Something in Common

Some were men in the prime of health. Others were bent with age, and several were missing arms or legs. Some swung along on crutches; others came in wheelchairs. Some were plainly prosperous, while others wore shiny blue serge or open shirt collars. But they had one thing in common: all wore blue ribbons around their necks from which hung the bronze, star-shaped Medal of Honor.

Since 1861, when President Lincoln signed a bill authorizing it, 3,156 men have won the nation's highest award for battlefield heroism. There are 293 still living--and of them, 240 last week gathered in the White House garden. The occasion was President Kennedy's annual military reception, and the President had invited the Medal of Honor winners to come half an hour before the other guests so that he would have a special chance to see and talk to them.

"Our Most Distinguished." Charles E. ("Commando") Kelly, the devil-may-care World War II hero who used 60-mm. mortar shells as hand grenades against the Germans, was there. So was Gregory ("Pappy") Boyington, the Marine ace who shot 28 Japanese planes out of the sky and destroyed another 24 on the ground. A reformed alcoholic, Boyington is now a successful public relations man in North Hollywood, Calif., but in casual clothes and bow tie he still looked like an adventurer about to sign up with the Flying Tigers. The oldest man in the garden was General Charles E. Kilbourne, 90, who won his medal in the Philippine insurrection in 1899; he climbed a telegraph pole to mend a broken line in a hail of enemy fire. The youngest was Sergeant First Class Jerry K. Crump, 30, who won the medal in Korea when he threw him self over an exploding enemy grenade to save four companions. President Kennedy honored them all as "our most distinguished American citizens."

Kennedy's week was mostly social and ceremonial. In his oval office, he chatted with the visiting Lord Mayor of Dublin about politics, the Irish Derby and his upcoming visit to Ireland. A delegation including Actress Joan Crawford, chairman of "Stars for Mental Health," presented him with a gold miniature of a bell cast from the shackles that once restrained inmates of a mental asylum.

About to set out on a tour of the U.S., Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, 67, and her son, Prince Jean, 42, arrived on the White House lawn by Marine helicopter. Sister-in-Law Eunice Shriver stood in for Jackie Kennedy as hostess in the outdoor greeting ceremony. The First Lady, advised by her doctor to stay inside when she can, peered out from an upstairs window with Caroline.

After a state dinner that Jackie attended, the Luxembourgeois got a taste of Kennedy culture -- 16th and 17th century songs performed on authentic Shakespearean instruments, and a reading of the St. Crispin's Day speech from Henry V by Basil Rathbone. Said Rathbone later: "The President likes it and knows it by heart--which scared the daylights out of me." With the royal visit nearly over, Prince Jean was notified that his wife, Princess Josephine Charlotte, had just given birth to their fifth child. At the official leavetaking, the President could not resist whispering of the birth to the prince, "It wasn't difficult for you at all, was it?"

A Special Way. The expected August addition to the White House family was much on the President's mind last week. Bestselling Baby Doctor Benjamin Spock was among the guests at dinner for the Grand Duchess. And when Kennedy stood in for Jackie as host at a brunch for congressional wives, he assured them that Jackie, too, "is engaged in increasing the gross national product in her own special way." As for Jackie, she had flown to New York, where she paid a surprise visit to the Metropolitan Opera House to see a performance by London's Royal Ballet.

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