Medal of Honor recipient Barney Barnum attends the 2009 USO Gala at the Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, D.C. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley)
Media coverage often notes that someone won the Congressional Medal of Honor. As Barney points out, this medal is received, not won, and it is called the Medal of Honor, not the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is given by the president or the president’s designee for valor “above and beyond the call of duty.”
Barney received this medal in 1967 from Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze for bravery and leadership during a conflict with the Vietcong in 1965. Recipients have their own flag which takes its light blue color and thirteen stars from the medal ribbon.
Harvey C. “Barney” Barnum, Jr., was born 21 July 1940, in Cheshire, Connecticut. In 1962 he received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Saint Anselm College and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. The fourth Marine during the Vietnam War to be awarded the Medal of Honor—the nation’s highest honor—he retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel in August 1989. Upon his retirement, Barney served as the Principal Director, Drug Enforcement Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Barney has attended The Basic School, U.S. Army Field Artillery School, Amphibious Warfare School, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Naval War College.
The event that Barney received the medal for occurred in Ky Phu, Quang Tin Province, Vietnam, on 18 December 1965. Barney was a first lieutenant serving as an artillery forward observer attached to Company “H” of the Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division (Reinforced). He was permanently assigned to Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), and was in Vietnam on temporary additional duty orders. Such temporary orders to Vietnam were issued to a few Marines during that period as a means to augment the combat forces, and to provide combat experience to Marines who volunteered.
Barney was in Vietnam for only two weeks when he was called upon to take command when the company commander and radio operator were both mortally wounded. Facing 10 to 1 odds, Barney led his Marines out of Ky Phu and were airlifted to safety.
Announced on 31 March 2016, Barney will have an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer named after him. See news below.
A collection of Barney’s personal papers including photographs, correspondence, and news clippings have been donated to the Saint Anselm College Archives and will now be preserved and accessible to researchers.
An exhibit featuring items from Barney's collection was on display at the Geisel Library during the fall semester of 2012.
