon 30 think it's creating more positive things but i acknowledge there are some bad things that have happened as with every other single game-changing technology and the reason is the humans behind it. we are filled with both good and bad intent and we organize it in bad ways etc.. right over there. >> on in the director of this cybersecurity museum. i am the director of the museum of social security -- cybersecurity. following up on the viewer suggestion a few years ago there were books about the internet exactly about the tragedy and the triumph. things are going to be ever better because of the things and things are going to be easier and again the never with the

tragedy like with books and forget about the internet. like you were saying this as i spin the case. new technology seems disruptive and we get used to that. i was wondering. [inaudible] >> it's so unfair that i have to be in whatever look at that you just created. that is an interesting way to categorize it. again like we are all trying to divide adequacy's and adequacy is i would probably put myself i guess in the third category except not in terms of seeing these patterns before but also the key of revolutionary technology is there are ways that are different. maybe better expressed by mark twain who reportedly said

history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme. i feel that here. the challenge and maybe what motivates me is that what will determine the first two categories is is it going to be much better or no, it's going to be much worse. the first category seem like optimist or pessimist. for me, it's you are less like the to get the best out of it to develop the best responses if you are stuck in this strange brew that we have right now a fear and ignorance makes together. that is not the best way to govern. it's not the best way to develop and run our business. it's not the best way to handle your own personal life and there

is no issue that has become more important in recent years that is less understood than cybersecurity and cyberwar so that is for me -- or is this aching need for a primer that tried to hit that sweet spot a between and look there has been a lot written but it's either been highly technical or at the other side it has had this feeling of spinal tap turn the volume to above and get scared and oh by the way trust me to get the solution for you. instead we have to turn this issue into something where we understand that as long as we use the internet there will be cybersecurity and cyberwar threats. it's all about how do we manage them and become more recently and in our technical approach but i would argue even more so in our psychological approach to it.

>> is sort of a follow-up to that. i'm just curious as a journalist i have been daunted by this topic is i feel there is so much hype and technical issues are difficult for me to understand. i worry that a lot of the experts that you hear have some incentive for projecting a particular point of view so how did you find sources you trusted and did they tend to fall into certain categories i mean let's say professors of computer science at the university like this may be useful to you? how did you inform yourself about this issue? >> a great question. you can come at it in a couple of ways. one is the challenge for journalists and it's actually in two ways. one is the challenge of how do i

report on seemingly, heidler report on cybersecurity except there is an assumption that is like this field that could be put into one little area and yet you have everything from the wall street beat to the china beat. cybersecurity is inherently woven into it. you can't tell the story of how targets are going to be doing in the next quarter to the u.s. china relations without understanding this part of his so that's what gets back to the idea that we all need to develop a certain level of knowledge and comfort and demystify it. the second is oh by the way journalists are increasingly targeted. they are being targeted because of what they report on and the kind of information that they have. famously in the book for example

the case with this "new york times" was hacked and it went out to a chinese military unit that was running a massage parlor and a wine store but the point is they went after the new york times not because they wanted -- there wasn't a traditional intellectual property theft. it was they wanted to find out who was talking to "times" reporters that were doing a story about corruption and the senior levels of the chinese government but again now we also have to think it's part of my toolkit. i have to have this and yet no journalistic program teaches that. so the bigger question in the methodology this is not specific to cybermap treated applies to any academic endeavor. the methodology has to involve a

diversification of sources and so you will notice for example i referenced different nationalities, reference different agencies. you want to be reaching out to experts and academic journals in very different fields. also again, you will notice i will reference numbers and leaving -- weeping and anecdotes together anecdotes because they are powerful and they illustrate something and it comes where you have an issue where there is not firm data. .. balance of the area to your audience doesn't and then there

also reported for height. so in the book, for example, we talk about the story which was covered by a lot of major media and fox news and it was basically a warning the internet was going to break. millions of going to lose access to the internet. that's a great crappy headline.s it didn't happen and we go through what was a play, it wase a case involving fbi, ice. the point is truth today so, i te rewarding for the eyeball grabbing headlines than substance. and so that means you will often see these things reported no as fact that if you pull back you go, wow, that's not the case. that would be everything from famously a -- there was some one -- 60 minutes reported a story about a cyber attack that took down brazilian power grids. it just did not happen.

more recently to a couple of do stuck they used rifle to shoot at power transformers in california. did not take down the great, but it did become a major news story in the "wall street journal". now, and got a series of phone calls from journalists calling for my opinion on this cyber attack. it's a double layer thing. one at the same time the you had at the very same time in over 600 dozen people in pennsylvania without power "wall street journal" has a news story about an attack by rivals that did not leave anyone without power. but then you also have a bunch of people interpreting the cyber attack. somehow i keep hearing all these

cyber powerhouse. that is a problem. >> maybe another professor. >> i would like to ask you about previously. many, many great actors. so there's no -- [inaudible question] so in this case so we should adjourn. [inaudible question]

[inaudible question] >> that's a great question. so what can we do? one is to better understand. a lot of different ways. particularly because it's iconic use of masks and the like.

