Students in the Leadership Officer Training Corps class at Metzger Middle School in the Judson Independent School District have spent this year learning about the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for “military valor in action.”
A curriculum created by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society has guided students through lessons about character traits shared by those who received the honor, like bravery, courage, sacrifice and integrity.
After watching videos and having discussions about the recipients of the honor, students are now preparing to meet some of the few living honorees.
Of the roughly 40 million men and women who served in the armed forces since the Civil War, only 3,519 have received the medal and only 62 are alive today, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Some Metzger students have spent time drawing the characteristic star shaped medallion, while others have prepared to sing the national anthem or play instruments when two recipients of the honor visit the school next week.
“My students look at me and are almost speechless that these gentlemen are coming,” said Christopher Taffoya, who teaches the LOTC class. “They are trying to comprehend how it could be humanly possible to do what they did.”
He is referring to the harrowing tales, recounted in videos and written narratives, of what seemed like unsurvivable gunfights and battles, won by the courageous actions of David G. Bellavia, the first living recipient to earn the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Iraq War and Vietnam War veteran Jay Vargas, who is featured throughout a character development curriculum the students have been using this year.
Ten schools across the city, spanning eight districts, will have visits from Medal of Honor recipients this week — part of a citywide Congressional Medal of Honor Society Convention and Celebration.
As a veteran himself, Taffoya said at a luncheon at the Witte Monday that the kindness and integrity of Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Davis, who he met when he was serving at 19, helped shape his life and career.
“Seeing his character affected my whole career,” he said. “Fast forward to now, I’m a teacher, and now I get to share his story with many others, to my students, and it’s amazing because they’re learning character by example.”
At Harlandale Independent School District, JROTC cadets and U.S. History students from three high schools will get the chance to hear from Flo Groberg, who received the Medal of Honor in 2015 after pushing a suicide bomber away from fellow soldiers while serving in Afghanistan in 2012. As a result of the blast he sustained severe damage to his leg as well as significant nerve damage, a blown eardrum and a mild traumatic brain injury.
During a ceremony last week, Harlandale ISD unveiled a plaque at the high school commemorating the bravery of Milton A. Lee, a 1967 graduate who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions during the Vietnam War.
As memorialized on the plaque, Lee was acting as a radio telephone operator during an intense gunfight, where he rendered lifesaving aid.
In a subsequent battle, he spotted an upcoming ambush by four enemy soldiers.
Handing his radio off to a fellow soldier, he charged the location “with utter disregard for his own personal safety,” killing the soldiers lying in wait and continuing a “one-man assault” on a second enemy position, facing a barrage of bullets. After that position was overrun, he succumbed to his wounds.
His grandmother accepted the award for him posthumously at the White House from President Richard Nixon in 1970.
The entire senior class at Southwest Legacy High School will be joined by JROTC cadets and Resnik Middle School students to hear from Vietnam War Veteran Jim McCloughan on Wednesday. Students at SWISD schools started using the curriculum for the first time this year, according to a spokeswoman.
Medal of Honor recipients will also visit two middle schools in the region’s largest school district, Northside ISD.
According to district spokesman Barry Perez, the district is not implementing the curriculum, but “did use some of the [Congressional Medal of Honor] videos for campuses to utilize prior to the upcoming visits.”
Employees from at least 30 other schools in the region participated in an educators workshop for the character development program in July, according to the society.
The course uses stories of Medal of Honor recipients and citizen heroes to teach “students to show respect for others and in doing so make their schools and communities better places to learn and live.”
With the local visits, the society hopes to encourage more schools to adopt the curriculum, which comes with continued support and professional development.
Cathy Metcalf, the senior director of education for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, said during the luncheon Monday that schools across the country have implemented lessons from the curriculum in different ways.
One kindergarten class, for example, uses the values as a tool for classroom management by putting them on the wall, so that when a student embodies one of the values, they can place a sticker under it on the wall.
“So it becomes part of their school character and their school culture,” she said. “We have other schools that may only have the opportunity to use this program on national holidays, and while we would love to see you use it every day, that’s a start.”
Taffoya said the curriculum fits in with the overall goals of his class, which is a precursor for many students looking to enter JROTC, a high school character development and citizenship program for youth funded by the U.S. Army.
In addition to the Medal of Honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society presents Citizen Honor Awards for ordinary U.S. Citizens that demonstrate Medal of Honor Values, another facet students have been learning about, Taffoya said.
He pointed students to Virgil Smith, a 13-year-old from Hitchcock, Texas, who earned the distinction in 2018 for saving 17 neighbors during Hurricane Harvey with the help of an air mattress.
“He isn’t much older than some of these kids,” he said. “It is really cool that these kids can see a real demonstration of character in action.”
In addition to school visits, Medal of Honor recipients will be visiting military hospitals and related organizations to show support for veterans.
Other events related to the convention and celebration include a gala where the society will present four distinguished awards and a night of charrería , a forerunner to the American Rodeo, for Medal of Honor recipients and their families.
