Private Thomas Kelly (birth date unknown) became one of about 112 American soldiers to receive a United States Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish American War, a distinction he shares with then-Lieutanant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, whose medal wasn’t awarded until 2001. On July 1st, 1898, army private Kelly assisted in rescuing the wounded while under heavy fire in Santigo, Cuba with Company H, of the 21st U.S. Infantry. Kelly served continually in the Army until his death in 1920, following service in World War I. The dedication on the back reads “The Congress to Private Thomas Kelly – Co. H 21st U.S. Infty., for gallantry in action at Santiago, Cuba, July 1, 1898.” It is not known how his medal came into private hands, but it arrived in Germany to be sold at the Munich auction house of Herman Historica on May 28th.
The sale drew the ire of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an unsuccessful attempt to halt the sale. Cruz wrote “The sale harms the dignity and honor of all recipients of the Medal of Honor. The Congress and the United States have long sought to prevent such affronts, and indeed 18 U.S. Code § 704 authorizes fines and imprisonment when those sales occur within our jurisdiction. In this context, I urgently call on you to work with the U.S.’s foreign partners, including with officials of the Federal Republic of Germany, to ensure the sale is suspended.” Similar letters were sent by others to Secretary of Defense Mike Esper, Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump.
The sale of such a medal domestically could net the seller a $100,000 fine and a year in prison. In Germany it was expected to bring about $5000, but the final price was close to $15,500 (including buyer’s premium). Bernard Pacher, managing director of Herman Historica, later wondered why Senator Cruz found the sale to be disrespectful, adding that most buyers are willing to spend for them because they hold them in high regard, and concluding that Cruz’s attempted intervention may have harmed his own cause by drawing more attention to the sale. According to Pacher, European buyers had some lower level interest in the medal, but it was Americans that drove the price up, and it eventually went to an American buyer.
To appropriately fracture a phrase, if Private Kelly was alive today, he’d be turning over in his grave.
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