and this in the group. also under sam the motivation for what can we do. z when is consistently the groups that it has targeted have been groups that have been some way share perform threatening the freedom. that chapter begins by saying, you know, as of august or is it begins with tom cruise. it's one of the first major implements, when he had an embarrassing video online and in scientology tried to a rip that off and put them on the rear screen. then you have the essentially anonymous versus scientology. it has gone on to go against troops are reaping from authoritarian regimes, trying to cut off the internet to then and turned particularly linked to a wikileaks episode so one is

don't get on their target list. a good way is to not threaten the internet freedom. then you go to the -- i don't care. i have to deal with the response side. i would say that there is nothing specifically unique about anonymous. many of the things you're talking about is not sharing information, not having records. and then you know the spirit is not just about ruggers know what happened but to establish a baseline so that you can then see when anomalies are happening building up so you can do with them beforehand. everything i just said applies to an extra hour attack by some group to be it a state report the it an actor, would also applies to insider threat situations. wherever you come down on manning or snowdon call we can agree that the organizations

that they were and were not following basics of good severs security. in no, manning famously down lows this massive amount of information on tow the cd market lady diana. it is not because of his taste relating gotta, but what i'm getting at is in both cases you had an individual with wide-ranging access in many ways they should not read. you have individuals given in some cases passwords by others and the like. and then you had an anomalous amount of information being gathered. and in snowdons case, for example, he was using the web crawler to do it for him. these a the kind of things that should pop up as something to look off for, not just in a military organization, but if you're running a bakery giving an individual wide-ranging

access and then in the course of a job of a person and this role they typically access these kinds of files on this kind of information. why is this person suddenly having 100 times that amount of activity? maybe it's because they have been given new assignments are may be something else is going on. let's go down and ask them. does this sort of thing that should be happening. my brother point is that the basics of cyber security would apply in a lot of different situations and go a very long way to aiding things. again, whenever the threat the you're talking about. and, oh, by the way, you are never going to get 100 percent security, just like in life. so anyone who is telling you that if you do this just one thing or you buy this one product or you give me and my organization this much more power or budget we will solve this problem for you, to go back

to the earlier question they're taking advantage of you and the ignorance. so thank you all for joining us today. [applause] >> [inaudible conversations] >> tonight will bring you books on recent history.

>> watch booktv on c-sp3 >> watch booktv on c-span2. >> coming up on c-span2, a pentagon ceremony for medal of honor recipients. and later a preview of president obama's trip next week to europe for a useu summit. >> c-span to providing live coverage of the u.s. senate floor proceedings and key public policy events. and every weekend booktv. now for 15 years the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. c-span2 created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook and followers on twitter. >> twenty-four soldiers who had been denied the medal of one because of their race or

ethnicity were admitted into the medal of honor hall of heroes ceremony. ♪ oh, say, can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ thro' the perilous fight ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched ♪ were so gallantly streaming ♪ and the rockets red glare

♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave? >> let us pray. almighty father whose command is

over all and his love never fails, let us be aware of your presence and obedient to your will. we acknowledge what we've achieved was done through you and because of you. we acknowledge also the what we've accomplished is due to those you place around us in support and inspiration. in his sacred moment of recognition of courage and humility, we thank you for those have shared their love of their nation and their courage to preserve it. we also acknowledge our debt to those who stood beside us in battle who have given their lives of the country for freedom, justice, and liberty. may we never forget the values of their sacrifice, nor are nobility of courage nor tenacity of insurance which was purchased for us peace, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. now, god, help us to keep this heritage that we may be true as they were true, loyal as they

were loyal, courageous as they were courageous. grant unto us the wisdom to way and the valley with the greater issues of life, and for ever live, fight and die for these great causes. we humbly pray for peace, not only, nations, but among and within our cells. amen. >> please be seated. on ladies and gentlemen, the secretary of defense. >> good morning. secretary mchugh, general odierno, mrs. odierno, sergeant major chandler, congressman deutch, congressman collins, ladies and gentlemen. we are here this morning to celebrate the heroism of 24 selfless individuals, 24

soldiers whose acts of gallantry in battle merit our highest recognition. we are also here to correct an injustice of history, to help right 24 wrongs that should never have occurred. before we do, i want to recognize another soldier here today, a man who president obama acknowledged and commended yesterday. his name is mitch libman, and he was the driving force behind this effort to award the medal of honor to jewish and hispanic service members who had earned it, but never received it because of racial or religious discrimination. when mitch found out that his childhood friend had been denied the medal of honor, he decided to do whatever was necessary to rectify it. he never gave up. and though it took a long time, too long, he was able to see the record set straight, not only for his friend, but for 23 other

