Rare Medal of Honor awarded to Ukrainian soldier to be auctioned with proceeds to Ukraine charity
25 July 2024, 14:54
An extremely rare American Medal of Honor awarded to a Ukrainian World War II veteran is to be auctioned, with all the proceeds going to Volodymyr Zelenskyy's charity in Ukraine.
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The Medal of Honor is the United States' highest military decoration and is awarded for "Conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty".
The medal on auction was posthumously awarded to Private Nicholas Minue, a Ukrainian national, who immigrated to America before serving in the US Army.
He was the first Ukrainian American to receive the Medal of Honor, according to the group Ukrainian American Veterans.
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The medal is expected to fetch upwards of one million pounds.
Proceeds from the sale will go to UNITED24, a charity created by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to gather donations in support of the country.
Auctions of Congressional Medals of Honor are incredibly rare because selling them is illegal in the US and punishable by fines of up to $100,000 and a year in jail. However, it is not illegal in the UK.
The owner is a private collector outside of the US and the buyer must be outside of the country as well. A US institution like a museum, however, would be able to buy the medal.
Private Minue was one of the first soldiers to deploy to the North African theatre as part of efforts to draw Axis forces away from the eastern front of the European war and provide a launching point for the Allies in Italy.
In April 1943, when Axis forces attacked Private Minue and his company in Tunisia, he single-handedly charged the machine gun nest, destroying it and removing enemy riflemen from their posts.
He was fatally wounded during the battle, but ultimately, his actions saved his fellow soldiers, who eventually drove the Axis resistance out of the area.
Minue is one of the few Medal of Honor recipients interred overseas, buried in the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia.
The medal will be offered in a single-lot auction on Thursday, August 8, at 399 Strand, London.
Antiques Roadshow star and medals and militaria specialist Mark Smith is leading the auction.
