PBS: Friday 5 August 2022 at 7.15pm

It’s the American equivalent of Britain’s Victoria Cross, a military medal awarded for ‘Conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against any enemy’.

The highest award that can be given to America’s armed forces, since it was created in 1862 the Medal of Honor has been awarded 3,475 times – 627 of those times posthumously, to those who paid the ultimate price serving their country.

MEDAL OF HONOR tells the story behind three of the medals, one for each branch of the armed services. Drawing on clips and archive photography, along with interviews with recipients, discover true accounts of outstanding American valour.