soldiers. some of these soldiers gave their lives in service to this nation. others have passed away, but we are honored to have three of the recipients here with us today. mitch, on behalf of everyone in this auditorium and in this country, thank you. we are grateful for your hard work and your persistence. we are also grateful for the tireless work of the united states army, and many others, who helped identify and verify every heroic deed that we honor here today. thank you all for making this happen. today, we not only recognize the heroism of these 24 brave americans, we also recognize the significance of the medal of honor. our nation's highest honor presented for valor. the names that grace the walls of the pentagon's hall of heroes belong to soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who represent the essence, the finest, the best of military

service, the essence, the willingness to sacrifice your life for the lives of those around you. nearly 70 years ago, a jewish chaplain who had just lived through the carnage at iwo jima led his fellow marines in dedicating a cemetery on that island. they were burying their friends and their comrades, men of all religions, all races, all creeds. in mourning them, he observed: here lie officers and men, rich men and poor, together. here are protestants, catholics, and jews together. here no man prefers another because of his faith, or despises because of color. here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. thus do we memorialize those

who, having ceased living with us, now live within us. thus do we consecrate ourselves, the living, to carry on the struggle they began. too much blood has gone into this soil for us to let it lie barren. too much pain and heartache have fertilized the earth on which we stand. we here solemnly swear this shall not be in vain. today, on the doorstep of our nation's capital, heroes with the capital, we hon4 heroes with the same solemn pledge that was given on the island of iwo jima, that their sacrifice shall not be in vain. thank you for what you all have done for our country. thank you.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the secretary of the army. >> good morning. very special day. secretary hagel, sir, thank you obviously for your gracious words and your presence here today, but as well for the tremendous leadership, steady hand you have brought in these very challenging times. chief, sergeant major, distinguished members of congress, all of the department of defense, family, particularly those from the united states army, but especially to the families and the honorees were with us here today. welcome. it's wonderful to see all of you again.

as i have become the 21st secretary of the army i've had many occasions to attend some pretty historic events, and it probably should go without saying, today is certainly one of them. as president obama noted yesterday, this induction serves as the largest single induction of medal of honor arteries since world war ii. 24 amazing soldiers who will finally take their rightful place in our hall of heroes. their stories, nearly two dozen in total are as diverse as was their service them and their hometowns were truly spread from sea to shining sea. 12 different states as well as puerto rico and mexico. they valiantly, they defiantly, in german force, in korean hilltops and vietnam countryside

thought -- fought, a fierce enemy and equally tremendous off. each of their stories when taken alone are truly breathtaking, but taken together they really form an incredible volume of history. when the details the service, the sacrifice and most of all the courage of the american soldier. and we are truly blessed that three of these medal of honor recipients are here in this hall this morning. i'd like to take just a second if i may to introduce them to you. they are sergeant santiago j. erevia. sergeant first class melvin morris, and master sergeant jose rodela. gentlemen, please rise and be recognized for your incredible achievement. [applause]

>> to these true american heroes, i would simply say it is a deep honor to be in your company, and thank you for your service and your sacrifice. as you just heard, and i hope you have gotten a flavor over these past several days, you are an inspiration to us all. god bless you. please have a seat. i would tell you though, gentlemen, beyond your personal courage, we also look at you at this moment as the embodiment of 21 other euros, as the secretary

mentioned. we also honor this day, those whom we did not think, we did not properly recognize either in our time, or more importantly, in mayors. during a speech in the house of commons, less than two months before the d-day invasion, winston churchill remarked that while a metal glitters, it also casts a shadow. the medal that each of these heroes has earned, and now where's, symbolizes obviously tremendous personal courage and uncommon valor. but at the same time, it does cloak the auditorium, cloak it in a shadow cast by the spirit and the sacrifice of all those who were honored yesterday at the white house by president obama. their memories and their stories preserved and passed on by family members also who were there yesterday and were pleased, so pleased, who are

with us here today. and i would please ask those family members representing this tremendous medal of honor class to stand for a moment so that you, too, can be recognized for the sacrifice that your loved ones rendered to this nation. please. [applause] my dad, who was wise in many ways, and but perhaps genetics and science was not amongst them, used to say on rare occasions, proud of my brother or myself, you know, you plant tomatoes, you get tomatoes.

your relatives planted some pretty great tomatoes. it's been wonderful, wonderful getting to know you. god bless you for being here. thank you. [applause] as a secretary hagel accurately spoke, as proud and as historic as the state may be, it is, frankly, not without some controversy and some lingering concern. this effort indeed as the secretary noted began because there was a belief, we now know, justified, that jewish and hispanic servicemembers who fought in world war ii, korea, and vietnam may have been unjustly denied the medal of honor due to the racial or religious prejudice of those times. we've come far as a nation. we've come far as an army. but we must never fail to recognize the bias, the prejudice and hate that too

often played a role in our nation's history. president kennedy once observed that no one has been barred from the battlefield on account of his race or fighting and dying for america. there's no distinction, he said, between race or religion in the foxholes or graveyards of battle. as we continue to this day to ask america's sons and daughters to join and to fight together, as one, to struggle for a better and more secure future, we should not only he'd come but truly expand and build one president kennedy's wise perspective. never, never separating those who served by any means, not by skin, not by color, not by race, not by belief. and striving at all times to ensure tolerance and respect in all things, and especially all people. thanks to the review that led to

