2nd Lt. Lloyd H. Hughes
(Lloyd "Pete" Herbert Hughes, Jr. - 12 Jul 1921 - 1 Aug 1943)

Pete's Medal of Honor

Pete's Medal of Honor	Prior to 2006, I thought that Pete's Medal of Honor was lost. I wondered if Hazel or her family had it (which made the most sense since it was presented to her), or if one of my uncles (Pete's three surviving younger half brothers) had it, or what. All I knew was that I had never seen it. In late 2006, I found out that my uncles had recently donated it to the Refugio County Museum in Refugio, Refugio County, Texas, USA. Their reasoning was that Pete had thought of Refugio as home because he grew up there and graduated from Refugio High School. On 28 Dec 2006, I dropped in on the Refugio County Museum and explained to the lady working there who I was and why I was interested in Pete's Medal of Honor. It was in a separate room where you could see it through a glass window. The lady very kindly brought it out and let me handle and photograph it. (Photograph at left.)
Pete's "locally produced replica" Medal of Honor Pete's display with the "locally produced replica" Medal of Honor	I was a bit confused though, because I knew from surfing the Internet that there was a display in the Memorial Student Center, Texas A&M, College Station, Brazos County, Texas, USA, claiming that it had Pete's Medal of Honor. Were there two medals? Did Texas A&M University have enough political pull to request a duplicate Medal of Honor for their display? With no answers, I planned a trip to photograph whatever it was that they had. Meanwhile, I started reading various Internet forums and asking questions. When I explained about there being two medals, the first question that was fired back at me was "What was engraved on the back, if anything?" I had to answer that I didn't know and hadn't even thought to turn it over when I had it in my hands in Refugio. I vowed to go back again. On 28 May 2007, I photographed the Pete's display at the Memorial Student Center. There was an image of Pete (not a photograph) and certainly what looked like a Medal of Honor. (Photographs at left.) In fact, there were seven display cases with seven images and seven Medals of Honor. It is an awesome sight.
Pete's Medal of Honor Pete's Medal of Honor Reverse of Pete's Medal of Honor Reverse of Pete's Medal of Honor Reverse of Pete's Medal of Honor	On 9 Dec 2007, out of the blue, I got an email from James R. Woodall, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) who was the Professor of Military Science and Commandant of Cadets at Texas A&M University before he retired. He was also looking for Pete's Medal of Honor and wanted to connect with a relative of Pete's. We began our correspondence. One of my first questions for Woodall, seeing him as an inside source, was to ask him about Pete's display in the Memorial Student Center and the provenance of the medal. On 11 Dec 2007, Woodall answered my question. "The seven Medals of Honor on display in the Memorial Student Center are locally produced replicas," he wrote. I asked him why the university's Web site said they were "the" Medals of Honor and he started his campaign to get the web pages changed. It took a while. On 27 Dec 2007, I again dropped in on the Refugio County Museum and this time took photographs of both the front and the back of Pete's Medal of Honor. (Photographs at left.) The reverse is indeed engraved: The Congress To 2nd Lt. Lloyd H. Hughes Air Corps US Army Ploesti Romania 1 August 1943 Here was, at last, tangible proof that this was indeed, Pete's Medal of Honor. By 19 Feb 2008, the pages in question at Texas A&M's Web site had been changed. The wording had been changed to their "specimen medals are displayed." Thank you, Jim! On 11 Apr 2008, Pete's Medal of Honor was informally handed over from my family to Woodall for display in the Sam Houston Sanders Corps of Cadets Center at Texas A&M University. On 24 May 2008, I visited with Woodall and received an escort into the Corps of Cadets Center to see Pete's display. Excellent! On 30 Mar 2009, Pete's Medal of Honor was formally presented to the Corps of Cadets Center. See Time Line for articles.
Pete's Medal of Honor © Corps of Cadets Center 18 Sep 2009	At the left is a photograph of Pete's Medal of Honor taken by the curator at the Sam Houston Sanders Corps of Cadets Center and emailed to me on 18 Sep 2009.