A posthumous recognition is a ceremonial award given after the recipient has died, usually in honor of an action associated with his or her death.
Awards are normally given while the recipient is alive, but when awarded after death, the award is referred to as having been "made posthumously". Some awards are given only after the death of the recipient, and thus are by definition a posthumous recognition. Conversely, some awards, such as some Nobel Prizes, and most knighthoods, cannot be awarded posthumously.
Examples
- As part of the criteria for bestowing the Medal of Honor or the Victoria Cross, the recipient must have risked "great self-sacrifice" in an act of extraordinary heroism. As a consequence, many are awarded posthumously because the recipient was either killed outright or mortally wounded during the action for which the medal was awarded.
- Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon were the first soldiers to be awarded Medals of Honor posthumously since the Vietnam War. They received these for defending a crashed helicopter from hundreds of advancing Somalis in the Battle of Mogadishu.[1]
- Theodore Roosevelt was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2001 for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War.[2]
- Jeanne Eagels was the only actress to be nominated for an Academy Award (1929) after her death, but she did not win. James Dean was the first actor to be nominated posthumously (1955, and again in 1956). Spencer Tracy, Peter Finch, Sir Ralph Richardson, Massimo Troisi and Heath Ledger were similarly recognized. Finch and Ledger were the only people to win posthumous Academy Awards in acting categories. For full details of such nominations and awards, see List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees.
- Pelle Lindbergh (G, Philadelphia Flyers) in 1986 and Sean Taylor (FS, Washington Redskins) in 2008 were each posthumously elected to their respective All-Star Games as starters for the season during which they died. (Lindbergh to the NHL All-Star Game and Taylor to the NFL's Pro Bowl.)
- The victims of the Virginia Tech massacre were awarded posthumous degrees.[3]
- The tongue-in-cheek Darwin Award is often given as a posthumous recognition, since one of the criteria for receiving it is that the recipient must have committed an act that unintentionally led to their own removal from the human gene pool, i.e., either their own death or self-sterilization
- The Nishan-e-Haider of Pakistan is also another example of posthumous recognition, given to military personnel, who have performed acts of greatest heroism or most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger and have shown bravery of the highest order or devotion to the country, in the presence of the enemy on land, at sea or in the air.[4]
- The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, named after a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize winner, is only given posthumously, since it is awarded to military personnel, police, or civilians who were killed while participating in United Nations peacekeeping operations.[5]
- Jochen Rindt is the only Formula One champion to have been crowned posthumously, after dying towards the end of the season at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.
On April 4, 2009, Cliff Burton was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with the rest of Metallica. During the ceremony, the induction was accepted by Cliff's father, Ray Burton, who shared the stage with the band and mentioned that Cliff's mother was actually Metallica's biggest fan.
References
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