this day we did, in fact, as we now all know identified two dozen soldiers either here or represented, his courage and valor were indeed worthy of our nation's highest military honor. what began as a review of potential prejudice yielded other awardees, also wholly deserving of the medal of honor. for reasons that really have nothing to do with our imperfect history, we can only assume they were overlooked and missed instead of through the influence of a long-standing and sadly ongoing evil, that of the military bureaucracy. at this point in time we hope, we believe we have a last ride at all our wrongs, regardless of the cause of motivations. that no matter how this journey began, i do personally take part in the armies in sending effort and pride in those people who poured over the thousands of pages of decades old records,

who pieced together the narratives and stories that had been faded by time, who were able to identify and that last hope is probably recognize the individuals we honor at this moment. if i have one regret, is that so few are our to receive this honor. and are thanks in person. many we lost to the passage of time. many were lost on the battlefields of europe, in east and southeast asia, often after giving their very lives in service to their country. general douglas macarthur believed that however horrible the incidence of war may be, the soldier was called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is, what he described, the noblest development of mankind. each of the 24 soldiers offered their lives in service to our

country and something larger than themselves. their selfless sacrifice saved countless lives, the lives of other soldiers, of comrades, of buddies in arms, the untold millions who today enjoy the fruits of freedom they would have never otherwise known. each has earned this nation's highest military honor cleaning their rightful place in history for their personal acts of uncommon valor, always above and beyond the call of duty. today, they are, what they have always been, the noblest development of mankind. so let us go forth from this moment, learning and advancing the painful lessons of days gone by, celebrating the sacrifices and the achievements of those who have gone before andsacrifis and the achievements of those who have gone before and expanding upon the bedrock of freedom that they forged by their valor, so that future

generations might know and bask in what these heroes amazingly defended, the hope and promise of a better tomorrow. so god bless these 24 heroes, their families. god bless all of you, the united states of america and this glorious army that keeps us free. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the chief of staff of the army. >> good morning, everyone. it's an morning, everyone. it's an honor for me to stand here today wearing this uniform representing all soldiers, past and present in honoring our

comrades, these 24 great men who gave their lives and sacrificed so much for our country. secretary of defense hegel was grateful, we are grateful for your dedication. thank you so much for being here. sector of the army, thank you for your can tended leadership and argue to make sure that all our soldiers are probably recognize. major chandler, thank you for your leadership of our enlisted force. deputy secretary of defense, undersecretary of defense, thank you so much for being here. other leaders, general officers, congressmen, senators, family members, it's an honor for me to be here today. in the faces of our recipients and their relatives can we see the faces of 24 heroes. they are the faces of a diverse army and a diverse america. faces that shape our nation's

history, built this nation strength and defended this nation's security. our nation and our army are strong because in every war, in every generation, men and women, citizens and immigrants, have raised her right hand to defend the constitution of the united states. in doing so they committed themselves to a cause greater than themselves, and most importantly, to the ideals of this nation. each of our heroes are different, whether it be their rank, age, you know, campaign, geographic, ethnic or religious diversity. but they all bound together as soldiers, ordinary men who, under the most chaotic and difficult positions, displayed extraordinary courage at the

risk of their own lives to protect their fellow soldiers, and simply accomplish the mission. it is because of men like them through the generations that i'm so proud to wear this uniform. 70 years ago, the united states called upon millions of americans to defend the nation in world war ii. today, we recognize seven remarkable soldiers who responded. in the closing days, private first class salvadore -- salvador j. lara led a squad assault on multiple enemy strong points with such ferocity that numerous enemy soldiers were killed, surrendered, or abandoned their post. private joker and our country is out of the 82nd airborne invasion of normandy, france, advanced alone while his

compatriots were pinned down by enemy fires to destroy three machine gun nest before he was fatally wounded. joe blow them out of. first lieutenant donald schwab of the third infantry division charge a heavily reinforced german emplacement by taken in any soldier hostage and cause the enemy unit to from the superior defensive positions. fellow third infantry division soldier private first class william f. leonard, captured the objective of saint guy, friends. ignoring the severity of his wounds, staff sergeant manuel mendoza engaged 200 enemy troops advancing on not battaglia, italy, killing 30 and defending the key terrain. sergeant albert midsole of the first infantry division gave his

life in his efforts to slow the advance of enemy soldiers and cover the retreat of his squad mates during brutal operation in germany's forest. in the same campaign, private pedro cano single handedly destroyed eight machine-gunned emplacements and killed nearly 30 enemy troops. in the five long months that followed the acts of the soldiers contributed immeasurably to the allied victory in europe. only five short years later, president truman again mobilized the country for war. this time to recall the advances of communist north korea, ma and today we honor the extraordinary actions of nine korean war veterans. sergeant atwater gorman is -- eduardo gomes, exacting heavy enemy casualties and delaying enemies advance on friendly

