There was a similar incident in the UK when Private Behaney was awarded the VC in Iraq a few years ago:
Official Citation: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/57587/supplements/3369 ("1500 metres") BBC Report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4358921.stm ("one mile") -----Original Message----- From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of mechtly, eugene a Sent: 18 October 2013 17:59 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association; mechtly, eugene a Subject: [USMA:53337] RE: Ceremony in Meters A complete video of the Award Ceremony of the Medal of Honor to Captain Swenson is posted at WashingtonPost.com. In this video, President Obama describes actions by "Will Swenson" at a distance of 50 meters, and actions by Will at a distance of 20 or 30 meters. The "official citation" for the Award states *no* distances, in meters or in any other unit of distance. Why did Obama's account included statements of distances in meters, but the official citation gave *no* distances? Both accounts probably originated somewhere in the Department of Defense. Eugene Mechtly ________________________________________ From: Paul Trusten [trus...@mygrande.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 4:11 PM Cc: U.S. Metric Association; mechtly, eugene a Subject: Re: [USMA:53328] Ceremony in Meters I think the President may have been simply reading a text prepared for him by the Defense Department, but I guess we can give him credit for not back-converting. Paul Trusten, Registered Pharmacist Vice President and Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. Midland, Texas, USA +1(432)528-7724 www.metric.org trus...@grandecom.net > On Oct 15, 2013, at 16:09, "mechtly, eugene a" <mech...@illinois.edu> wrote: > > Today, Captain William D. Swenson was awarded the Medal of Honor. > > In describing Will's heroic actions under fire, President Obama used > the word "meters" several times, with *no conversions* to any units of distance outside the SI. > > Of course, as we all know, US military personnel already speak "meters" with fluency. > > Fortunately, President Obama displayed a willingness to accept the meter as the preferred unit of distance. > > Unfortunately, many commentators in the news media are not so inclined to speak the word meter. > > They remain misguided by the Associated Press Style Guide, studiously avoiding the word meter. > > Watch and listen to the Aware Ceremony, in meters, when it is rebroadcast. > > Eugene Mechtly > >
