Repudiating the past is an important way of establishing a future. By retaining both the Medal of Honor and these individual citations, we cheapen all present awards, and adulterate the crimes of these men with the genuine sacrifices of those who deserved their medals in American history.

The Roman Emperor Claudius, when removing a certain man with a sordid past from a list of those to suffer public shame, added, "But let it be noted he was removed" - ie that the act of removal itself was notable. This is not a question of shuttering these men down the memory hole, but of acknowledging the horrors of the past and expressing an intention to hold a higher standard not just for our future, but also for how we view our past.