To earn a Navy Cross the act to be commended must be performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk and must be performed in such a manner as to render the individual highly conspicuous among others of equal grade, rate, experience, or position of responsibility.

Here’s how: James Webb, running for Senator from Virginia as a Democrat, refused to allow his campaign to reference his Navy Cross.

I don’t claim to have inside knowledge of the workings of the Webb campaign, and it is entirely likely that fear of swiftboaters was not among Webb’s reasons for avoiding running on his record of courage under fire.

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Still, does anyone reading this doubt that had he run on his biography, as John Kerry was constantly accused of doing in 2004, that someone somewhere on the right blogisphere, in conjunction with some group connected with the Republican party, would have begun to question whether James Webb’s acts met the actual criteria of those worthy of a Navy Cross?

Am I the only one astonished to ponder the reality that Republicans have made it unsafe for military heroes to run for public office. Who’d a thunk it?

So I’m rather glad that the Virginia-Pilot decided to make public, as part of their endorsement of James Webb’s candidacy for Senator, the citation which explains how he earned that Navy Cross. Here’s how the editors explain their decision:

The Navy Cross is the nation’s second-highest award for bravery in facing an enemy. James Webb has refused to use it in his campaign. We are publishing it with our endorsement of him because we believe it testifies to his character.

I’ll quote one small part of the citation:

Continuing the assault, he approached a third bunker and was preparing to fire into it when the enemy threw another grenade.

Observing the grenade land dangerously close to his companion, First Lieutenant Webb simultaneously fired his weapon at the enemy, pushed the Marine away from the grenade, and shielded him from the explosion with his own body.

So, maybe James Webb has made it safe again for genuine heroes to run for public office. You can read the whole citation here.

Webb earned that medal in a war, the one in Vietnam, I generally opposed. But I am as moved by that description of selfless heroism as anyone would be. It was always a lie that those who opposed that war hated the soldiers who fought in it.

Mr. Webb has run a good, solid, progressive campaign, and most important, on issue after issue, he has shown that he is capable of changing his mind - about women in the military, and, indeed, about Vietnam.

If you vote in Virginia, don’t fail to get to the polls, and make sure your friends and family vote too.

H/T to Buzzflash for linking to the Pilot editorial.