Recipients of the Legion of Merit

Oran Kenneth Henderson (August 25, 1920 – June 2, 1998) was a United States Army colonel who commanded the 11th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division during the Vietnam War and later served as head of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in the late 1970s. He is most famous for his role in the My Lai massacre where he served as brigade commander for the units involved in the killings, ultimately being charged and acquitted of dereliction of duty for failing to carry out an adequate investigation and lying to Army investigators. He was the highest-ranking Army officer to be tried in connection with the killings. Prior to the Vietnam War, Henderson had served as an infantry officer in World War II and the Korean War.

Stanley Robert Larsen (November 11, 1915 – November 1, 2000) was a United States Army lieutenant general who served as commander of I Field Force, Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Brigadier General Frank Hawse Schwable (July 18, 1908 – October 28, 1988) was a decorated U.S. Marine pilot whose prosecution for collaborating with his Korean captors while a prisoner of war was dismissed in 1954.

William Lyon (March 9, 1923 – May 22, 2020) was a major general of the United States Air Force who served as Commander of the United States Air Force Reserve Command, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington D.C., and commander, Headquarters Air Force Reserve, a separate operating agency located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. As chief of Air Force Reserve, Lyon served as the principal adviser on Reserve matters to the Air Force Chief of Staff. As commander of AFRES, he had full responsibility for the supervision of U.S. Air Force Reserve units around the world.

Herbert William Ehrgott (October 31, 1904 – September 20, 1982) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force.

James Kenneth Johnson (May 30, 1916 – August 22, 1997) was a colonel in the United States Air Force. In the Korean War he was a double ace, credited with shooting down ten enemy aircraft. He also had one "kill" in World War II, when he was a lieutenant colonel. He received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Steven Angelo White (September 18, 1928 – February 1, 2021) was a four-star admiral who served in the United States Navy from 1948 until 1985. He was the 19th and last Chief of Naval Material.

Michael D. Dubie (born March 25, 1960) is a United States Air Force officer who attained the rank of lieutenant general while serving as the deputy commander of United States Northern Command from 2012 to 2015. From 2006 to 2012 he was Adjutant General of the State of Vermont, serving as the senior uniformed officer in the state responsible for the organization, training and equipage of the 4,000 members of the Vermont Army and Air National Guard. As adjutant general, he also served as inspector general, quartermaster general and head of the State Military Department, including Veterans Affairs.

Robert Couth Mathis (July 3, 1927 – April 27, 2016) was a United States Air Force four-star general who served as Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force (VCSAF) from 1980 to 1982.

James Lawton Collins Jr. (5 November 1917 – 6 May 2002) was a brigadier general in the U.S. Army who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, a military historian, and a viticulturist. He was the son of Major General James Lawton Collins, nephew of General J. Lawton Collins, who served as Chief of Staff of the Army during the Korean War, and older brother of Apollo 11 astronaut Major General Michael Collins. He led a North Dakota National Guard artillery battalion in Normandy in 1944, and served as the U.S. Army Chief of Military History from 1970 to 1982.