Sailor Received the Medal of Honor Not Once, But Twice: Patrick Mullen

From the June 2022 U.S. Department of Defense Medal of Honor Monday.

Navy Boatswain's Mate  Patrick Mullen is one of only 19 Medal of Honor recipients who earned the highest military honor not once, but twice.  While his actions that led to the awards occurred within six weeks of each other, he only received one during the actual war.  The other one came afterwards.

Mullen was born in Ireland on May  6, 1844;  however, his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a young boy, and they settled in Baltimore.  His last name was originally spelled Mullin, but he changed it to Mullen when he joined the Navy.

By the end of the war he was a  boatswain's mate on the USS Wyandank, a steamer used by the Navy as a storeship and barracks  for the Potomac Squadron.

He earned his first Medal of Honor on March 17, 1865, --  St. Patrick's Day -- while the ship was in the area of  Mattox Creek, Virginia.

--Old B-Runner