positions. alongside fellow first calvary men master sergeant mike c. pena, in the face of religious enemy and sacrificed himself to cover their safe withdrawal. corporal joe r. baldonado 101st airborne division repeatedly disrupted wave after wave of any assaults until the great took his life during the enemies final withdrawal. 24th infantry division soldier private first class leonard kravitz covered the retreat of his squad mates helping the enemies advance until he was killed by enemy fire. as any forces counterattacked his platoon position, sergeant jack weinstein, also the 24th infantry division refuse orders to withdraw and inflicted

multiple casualties on the enemy and to another platoon arrived to drive back enemy forces. third infantry division soldier to master sergeant juan e. negron refuse to abandon his platoon, attacking the enemy at close range with small weapons fire and hand grenades and tell friendly forces arrived the next morning. private -- his last entry to kill enemy soldiers in close proximity to himself. corporal victor espinoza destroyed for any strong points in an ecosystem, killing 14 and wounding 11. despite suffering wounds were previous battle, fellow soldier

private miguel a. vera, later lost his life by covering the withdrawal of his squad. in three years of fierce fighting in these nine soldiers, alongside hundreds of thousands of other americans, turned back the tide of communist advance against south korea. and all you have to do to do is visit south korea to understand the difference these men made in the lives of millions of people. in 1965, the enemy -- american ground war in vietnam begin. today would reflect upon the committed service and sacrifice of our vietnam veterans and their families. who bore heavy burden during and following a divisive war, teaching our nation and in valuable lesson about honoring one's service regardless of politics.

we pay tribute to the exceptional heroism of eight soldiers. the first infantry division, sergeant candejario garcia discord two bunkers and rejoined his platoon to overrun the remaining enemy positions. staff sergeant felix m. conde-falcon of the 82nd airborne division lead his platoon on an assault, on any command post and personally eliminated for bunkers before he was fatally wounded. specialist durand, assaulted many enemy positions, killing four enforcing the enemies hasty withdrawal. with his unit's been down attending the risk and the platoon, fellow first soldier specialist leonard alvarado moved on to destroy multiple

enemy placements before he was struck down i enemy fire. 25th infantry division soldier specialist ardie r. copas was wounded by safeguarding the evacuation of fellow soldiers during an attack by superior forces in cambodia. while administering first aid to specialist santiago j. erevia of the 101st airborne division came under heavy fire and took immediate action to silence for any bunkers and their occupants, preventing his company from being overrun. staff sergeant melvin morris of the fifth special forces group acted decisively during a fierce enemy attack to retrieve the body of his team commander, and other wounded soldiers, and launch a counter attack that destroyed for any bunkers. and as a company commander in the fifth special forces group,

sergeant first class jose rodela advanced alone under enemy fire to destroy an enemy position and reorganize a companies defensive perimeter preventing the enemy from overrunning the battalion. every one of the stories i outlined is awe-inspiring. taken together, the actions of the 21st soldiers are an incredible illustration of the competence, commitment and character resident in our soldiers come in our veterans, and in our army. in closing, let us pause to remember the sacrifices of every soldier who gave their last full measure on a distant battlefield. sergeant first class retired melvin morris reminds us it is those who are not even here to receive the medal, those are my heroes. they gave their life.

they gave everything. they gave it all. we are a nation that stands for liberty and freedom. and we believe that all should be given the opportunity to fulfill their dreams. we have taken too long to recognize these men, but they represent the sole and fabric of this great nation, for which they so nobly served. we not only honor their courage and service, but we recognize their everlasting impact that they have had on this great nation. the strength of our nation is our army, the strength of our army is our soldiers. the strength of our soldiers is our families, and that's what makes us army strong. thank you very much applau. [applause] >> secretary hagel, secretary

mchugh and sergeant major of the army chandler will now join general odierno on the stage for the induction ceremony. secretary hagel will present the medal of honor flag to medal of honor recipients from the vietnam conflict. they would then be inducted into the hall of heroes. on 23 october, 2002, public law 107 pashtu for a section 8143, established the medal of honor flag to recognize servicemembers who have distinguished themselves by gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty. the medal of honor by commemorates the sacrifice and blood shed for our freedom, and gives emphasis to the medal of honor being the highest award for valor by an individual serving in the armed forces of the united states. the light blue color with gold fringe bearing 13 white stars are adapted from the medal of honor written.

