“We didn’t do it for recognition. We did it out of duty to one another and to our country.”
Those are the humble words of Pfc. John Wardell, 99, as he and U.S. Army Ranger veterans from World War II were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on Thursday.
“To be a Ranger is to live by a code: Courage. Sacrifice. Resolve,” Wardell said. “That legacy lives on in every Ranger who follows. Our motto has stood the test of time, and it always will. Rangers lead the way!”
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Wardell, who served in E Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion, joined Sgt. Joe Drake as two of five surviving Army Rangers — among more than 6,500 who served in WWII — for a patriotic ceremony in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
“On behalf of all the Rangers, I accept this special award,” Drake, 100, said. “I’d like to thank each member of this Congress for giving me and every Ranger this extraordinary award.”
The Congressional Gold Medal, which is struck from 24-karat gold, is the highest civilian award given by Congress to people who have made a major and long-standing impact on American history and culture.
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“This band of brothers is so deserving, and this day, to be frank, is long overdue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “They formed the spearhead of American special operations in the Second World War, and today, we express our most profound gratitude for their courageous contributions with the highest honor that this body can bestow, and that is the Congressional Gold Medal.”
Today marked the 159th time that Congress has awarded the medal. Ranging from its first recipient George Washington to Robert Frost, Walt Disney, Rosa Parks and the Tuskegee Airmen, Speaker Johnson remarked the U.S. Army Rangers who served in World War II came from “every corner of American life,” from welders and waiters to factory hands and musicians.
“There were ordinary men called to extraordinary valor, who stared death in the face and by the grace of God, achieved the incredible and defended freedom,” Johnson said. “They were America’s best.”
That sentiment was bipartisan, as congressional leaders and military officials honored the Rangers.
“What the Army Rangers achieved in Normandy, they did again and again and again throughout the war, across every theater, against overwhelming odds,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “With the fate of the free world on the line, Army Rangers led the way.”
It was during the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy in France that the Rangers gained their motto.
Following the United States’ strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites last weekend and a trip with President Donald Trump to a NATO summit at The Hague earlier this week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared at the ceremony, as did Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Today we celebrate real heroes,” Hegseth said. “We point the spotlight exactly where it deserves to go.”
“It is altogether fitting and proper that we are here today honoring these two men and the other three at home, and all the Army Rangers of World War Two and all generations who’ve been willing to put it all on the line for the rest of us,” Hegseth said. “There are heroes among us, ordinary people who did extraordinary things.”
