This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.

To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the IHeart Radio app to Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.

In 2014, Union Artillery Officer Alonzo Cushing was posthumously awarded the Medal of

Honor. 151 years after the fact

here's Army Chaplain Major General Donald L. Rutherford to start things off with the invocation

he gave at Cushing's Hall of Heroes induction ceremony, followed by Deputy Secretary of Defense,

Bob Work.

Lord faithful God, there is glory for the brave fallen soldier.

As we honor First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing, we acknowledge that the passage of time has failed to darken the lustre of a life lived and given in service to a proud and a grateful nation.

On the fields at Gettysburg, the men he led fired the final shots that ensured both the victory in battle

and the preservation of our sacred republic.

We recognize that on the theater of combat which secures the eye and applause of history,

our comrade performed his duty, just as we his younger brothers and sisters are expected to perform ours.

Faithful unto death were the words written in stone by a proud and a grieving mother.

In truth, his death was but a beginning. Your hollow name we pray this

day. Amen. Now, an astonishing 1,522 medals of honors were awarded to those who fought in the

Civil War. But the heroic deeds of Lieutenant Cushing on that bloody day at Gettysburg were overlooked,

probably because he did not live to share his own account.

In those time, most of the wardees of the honor lived, and they were there to advocate

for their award.

...