A group photo of Young’s Scouts in the Philippines in 1899. Twenty-one members of the elite unit were approved by President Theodore Roosevelt for the Medal of Honor for their actions during the conflict known as the Philippine Insurrection. (Photo courtesy of Michael Eberhardt.)
Two soldiers will posthumously receive Medals of Honor for their combat heroics in the Philippines in 1899 that they never got because of a mix up with their mailing addresses, the Army said Thursday.
“It is a great honor to be able to correct a longstanding administrative error that prevented Pvt. McIntyre and Pvt. Harris from receiving the Medals of Honor that they both earned,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a statement. “The Army takes seriously its commitment to honoring its heroes, past and present, and this presentation is one more way in which we can fulfill that commitment.”
Mary Constance Schrephferman, granddaughter of Pvt. William Simon Harris, and Inez Larson, granddaughter of Pvt. James McIntyre, received the news Wednesday night from Wormuth, who was delegated the medal presentation by President Joe Biden.
Larson said she only knew of her grandfather’s service in the military through letters McIntyre wrote to her grandmother before they were married.
“Our family did not know much about him due to losing him while his children were so young,” she said. “Finding out about the Medal of Honor and the battles has made him a real person in all our lives, including my own grandchildren. We’re flabbergasted at the strength and fortitude these men must have had.”
Schrephferman said she was grateful for Wormuth’s dedication to see this effort through to the end and for the call Wednesday. However, it was a bittersweet moment because her grandfather and so many who loved him will never know the recognition he earned. Her nephew Joe Harris, who worked to gather paperwork for the award, died and will never know his effort paid off.
“The Harris family is very happy and relieved that our grandfather’s Medal of Honor will finally be with his family, where it belongs,” Schrephferman said.
The families began requesting the Army release the medals nearly two years ago after a historian uncovered the circumstances of the medals being approved but never presented. During that time, Army Human Resources Command had to verify the paperwork and then the Army had to seek authorization from the White House to present the medals, since neither family wanted a formal ceremony in Washington.
Harris and McIntyre were approved for the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military award for combat heroics — in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt along with 21 other members of small outfit known as “Young’s Scouts,” a group sent out on dangerous assignments in the Philippines in 1899 during the Philippine Insurrection, said Michael Eberhardt, a Medal of Honor researcher and author. The insurrection followed the U.S. taking control of the Philippines from Spain during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Pvt. William Simon Harris during his Army service in the Philippines in 1899. ( Photo courtesy of Michael Eberhardt)
“For me as the researcher who discovered the relevant documents and their significance over two years ago, the Medal of Honor awards validate the belief that a persistent use of facts can ultimately persuade the federal government to correct a terrible injustice — no matter how old,” Eberhardt said.
There is no other known instance of a service member being approved by the president for the Medal of Honor, yet not receiving it, said Gayle Alvarez, president of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States.
The elite group of scouts earned recognition for two battles in May 1899 — one in San Miguel and the other in San Isidro, according to Eberhardt’s book, “The Medal of Honor: Its Dark Sides.”
In each battle, the group of up to 25 scouts was outnumbered by hundreds but managed to complete their missions successfully. In San Isidro, the men recaptured control of a bridge.
Thirteen of the 21 men who were still alive in 1906 received their medals, Eberhardt said. It was policy at the time for the Army not to issue the Medal of Honor to a deceased soldier, so six men did not get the award. However, Harris and McIntyre were still living when Roosevelt approved the awards but never got the medals, he said.
Somehow, the letters mailed to the soldiers informing them of the awards were returned to the Army and no further effort was made to locate them, despite both received a veteran’s pension and did short stays in U.S. soldiers’ homes, Eberhardt said.
After discovering the oversight while researching his book, Eberhardt reached out to the Harris and McIntyre families to see whether they were interested in trying to claim the medals from the Army. Larson and Schrephferman agreed.
Wormuth’s office is working with Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and newly elected Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, formerly a Republican senator from the state, to present the medals to the families in their home states. During the past year, Barrasso, representing the McIntyre family, and Braun on behalf of the Harris family sent letters to the Pentagon and advocated for the Army to award the medals.
“Military is pretty important in our family,” said Ericka Cooper, Larson’s daughter. Her father served in the military, as did her sons’ father.
“I’m just trying to imagine, with the weapons they had back then and the methods of fighting, which is so different from what we have today. It is truly awesome to know that I’m related to someone like that,” she said.
