Minority U.S. Soldiers Receive Long Awaited Medal Of Honor

On Tuesday, 24 mostly ethnic or minority U.S. soldiers who performed bravely under fire in three of the nation's wars finally received the Medal of Honor that the government concluded should have been awarded a long time ago, according to CNN.

The servicemen included Hispanics, Jews and African-Americans and were identified following a congressionally mandated review to ensure that eligible recipients of the country's highest recognition for valor were not bypassed due to prejudice, CNN reported.

Only three of the 24 were alive for President Barack Obama to drape the medals and ribbons around their necks, according to CNN.

"Today we have the chance to set the record straight," Obama said, CNN reported. "No nation is perfect, but here in America we confront our imperfections and face a sometimes painful past, including the truth that some of these soldiers fought and died for a country that did not always see them as equal."

The three surviving recipients are Vietnam veterans Jose Rodela, Melvin Morris and Santiago Erevia, according to CNN.

Rodela, now of San Antonio, was a 31-year-old company commander of a Special Forces strike group on Sept. 1, 1969, in Phuoc Long Province, Vietnam, when he and his company of Cambodian soldiers whom he had helped recruit came under fire from North Vietnamese Army troops, CNN reported. According to his Medal of Honor citation and supporting documents, the battle lasted 18 hours and 11 men in his company were killed and 33 others wounded.

In an interview with the Army News Service last December, he said simply, "We trained for this and I would have done it again," according to CNN.

Morris of Cocoa, Fla., was a staff sergeant during combat operations on Sept. 17, 1969, near Chi Lang, South Vietnam, CNN reported. According to the Pentagon, Morris led soldiers across enemy lines to retrieve his team sergeant, who had been killed. He single-handedly destroyed an enemy force hidden in bunkers that had pinned down his battalion. Morris was shot three times as he ran with American casualties.

Erevia, also of San Antonio, was cited for courage while serving as a radio-telephone operator on May 21, 1969, during a search-and-clear mission near Tam Ky, South Vietnam, CNN reported. He was a specialist 4 when his battalion tried to take a hill fortified by Viet Cong and North Vietnam Army soldiers. The Pentagon says he single-handedly silenced four Viet Cong bunkers.

As for the medal, he told the publication Soldier Live last month, "I'm only thankful I'm getting it while I'm alive," CNN reported.