-- ribbon. specialist for, santiago j. erevia. the president of the united states of america authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to specialist 4 santiago j. erevia, united states army for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. specialist santiago j. erevia dissensions up on 21 may 1969 while serving as a radio telephone operator in company see, first battalion air mobile 501st infantry, 101st airborne division, airmobile, doing a search and clear mission near -- in the republic of vietnam. through his heroic actions the lives of the wounded were saved and the members of the company

command post for relief from a very precarious situation. his exemplary performance in the face of overwhelming danger was an inspiration to his entire company, and contributed immeasurably to the excess of the nation. specialist 4 santiago j. erevia gallantry extraordinary heroism and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty, or in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his you know, and the united states army. [applause] >> staff sergeant melvin morris.

the president of the united states of america authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1863 has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to staff sergeant melvin morris, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty. staff sergeant melvin morris distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as commander of a strike force drawn from company delta, special forces group, airborne, first special forces during combat operations against an armed enemy in the vicinity of the republic of vietnam in september 17, 1969. on that afternoon, staff sergeant melvin morris's affiliated company encountered an extensive enemy minefield and for subsequent engaged by a hostile force.

staff sergeant melvin morris learned by reader that a fellow team commander had been killed near in the bunker and he reorganize his men into an effective assault posture before dancing forward and splitting off with two men to recover the team commander's body. observing the maneuver, a hostile force consecrate its fire on staff sergeant melvin morris' three-man element and successfully wounded both men accompanying him. after assisting the two wanted men, back to us forces line, staff sergeant melvin morris charged forward into withering enemy fire with the is meant suppressive fire as cover. while enemy machine gun in place and continually directed fuselage against a staff sergeant morts destroyed the position with hand grenades and continued his assault alternately eliminating for bunkers, upon reaching the bunker nears the committee, sergeant sergeant morris repulsed the enemy, retrieved his comment and began the arduous trek back different headlines. he was wounded three times as he struggled forward but ultimately succeeded in returning his fallen comrades to a friendly

position. staff sergeant morris' extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his you know, and the united states army. [applause] >> sergeant first class jose rodela. the president of the united states of american authorized by

act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to sergeant first class jose rodela, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. ..

>> repeatedly exposing himself to enemy fire, sergeant first class rodela moved from position to position providing suppressing tire and assisting wounded and was himself wounded in the back and head by a b-40 rocket while recovering a wounded comrade. alone, sergeant first class rodela successfully returned to the battalion's perimeter. his extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause]

>> ms. lenora alvarado accepting on behalf of her father, specialist iv, leonard l. alvarado. >> the president of the united states of america authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to special i.c.e. iv -- specialist iv leonard l. alvarado. specialist iv leonard l. alvarado distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rifleman with company delta, second battalion, 12th cavalry, first cavalry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on august 12, 1969.

on that day as specialist iv alvarado and a small reaction force moved enroute to a beleaguered, friendly platoon. alvarado detected enemy movement and opened fire. despite his quick reaction, potentialist iv alvarado and his comrades were soon pinned down by the hostile force that blocked the path to the trapped platoon. specialist alvarado quickly moved forward through the hostile fire in order to engage enemy troops. suddenly, an enemy exploded nearby wounding and momentarily stunning him. he killed the grenadier just as another enemy barrage wound him again. specialist iv alvarado crawled forward to pull several comrades within the hastily-formed perimeter. realizing his element needed to break away from the hostile force, special u.s. iv alvarado began maneuvering forward alone,

repeatedly thrown the ground by exploding charges, he continued advancing and firing, silencing several 'em placements including one enemy machine gun position. he persistently laid suppressive fire on hostile forces, and after the enemy troops had brocken contact can, his comrades discovered he had succumbed to his wounds. his selflessness at the cost of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] >> mr. richard condi accepting on behalf of his father, staff

sergeant felix m. condi falcone. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to staff sergeant felix m. condi falcone, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. staff sergeant felix m. condi falcone distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an acting platoon leader in company delta, first battalion, 505th infantry during combat operations against an armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on april 4, 1969. while entering a heavily-wooded

section on the route of advance, staff sergeant condi falcone and his company encountered an extensive enemy complex. following tactical artillery and airstrikes on the heavily-secured enemy position, the staff sergeant's platoon was selected to assault and clear the bunker fortifications. moving out ahead of his platoon, staff sergeant condi falcone charged the first bunker, heaving grenades as he went. he crawled to the blind side of an entrenchment position, jumped to the roof and tossed a grenade into the bunker aperture. without hesitating, he proceeded to two additional bunkers, both of which he destroyed in the same manner as the first. rejoining his platoon, staff sergeant condi falcone advanced about 100 meters through the trees before coming under intense hostile fire. he maneuvered toward the enemy's flank position, carrying a

machine gun he single-handedly assaulted the nearest entrenchment. after returning with his empty weapon and taking up an m-16 rifle, he concentrated on the next bunker. within 10 meters of his goal, he was shot by an unseen assailant and soon died of his wounds. staff sergeant condi falcone's own heroism are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] mr. shah rell john coe

diskeeping on behalf of her father, artie r.copis. >> the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to specialist iv artie r.copis, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. specialist iv artie r. copis distinguished himselfs by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a machine gunner in company charlie, first battalion, mechanic niced fifth infantry regiment, 25th infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy near cambodia on may 12, 1970.

