Medal of Honor Day: The Youngest and Oldest Recipients Prove Valor Has No Age Limit

Every year on March 25, we mark Medal of Honor Day—a day set aside to honor those whose courage went so far beyond ordinary duty that the nation had to stop, take notice, and say: that was above and beyond. The date is not random. It marks the anniversary of the first Medal of Honor presentations in 1863.

And if there is one thing Medal of Honor history makes painfully clear, it is this: valor does not check your birth certificate before it shows up.

Sometimes it shows up in somebody barely old enough to be called a man.

Sometimes it shows up in somebody who has carried that story for decades before the country finally gets around to doing the right thing.

That brings us to the youngest and oldest Medal of Honor recipients—a pairing that says more about courage than a thousand polished speeches ever could.

The youngest Medal of Honor recipient remains William “Willie” Johnston, a Union Army musician with Company D, 3rd Vermont Infantry. His recognized act of gallantry came during the Civil War, tied to the Seven Day Battle and Peninsula Campaign in Virginia. During the retreat, when other men were shedding gear to move faster and survive, Willie Johnston did not abandon his drum. He later received the Medal of Honor on September 16, 1863, at age 13.

Think about that for a minute.

Thirteen.

That is middle-school age. That is braces, scraped knees, and bad decisions involving bicycles. And these days making sure my cell phone is charged.  Yet in the middle of war, with grown men throwing away equipment just to keep moving, this young musician held onto the one piece of duty that was his to carry. No swagger. No speech. No chest-thumping. Just a kid doing his job under brutal conditions and refusing to quit. 

There is something almost annoyingly powerful about that. No dramatic one-liner. No Hollywood script needed. Just steady grit from somebody most people today would call a child.

At the other end of the age spectrum now stands retired Navy Capt. Elmer Royce Williams, who became the oldest Medal of Honor recipient when he received the award at age 100 on February 24, 2026. Williams was then a Navy lieutenant flying with Fighter Squadron 781 from USS Oriskany during the Korean War. His Medal of Honor action took place on November 18, 1952, over the coastal waters of Korea, where he engaged seven enemy aircraft and shot down four Soviet MIGs threatening the fleet. 

And that one hits differently.

Because Royce Williams did the brave thing in 1952, but the medal did not arrive until 2026. More than seven decades passed between the action and the full recognition. That delay does not shrink the valor. If anything, it sharpens the lesson. Bureaucracy can stall. Classification can bury things. Time can drag its feet. But courage is still courage, and truth eventually has a way of pounding on the hatch until somebody opens it.

So on one end, you have Willie Johnston: a 13-year-old Civil War drummer who would not let go of his duty.

On the other, you have Royce Williams: a Navy fighter pilot who fought the hardest 35 minutes of his life in 1952 and finally received the nation’s highest award at 100 years old.

Different centuries. Different wars. Different uniforms. Different kinds of duty to your fellow Soldiers or Shipmates.

Same steel in the spine.

That is part of what makes Medal of Honor Day worth observing. It reminds us that courage does not belong to one generation, one service, one rank, or one stage of life. It is not reserved for the Old Salts with sea stories a mile long, and it is not reserved for the young and fearless either. It shows up when it shows up—usually when things have gone very wrong, when fear is real, and when somebody decides that duty matters more than comfort, safety, or self. 

There is also a good gut-check in these two stories for the rest of us.

A 13-year-old carried his drum through retreat and chaos.

A naval aviator carried his story for more than 70 years before the medal finally caught up with the man.

Meanwhile, the rest of us complain because the Wi-Fi is slow, the coffee got cold, or somebody scheduled a meeting that should have been an email.

Perspective is a hell of a thing.

But respect matters too. Medal of Honor Day is not about using heroism as decoration. It is about remembering that some Americans were asked to endure things most of us will never face—and answered with extraordinary courage anyway. Willie Johnston and Royce Williams sit at opposite ends of the age spectrum, but together they make the same point: valor has no age limit, and duty does not care whether you are young, old, or somewhere in between.

So today, hoist a mug to the recipients of the Medal of Honor. Remember the names. Read the citations. Teach the stories. And take a second to appreciate the uncomfortable truth they leave behind: real courage is rarely neat, rarely convenient, and never ordinary.

Fair winds, following seas, and deep respect to those who earned the nation’s highest honor.

And when you’re done, share your own Sea Story and upload a photo at Old Salt Coffee’s Sea Story submissions page.