" No other American soldier awarded the nation’s top military honor has had to wait as long for the decoration. Mr. Obama approved the medal this year, after a quarter-century lobbying campaign by advocates, led by Margaret Zerwekh, 94, a Wisconsin history buff whose house sits on land once owned by Lieutenant Cushing’s father. At the time of Lieutenant Cushing’s death, the medal was not awarded posthumously, so he was ineligible.
But even the White House announcement in August did not end the tale. At that point, the Pentagon had to figure out who would receive the medal on his behalf. Since he died childless at the age of 22, he has no direct descendants. But a distant relative, working with a museum in Chautauqua, N.Y., and aided by an Army office called the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch in Fort Knox, Ky., managed to piece together his family’s genealogy and locate his nearest kin.
That would be Helen Loring Ensign, 85, of Palm Desert, Calif., who is Lieutenant Cushing’s distant cousin, descended from his maternal aunt. She was on hand at the White House on Thursday to receive the medal, as were two other distant cousins, Frederic Stevens Sater, from New York, and Frederic Cushing Stevens III, from Hoschton, Ga., and their families. Ms. Zerwekh also attended Thursday’s ceremony.
“Sometimes even the most extraordinary stories can get lost in the passage of time,” said Mr. Obama, who put his arm around Ms. Ensign as the formal decoration was read. “This medal,” he added, “is a reminder that no matter how long it takes, it is never too late to do the right thing.”
The medal will be displayed at Gettysburg and the United States Military Academy at West Point, where Lieutenant Cushing studied and is buried.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/us/politics/alonzo-cushing-medal-of-honor-civil-war.html?ref=us
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