Park University’s George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War to Provide Update on Valor Medals Review Project

March 5, 2024 — A program that will provide an update on the Valor Medals Review Project being conducted by the George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War at Park University, will be held on Tuesday, March 26, at the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library’s Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St. The event, which will be held in the Truman Forum Auditorium and virtually via the KCPL’s YouTube channel, begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception, followed by the program from 6 to 7 p.m. The KCPL requests in-person attendees to RSVP at kclibrary.org/events/credit-where-credit-overdue-world-war-i-valor-medal-review.

The program will include a presentation by Tim Westcott, Ph.D., director of the Robb Centre, and professor of history and associate archivist at Park University, and Park student researchers Damon Grosvenor, senior history major, and Martin Roberson, junior secondary education/social science major. Anne Kniggendorf, KCPL staff writer/editor, will moderate the discussion.

As part of the VMRP, the Robb Centre is conducting a systematic review of minority veterans from World War I who, in spite of valorous deeds, may have been unjustly denied high-level valor awards due to race or religion. In particular, the research includes servicemembers who may have been worthy of a Medal of Honor, but were downgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross/Navy Cross and/or a French Croix de Guerre with Palm and/or have an archived Medal of Honor recommendation. To date, researchers have identified 214 servicemembers — 105 Jewish Americans, 73 African Americans, 24 Native Americans, 11 Hispanic Americans and one Asian American — who have qualified for review.

While minority service member records from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War have been reviewed over the years, no such review of World War I minority service members occurred until the Valor Medals Review Project was established by a resolution of the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission in June 2018 and included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020. In December 2023, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives approved an extension of the Robb Centre’s research efforts through December 31, 2028, via the 2024 NDAA which was signed into legislation by President Joe Biden.

For more information about Park University’s George S. Robb Centre for the Study of the Great War and the Valor Medals Review Project, visit gsr.park.edu.