Editor, Gazette-Journal:
On March 25, we celebrate National Medal of Honor Day, which recognizes those who have performed “conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity” above and beyond the call of duty.
Originally created in 1862, each branch of the military has its own version of the medal. It is awarded by Congress only to military members. The first Medal of Honor was awarded in 1863 and, to date, more than 3,500 have been awarded. Of the 61 native Virginians to receive the medal, one is from Gloucester.
James Daniel Gardiner was born on Sept. 16, 1839 in Gloucester. He served during the Civil War as a private in the United States Army, Co. I, 36th Colored Infantry. He received his Medal of Honor for heroic action at the Battle of Chapin’s Farm, Virginia, on Sept. 29, 1864. Mr. Gardiner died in 1905 in Pennsylvania and is buried in Iowa. There is a memorial display to him in the Gloucester Museum of History and a monument in the Court Circle.
American Legion Post 75 and American Legi...