By CHRIS VAUGHN
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

FORT WORTH -- Sgt. Steve Nussbaumer died the 25th of August, 1968, trying to shelter a wounded man in a fierce firefight south of Da Nang.

Richard Lawrence, then a lieutenant colonel, had no doubt that Nussbaumer deserved the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor.

Nussbaumer, a 21-year-old medic who had dreams of becoming a doctor, ran into a withering field of fire three times to retrieve the wounded. On the last trip, his body sheltering a wounded soldier, a bullet went through his head.

The men of Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry saw what happened and exploded in anger, charging into the open and overrunning elements of the North Vietnamese division.

But Nussbaumer didn't receive the Medal of Honor. It was turned down by Army headquarters in Vietnam, which downgraded the award to the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest decoration.

"I was really upset about that," said Lawrence, a retired three-star general who lives in Austin. "Maybe we didn't write it well enough. You really are punching air when you analyze these things. It's very esoteric."

The military honors few with the Medal of Honor. Only 3,459 have been awarded since its beginnings during the Civil War.

Since then, it's gotten tougher to earn one -- only 24 percent of the total have been awarded since World War II.

But some observers of the military contend it's gotten too tough. Two Medals of Honor have been awarded for combat in Iraq, a war that has lasted almost four years and involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen.

The most recent was bestowed posthumously on Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham on Thursday.

That is the exact number -- two -- that came out of the humanitarian operation-turned-firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.

Joseph A. Kinney, a Marine who served in Vietnam, has waged a campaign in recent months against what he believes is a military that is downgrading too many Medal of Honor nominations for reasons that escape him.

"I'm not an unreasonable person, but when I look at these cases, I think, 'My God, what do you have to do to earn the Medal of Honor?' " Kinney said.

'A tough judgment call'

The Defense Department, responding to questions from members of Congress about the consistency and equality of the awards process, is reviewing how each service interprets the criteria for medals of valor. Changes are expected in the coming months.

But military officials, in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee in December, defended their systems.

"This is a weighty responsibility, but valor and heroism are subjective concepts, and the circumstances under which they might manifest themselves on the battlefield are infinite," said Michael Dominguez, deputy undersecretary of defense.

"Each demonstration of valor on the battlefield is unique, and determining what award is called for in recognition of a specific act under a specific and unique set of circumstances is, and always will be, a tough judgment call."

Medals matter, both because troops need to feel their sacrifices and actions will be honored and because the valorous medals add esprit de corps and a fighting tradition to units.

Complaints about who receives recognition and for what have been around for decades, probably centuries. During World War II, some "ground pounders" complained about how often air crews received medals.

And in every war, people have grumbled that some units receive awards for merely showing up, while others -- commanded by different men with different priorities -- received no recognition.

In other words, it's a subjective business.

Michael E. Thornton received a Medal of Honor for his actions as a Navy SEAL in 1972 in Vietnam. But even today, he said, he is unsure why he was selected.

"Why I was chosen, I don't know," said Thornton, who lives in Houston. "I don't feel I deserve my medal. I got a Silver Star for doing almost the same thing in a different incident. It's a hard thing to understand. But the system is set up and it's been that way a long time, and it's not my place to question it."

Last month's House Armed Services Committee hearing was the most visible surfacing of an issue that had been percolating within the services for several months.

The Army Times newspaper ran a cover story in September with the headline "Soldiers Shortchanged, Why is the Army holding back on top awards?" and Web sites and forums popular with soldiers have discussed the issue.

Kinney's interest in the issue was piqued after he heard about the actions of then-Lt. Brian Chontosh, who received the Navy Cross for actions during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Chontosh's Marine platoon moved into an ambush and was caught in a "kill zone." Chontosh ordered his driver to drive into an enemy trench, where he got out of the Humvee with his M-16 rifle and 9 mm handgun and began attacking.

He ran out of ammunition and twice picked up AK-47s to continue the attack. He also used an enemy rocket launcher on the enemy. When he was done, he had cleared 200 meters of the trench, killed more than 20 and wounded many more.

"I was pissed," Kinney said after reading about it. "He deserves the Medal of Honor. How could they give him anything less?"

After writing several op-ed pieces for newspapers, he was asked to testify before the House committee last December. He spoke first, ahead of the generals.

