Receiving the Medal of Honor confers a great deal of prestige on the recipient. It also acknowledges that the recipient and their unit members went through an especially dire and dangerous experience or gave a heavy sacrifice for the American people.
The medal allows recipients to shed light on issues affecting veterans and active-duty troops.
Related: This soldier earned the Medal of Honor while totally stoned
But besides intangible benefits like honor and stature, the U.S. military and government offer tangible benefits to medal recipients. Here are six special benefits that serve as an enduring “thank you” from a grateful nation.
1. Preferred Access to Military Academies for Their Dependents
Every American senator can nominate up to 15 candidates from their state for each of an allotted number of seats in the next freshman class at the Army, Navy and Air Force military academies. The number of slots changes from year to year, but the total number of names that state senators can put forward represents an annual “quota.”
But as a recognition of the sacrifice that Medal of Honor recipients made for their country, recipients’ children can bypass this part of the selection process and put their name in for consideration, regardless of whether slots are open in that state’s academy quota.
2. A Special Stipend and Pay Raise
Every Medal of Honor recipient gets a monthly stipend on top of all other pay or retirement benefits. This stipend was originally $10 a month in 1916 but has climbed to $5,625 per month as of February 2026.
3. Free Priority Space-A Travel
Medal of Honor recipients are granted lifelong access to the military’s “Space-A” travel, which allows active-duty military members, some veterans, and their dependents to hitch rides in empty seats on military planes. Usually, flying this way means they can go if there’s space available on the flight (hence the name, Space-A).
There’s a cold calculus to this kind of travel, akin to trying to fly on a commercial airline without a guaranteed seat. The Medal of Honor means preferred access; they can jump to the front of the line.
4. Special Parking Spots at On-Base Amenities
Service members who receive the Medal of Honor also get lifelong access to other military benefits, such as commissaries, on-post gyms and pools, and recreational facilities. Many of these facilities have reserved spaces for Medal of Honor recipients, the way you might see preferred veteran parking at Home Depot.
On a military base, everyone’s a veteran, so we have to have elite parking spots.
5. Special Status in the Exchange of Salutes
While military members aren’t required to salute Medal of Honor recipients, they are encouraged to do so as long as the recipient is physically wearing the medal, even when the recipient is in civilian clothes. Culturally, not saluting the Medal of Honor is a weird flex. You’ll salute a newly minted second lieutenant because you have to, but not America’s highest award for valor in combat? Get the f*ck out of here.
Also, while military salutes in other situations are always up to the rank structure (meaning the junior soldier salutes the senior one), anyone may render a salute to a Medal of Honor recipient first. Even the sitting president of the United States will salute a Medal of Honor recipient.
6. Headstones with Gold Lettering and Full Burial Honors
The Medal of Honor guarantees recipients a burial with full military honors. It’s an honor that is otherwise only guaranteed to retirees and active-duty service members. This includes a nine-member team of six pallbearers, a chaplain, an officer-in-charge or noncommissioned-officer-in-charge, and a bugler.
At the gravesite, the recipient is also entitled to a special headstone with gold lettering.
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