The president recognized five officers who responded to a 2023 school shooting at a private Christian school in Tennessee, and veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars.
President Biden on Friday recognized five Nashville police officers and seven U.S. Army veterans with national medals honoring their acts of bravery.
The police officers, who responded to a deadly school shooting in 2023, were among the eight recipients of the Medal of Valor, the nation’s highest award for valor by a public safety officer. The president said it was being given in recognition of the officers’ acts of selflessness in attempting to save or protect human life.
“They saved children — they saved people in serious distress,” Mr. Biden told reporters after the Oval Office ceremony, which was closed to the public. “They literally put their lives at risk — some of them at the point that you wonder how they could have had the nerve to do it.”
Later on Friday, Mr. Biden read the names of seven people receiving the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest award, and solemnly observed that he was making the announcement for a final time as commander in chief.
“These are genuine to-their-core heroes — heroes of different ranks, different positions, and even different generations, but heroes who all went above and beyond the call of duty,” he said.
Six of the men were honored posthumously, with their relatives accepting the medals on their behalf. They included five Korean War veterans — Pvt. Bruno R. Orig, Pfc. Wataru Nakamura, Cpl. Fred B. McGee, Pfc. Charles R. Johnson and Richard E. Cavazos, then a first lieutenant — and one Vietnam War veteran, Capt. Hugh R. Nelson Jr.