Kinney suspects that the service leaders, or their civilian leaders, are discouraging the awarding of the Medal of Honor and that, even when they do, it takes far too long.

He regards the 30 months it took to honor Dunham with the Medal of Honor as "ridiculous" and "unbelievably inefficient."

"When I was a Marine, I loved to see guys get a Medal of Honor," he said. "It made me proud to see that. We need these guys."

Different type of warfare

Outside of the two Medals of Honor -- the first to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith -- the Army has awarded four Distinguished Service Crosses for action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Marines have awarded 14 Navy Crosses and the Navy six more, which is the equivalent medal. The Air Force has awarded two Air Force Crosses.

Some have suggested that the services are not awarding many top medals because of the nature of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- an elusive counterinsurgency that prefers sniping and roadside bombs to sustained fights.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Willard Latham, who saw combat in Korea and Vietnam and now lives in Arlington, agreed that the intensity and duration of combat is not comparable to most past wars.

"For the guys in Iraq, where they have to go on combat patrols every day, every one of them is a blood pressure-raising event if you're looking for the road to blow up under your feet," Latham said. "But it is not much like a pitched battle.

"In Korea and to some extent in Vietnam, we would have turnover in an infantry company of 200 percent because of the wounded and killed," he said. "I don't think that's happening in Iraq or Afghanistan."

Latham and Lawrence both said the writing of a nomination is probably the most important factor in determining the medal.

"You've got to have an artful writer," Lawrence said. "When I nominated [Nussbaumer], it was written at the squadron level. But we were fighting and conducting combat operations daily. You can't just go have a drink on the beach overlooking the ocean and write a beautiful short story. It needs an orchestrated look, but when you're in combat, it's not always easy to do."

Every commander has the duty and responsibility to make sure his troops are recognized for their actions, Latham said.

But in the end, valor is deeply subjective. Sometimes, maybe a lot of the time, good soldiers are never recognized.

Latham especially remembers one of his men, Capt. Warren Goss, a young company commander who was finishing up his tour in Vietnam. Latham flew in with Goss' replacement and told him to board the helicopter and head out.

But the unit was trying to finish an operation and Goss wouldn't leave his men until all was safe.

He died that day when a Vietnamese soldier popped out of a spider hole and shot him.

"Was that loyalty? Dedication? Bravery? Heroism?" Latham said. "All of the above."

But Goss received no medal for his action that day.

RECEIVING THE HONOR

Awarded to "a person who, while a member of the Armed Services, distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life."

Two living people must witness the act. The requirements were made more stringent after the Civil War.

IN THE KNOW

Medals of Honor

The military has awarded 3,459 Medals of Honor. Only 111 recipients are living.

The following men with Tarrant County ties have received the medal:

Army Air Forces Maj. Horace Carswell of Fort Worth, piloting a B-24 bomber on Oct. 26, 1944, in the South China Sea, recovered control of his aircraft after it sustained heavy damage in a bombing run on Japanese ships. He ordered the crew to bail out and attempted a crash landing in China. Awarded posthumously.

Army Lt. James L. Stone, holding a vital position in Korea on Nov. 21 and 22, 1951, directed his men in an attempt to thwart overwhelming Chinese forces. Wounded twice and continually exposed to enemy fire, he urged his men on until he lost consciousness. He was captured and became a prisoner of war. Currently lives in Arlington.

Marine Lt. George H. O'Brien Jr., a Fort Worth native, led an attack on a Chinese-held hill on Oct. 27, 1952, and was repeatedly wounded. He refused to be evacuated and continued to direct the attack in savage hand-to-hand combat. He died in 2005 at his home in Midland.

Army Cpl. Charles F. Pendleton of Fort Worth almost single-handedly repulsed one attack by Chinese forces on July 16 and 17, 1953, in Korea. As the assault commenced again, he was wounded but continued fighting until killed by a mortar blast. Awarded posthumously.

Army Spc. 4 Robert D. Law, a Fort Worth native, threw himself on a grenade to save the lives of five other Army Rangers involved in a battle on Feb. 22, 1969, in Vietnam. Awarded posthumously.

SOURCE: www.cmohs.com, the Web site for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Chris Vaughn, 817-390-7547 cvaughn@star-telegram.com