that morning, specialist iv's company was suddenly attacked by a large hostile force fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. as he began returning fire, his armored car was struck by a recoilless round knocking him to ground and injuring four american soldiers beside the vehicle. ignoring his own wounds, specialist iv copis quickly commented firing his machine gun at the belligerents. braving the hostile fire and the possible detonation of mortar rounds, he maintained a heavy volume of suppressive fire on the foe while the wounded americans were safely evacuated. undaunted, specialist iv copis continued to place devastating volleys of tour upon the add very tear until he was mortally wounded when another enemy round hit his vehicle. his daring action resulted in

the safe evacuation of his come raids. specialist ivcopi access extraordinary heroism at the cost of his own life are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. prison. [applause] >> ms. tina duran -- [inaudible] accepting on behalf of her father, specialist iv jesus s. durant.

the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress, march 3, 1863, has abarded this the name of congress -- awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to jesus s. you are the ran for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. specialist iv jesus you are the ran distinguished himself above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an acting m-60 machine gunner in company e, second battalion, fifth cavalry air mobile during combat options against an armeddenmy in the republic of vietnam on april 10, 1969. that afternoon the reconnaissance platoon was moving into an elaborate enemy bunker complex when the lead elements began talking concentrated ambush fire from

every side. the command post was in imminent danger of being overrun. with an m-60 machine gun blazing from his hip, he pushed forward and assumed a defensive position near the command post. as hostile forces stormed forward, specialist iv duran stood tall in a cloud of dust raised by the impacting rounds and bursting grenades directed toward him and thwarted the enemy with devastating streams of machine gunfire. learning that two seriously-wounded troopers lay pinned down, specialist iv duran assaulted the suppressive enemy positions, mounting a log he fired directly into the enemy's fox holes eliminating four and cutting down several others as they fled. specialist iv duran then continued to pour fires on the fleeing enemy. his extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are this keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon

himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] command sergeant major michael grinston accepting on behalf of sergeant candelario garcia. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to sergeant candelario garcia, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. sergeant gasser ya -- garcia distinguished himself by act of gallantry above and beyond the

call of duty while serving as an acting team leader for company bravo, first battalion, second infantry, first brigade, first infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in the republic of vietnam on december 8, 1968. on that day while conducting reconnaissance, sergeant garcia and his platoon discovered communication wire and is other signs of an enemy base leading into a densely-vegetated area. as the men advanced, they came under spence fire. several men were hit and trapped this the open. ignoring a hail of hostile bullets, sergeant garcia crawled to within 10 meters of a machine gun bunker, leaped to his feet and ran directly at the fortification, touring his rifle as he charged. sergeant garcia jammed two hand grenades into the gun port and then placed the muzzle of his weapon inside killing all four occupants. continuing to expose himself to intense enemy fire, sergeant garcia raced 15 meters to

another bunker and killed its three defenders with hand grenades and rifle fire. after again braving the enemy's barrage in order to rescue two casualty, he joined his company in an assault which overran the remaining enemy positions. sergeant garcia's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service. and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. ms. . [applause] >> the vietnam conflict plaque will now be unveiled, inducting specialist iv -- [inaudible] staff sergeant morse, sergeant first class rodela, specialist iv alvarado, of staff sergeant condi falcone, specialist iv

copis, specialist iv duran and sergeant garcia into the hall of heroes. [applause] >> secretary mchugh will present the medal of honor flag to medal of honor recipients from the korean conflict. they will then be inducted into the hall of heroes. >> charles balded that doe, accepting on behalf of his brother, corporal joe r.baldonado.

the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the pedal of honor to corporal joe r.baldonado, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty. corporal baldonado distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an active ma coon gutter in third squad, 187th airborne infantry regiment against an armed enemy in korea on november 25, 1950. on that morning the enemy launched a strong attack in an effort to seize the hill occupied by corporal baldonado and his company. the platoon had expended most of its ammunition, and the platoon

leader decided to commit his third squad with a supply of ammunition in the defensive action. since there was no time to dig in because of the proximity of the enemy who had advanced to within 25 yards of the platoon position, the corporal 'em placed his weapon in an exposed position and delivered a withering stream of fire on the advancing enemy causing them to fall back in disorder. the enemy then concentrated all their fire on the corporal's gun and attempted to knock it out by rushing the position in small groups and hurling hand grenades. finish several times grenades exploded extremely close to the corporal but failed to interrupt his continuous firing. the hostile troops made repeated attempts to storm his position and were driven back each time with appalling casualties. the enemy finally withdrew after making a final assault on corporal baldofado's position which killed him instantly. his extraordinary heroism above

and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] >> mr. tyrone espinosa accepting on behalf of his father, corporal victor h. espinosa. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to corporal victor h. espinosa, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry and intre bidty at the risk of his life bo

and beyond the call of duty. corporal espinosa distinguished himself above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an acting rifleman in company alpha, 23rd infantry regiment, second infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in korea on august 1, 1952. on that day corporal espinosa and his unit were responsible for securing and holding a vital enemy hill. as the friendly unit neared its objective, it was subjected to a devastating volume of enemy fire, slowing its progress. corporal espy pose saw, unhesitatingly and being fully aware of the hazards involved, left his place of comparative safety and made a deliberate, one-man assault on the enemy with his rifle and grenades, destroying a machine gun and killing its crew. corporal espinosa continued across the fire-swept terrain to an exposed vantage point where

