Writing in Standpoint, Jonathan Foreman laments the standards of British journalism compared to those in the US.

I came across a story in an English broadsheet announcing that a British Special Boat Service commando was being considered for the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration…

The defence correspondent of the British broadsheet in question had given no source for his claim. But less than five minutes research revealed that it was legally impossible for foreigners to be awarded the Medal of Honor…Nevertheless the broadsheet had reported a mere rumour as fact. Apparently it was one of those stories that are simply “too good to check.”

Really? The SBS story is – probably – this 2002 tale from the Telegraph.

AMERICA is to award the Congressional Medal of Honor, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross, to a British Special Boat Service commando who led the rescue of a CIA officer from an Afghan prison revolt.

Foreman is wrong too. Still, that’s leader writers for you.

The Medal of Honor was apparently awarded to the British Unknown Soldier in 1921 in a transfer of honours between the allies. It’s been won by over sixty Canadians, too. But, for the most part, it has to be awarded to a serving member of the US military, not a US citizen per se.

The Telegraph repeated the claim in this story in March, 2008:

The Americans had wanted to award the Medal of Honor to an SBS sergeant who led the rescue of a CIA officer following a revolt by Taliban and al-Qa’eda prisoners late that year in the Qala-i-Jangi jail in northern Afghanistan.

However, the then defence secretary Geoff Hoon vetoed the idea on the advice of commanders worried it would draw too much attention to the SBS.

Rumours, rumours eh? And who was the Medal of Honor winner who never was? The appallingly gossipy Telegraph carried his obituary back in 2006.