Tulsa celebrates first Medal of Honor day

Sunday was more than just the first Medal of Honor day celebrated in Tulsa for JoAnn Schwab Berry. <br><br>Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered her older brother, Marine Pfc. Albert Schwab, as

Monday, March 25th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Sunday was more than just the first Medal of Honor day celebrated in Tulsa for JoAnn Schwab Berry.

Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered her older brother, Marine Pfc. Albert Schwab, as a natural leader and protector.

At 24, Schwab single-handledly took out two groups of Japanese machine gunners during a raid on Okinawa, Japan. He saved a whole company that day, but he lost his own life.

``I'm just so overwhelmed,'' Berry said at Schwab's graveside in Memorial Park Cemetery, where a ceremony was held. ``I'm just so proud of all his accomplishments.''

Veterans, families and friends gathered to pay tribute to Schwab, Ernest Childers and Jack Montgomery _ all recipients of the nation's most prestigious medal _ for extraordinary valor and bravery during World War II.

Monday was declared Medal of Honor Day by an act of Congress, but the Sunday tribute marked the first official celebration of it in Tulsa.

Childers and Montgomery, members of Oklahoma's famed 45th Infantry honored for their heroism during separate battles in Italy, were described by those paying tribute as ``our nation's rarest gems.''

Childers was presented with color guard, bagpipe, trumpet and rifle salutes, as well as proclamations by Gov. Frank Keating and Mayor Susan Savage.

Montgomery, who is recuperating from an illness, could not attend and was represented by his sister.

Kenneth Adams, Memorial Park Cemetery's director of family services, said he and a friend developed the idea for the tribute while discussing Schwab's story one day.

``So many people don't even know about (the Medal of Honor),'' he said. ``They think it's something you win. But it's not. It's something that the recipients have earned, often by paying for it with their own lives. They gave up everything so we could be free.''