he attacked an enemy mortar position and two bunkers with grenades and rifle fire, knocking out the mortar position and destroying both bunkers and killing their occupants. upon reaching the crest and after running out of rifle ammunition, he called for more grenades. a comrade who was behind him threw some chinese grenades to him. immediately upon catching him, he pulled pins and hurled them into the occupied trenches, killing and wounding more of the enemy where with their own weapons. continuing through a tunnel, corporal espy pose saw made a daring charge, inflicting at least seven more casualties upon the enemy who were fast retreating into the tunnel. corporal espinosa was quickly in pursuit, but the hostile fire prevented him from overtaking the enemy. as a result, he destroyed the tunnel with tnt, called for more grenades from his company and hurled them at the enemy troops until they were out of reachment corporal espinosa's incredible

display of valor secured the vital strong point and took a heavy toll on the enemy, resulting in at least 14 dead and 11 wounded. corporal espinosa's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] >> mr. pete correll accepting on behalf of his uncle, sergeant eduardo c. gomez. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to sergeant eduardo c. gomez,

united states army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepty at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. sergeant eduardo c. gomez distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty why serving with company i, 8th cavalry regiment, first cavalry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in korea on september 3, 1950. that afternoon while conducting combat patrol, sergeant gomez's company was ruthlessly attacked by a hostile force which moved within 75 yards of the command post before it was immobilized by rocket fire. however, anenmy tank and pulse billion machine guns continued to rake the company perimeter with devastating fire. realizing the tank posed a serious threat, sergeant gomez voluntarily crawled 30 yards across an open rice field, vulnerable to enemy observation and fire, boarded the tank,

pried open one of the hatches on the turret and dropped an activated grenade into the hull, killing the crew. wounded in the left side while returning to his position, sergeant gomez refused evacuation, observing that the tripod of a machine gun was rendered inoperable by enemy fire, he cradled the instrument this his arms and assaulted the force with withering fire. alto his weapon overheated and burned his hands, sergeant gomez maintained his stand and upon orders to withdraw had the face of overwhelming enemy superiority, remained to provide protective fire. sergeant gomez continued to pour fire into the enemy rank, exacting a heavy toll and repardonning their -- retarding their advance. sergeant gomez would not consent to leave for medical attention before the company established new defensive positions. his extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are this keeping with the highest

traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, husband unit and the united states -- his unit and the united states army. [applause] >> ms. lori wenger accepting on behalf of her uncle, private fist class leonard m. kravitz. in the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to private first class leonard m. kravitz, united states army, for conspicuous to gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. private first class leonard m. kravitz distinguished himself by act of call the an try above and

beyond the call of duty while serving as an assistant machine gunner with company m, fifth infanty regiment, 24th infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in korea on march 6 and 7th, 1951. after friendly elements had repulsed two probing attacks, the enemy launched a bonsai charge with heavy supporting fire, and despite staggering losses, pressed the assault with ruthless determination. when the machine gunner was wounded in the initial phase of the action, private first class kravitz immediately seized the weapon and poured devastating fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants. the enemy affected and exploited a breach on the left flank, rendering the friendly positions untenable. upon order to withdraw, private first class kravitz voluntarily remained to provide protective fire for the retiring elements. detectingenmy troops moving

towards friendly positions, private first class kravitz swept the soldiers with deadly accurate fire, killing the entire group. his destructive retaliation caused the enemy to concentrate vicious fire on his position and enabled the friendly elements to withdraw. later after friendly trooped had returned, private first class kravitz was found dead behind the gun he had so heroically manned surrounded by pneumonia process enemy dead can. his extraordinary heroism and selflessness at the cost of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause] >> ms. iris k grown. accepting on behalf of her father, master sergeant juan e.

mcgrown. the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to master sergeant juan e. mcgrown, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. master sergeant juan e. mcgrown distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of tooth while serving as a member of company l, 65th infantry regiment, third infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy this korea on april 28, 1951. that afternoon master sergeant mcgrown took up the most vulnerable position on his company's exposed right flank.

after an enemy force had overrun a section of the line. when notified that elements of his company were withdrawing, master sergeant mcgrown refused to leaf his exposed position, instead delivering withering fire at hostile troops who had broken through a roadblock. when the troops approached his position, master sergeant mcgrown accurately hurled hand grenades at short range halting their attack. he held the position throughout the night while friendly forces organized ask launched a counterattack. the next morning after the enemy had been repulsed, friendly forces relieved master sergeant mcgrown and found the bodies of 15 enemy soldiers surrounding his position. master sergeant mcgrown's extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the united states army. [applause]

>> michael david pena, accepting on behalf of his father, master sergeant mike c. peña. >> the president of the united states of america, authorized by act of congress march 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of congress the medal of honor to master sergeant mike c. peña, united states army, for conspicuous gallantry and entry bidty at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. master sergeant mike c. peña distinguished himselfs by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a member of company f, fifth ca