One hundred sixty years after President  Abraham Lincoln presented six Union soldiers with the first Congressional Medals of Honor, more recent recipients of the nation’s highest military award for valor are in the nation’s Capitol this week for some well-deserved recognition and also to do some advocacy work.

Including those first six medals that were awarded on behalf of Congress on March 25, 1863, just over 3,500 have been given out in total. But only 65 Medal of Honor recipients are currently alive. Sixteen of them came to DC this week—two from Oklahoma.

Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, from Beckham County, and retired Sgt. 1st Class Melvin Morris of Okmulgee were on the Hill Tuesday, where they got warm welcomes from Oklahoma's Senators.

“It means a lot when they respect the sacrifices Medal of Honor recipients have made,” Morris said, “we must all remember, somebody’s got to stand up to fight for freedom, because freedom is not free.”

Morris was presented the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2014, 45 years after the act of heroism that earned him the award:

Melvin Morris is being recognized for his valorous actions on Sept. 17, 1969, while commanding the Third Company, Third Battalion of the IV Mobile Strike Force near Chi Lang. Then-Staff Sgt. Morris led an advance across enemy lines to retrieve a fallen comrade and single-handedly destroyed an enemy force that had pinned his battalion from a series of bunkers. Staff Sgt. Morris was shot three times as he ran back toward friendly lines with the American casualties, but did not stop until he reached safety.

Sgt. Morris was given the Distinguished Service Cross in 1970. He said he isn’t bothered by the possibility that, because he is Black, he may have received different treatment.

“It didn’t matter, I was a Green Beret, and I believed in what I was doing for my country,” Morris said in an interview Tuesday, “and we knew how critical it was to stand up against communism during this time.”

Sgt. Plumlee is also a Green Beret, having served in the same unit as Morris, albeit 44 years later:

Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty on August 28th, 2013, while serving as a weapons sergeant, C company, 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) in support of Enduring Freedom. Sergeant Plumlee instantly responded to an enemy attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni—Ghazni Province, Afghanistan —that began with an explosion that tore a 60-foot breach in the base’s perimeter wall. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach. Sergeant Plumlee and five others mounted two vehicles and raced toward the explosion. When his vehicle was engaged by enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee reacted instinctively, using his body to shield the driver prior to exiting the vehicle and engaging an enemy insurgent 15 meters to the vehicle’s right with his pistol. Without cover and in complete disregard for his own safety, he advanced on the enemy, engaging multiple insurgents with only his pistol. Upon reaching cover, he killed two insurgents —one with a grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent’s suicide vest using precision sniper fire. Again, disregarding his own safety, Sergeant Plumlee advanced alone against the enemy, engaging several insurgents at close range, including one whose suicide vest exploded a mere seven meters from his position. Under intense enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee temporarily withdrew to cover, where he joined up with another solider and, together, they mounted another counterattack. Under fierce enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee again moved from cover and attacked the enemy forces, advancing within seven meters of a previously wounded insurgent who detonated his suicide vest, blowing Sergeant Plumlee back against a nearby wall. Sergeant Plumlee, ignoring his injuries, quickly regained his faculties and reengaged the enemy forces. Intense enemy fire once again forced the two soldiers to temporarily withdraw. Undeterred, Sergeant Plumlee joined a small group of American and Polish soldiers, who moved from cover to once again counterattack the infiltrators. As the force advanced, Sergeant Plumlee engaged an insurgent to his front left. He then swung around and engaged another insurgent who charged the group from the rear. The insurgent detonated his suicide vest, mortally wounding a U.S. soldier. Sergeant Plumlee, again, with complete disregard for his own safety, ran to the wounded soldier, carried him to safety, and rendered first aid. He then methodically cleared the area, remained in a security posture, and continued to scan for any remaining threats.

Getting the Medal of Honor in 2021, Plumlee said, was humbling.

“I look at the medal as an award for everybody that trained me, everybody that mentored me, and everybody that served with me,” Plumlee stated in an interview. “To say that I earned the medal alone would be pretty disingenuous.”.

A new Medal of Honor Museum is currently under construction in Arlington, Texas, but what Morris and Plumlee were specifically asking Senators Lankford and Mullin to help with is speeding up the planned construction of a Medal of Honor monument on the National Mall.

“It needs to be built,” Morris said, “it has to be built.”

Morris is now 81. He said he and his fellow Vietnam Medal of Honor recipients are running out of time.

Plumlee agrees, for the older Medal recipients, time is of the essence.

“They’d like to see that thing finished before they’re gone and I think we owe that to them,” Plumlee said.

Congress approved the project in 2021, but that was just a first step in a process that is likely to take several more years.

“If I’m living, I’ll be there,” Morris said, laughing, “I want to be there.”

Officials said site selection is the next big step for the Medal of Honor monument project. Plumlee said the hope is that it will be built close to the Lincoln Memorial, since it was Lincoln who created the award and had some powerful things to say about military service and how to honor it.