Awards

President Harry S. Truman (left) presents a Gold Star to Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy (right) in lieu of a second Distinguished Service Medal. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol 2.

President Harry S. Truman (left) awards a medal to one of fifty four men and women who served more than two years without pay in the Selective Service System. The man on the right is unidentified. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol 2.

President Harry S. Truman (left) presents Commander Joseph T. O'Callahan (right) with the Congressional Medal of Honor. O'Callahan, a Catholic chaplain, risked his life to administer last rites to the dying on board the USS Franklin. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol 2.

President Harry S. Truman (second from right) awards Medals of Merit to Colonel John M. Johnson (left), John S. Pelley (second from left), and J. Edgar Hoover (right). From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol 2.

Admiral Ernest Joseph King (right) receives his third Distinguished Service Medal from President Harry S. Truman (left). From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol. 1.

President Harry S. Truman presents six Congressional Medals of Honor. From left to right in the front are Private First Class Mike Colalillo, Captain Robert Hugo Dunlap, Lieutenant Richard Miles McCool, President Truman, Sergeant Vernon McGarity, Lieutenant Frank Burke, and Master Sergeant Vito R. Bertoldo. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol. 1.

High British Officers of wartime British Joint Staff Mission receive medals from President Harry S. Truman (center in civilian dress). From left to right in the front are Marshal Douglas Colyer, General Sir Gordon N. Macready, President Truman, Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville. From left to right in the second row are Admiral Williams D. Leahy, Admiral Ernest J. King, General George C. Marshall, General Thomas Handy, and General Ira Eaker.

President Harry S. Truman (center) presents the National Geographic Society Medal to General Henry H. Arnold (left). Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor (right), President of the National Geographic Society, looks on. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol. 1.

President Harry S. Truman (left) shakes hands with General Carl A. Spaatz (right). President Truman is congratulating General Spaatz for winning the Robert J. Collier Trophy for an outstanding contribution to aviation by an American. From the scrapbooks of Matt Connelly, Vol. 1.

Members of the Military Order of the World Wars presented President Harry S. Truman with an insignia making him an Honorary Past Commander-in-Chief in the Order, as well as Life Membership certificate. President Truman was already a member of the Kansas City Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars. From left to right: Major E. Kemper Carter, Captain Arthur Brookfield, Admiral William H. Stamon, President Truman, Commander David Sholtz, General George C. Marshall, and Colonel Edwin S. Bettelheim, Jr.