About This Stamp
The Medal of Honor is our nation’s most prestigious military decoration. It is awarded by the President of the United States on behalf of Congress to members of the armed services who distinguish themselves through “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States. In October 2014, the U.S. Postal Service® invited the surviving Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipients to be part of an issuance intended to honor all individuals who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their valorous actions during the Vietnam War.
The first and fourth pages of this four-page prestige folio display photographs of the 48 living recipients of the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War who agreed to be part of this issuance. The photographs on each of these pages surround a group of 12 Forever® stamps (24 total), consisting of three different designs, one for each version of the Medal of Honor: that of the Army, the Navy (also presented to members of the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. Page two contains a short text and a key to the individuals pictured. Page three features an alphabetical listing of those individuals who agreed to be included and of the deceased Medal of Honor recipients from the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War was a protracted conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, beginning in the mid-1950s and ending with the fall of Saigon in the south in 1975. The first U.S. combat troops were committed to the defense of South Vietnam in March 1965, although American military advisers had been involved in South Vietnam since the 1950s. Several million Americans served on active duty in Vietnam until March 1973, when U.S. troops were withdrawn from the country. More than 58,000 Americans died as a result of the war.
Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the prestige folio and the stamps, working with photographs of the medals by Richard Frasier.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Photographer
Richard Frasier
Richard Frasier was born in 1948 in Cobleskill, New York. As a child living on his family farm, he fell in love with photography. “From the very beginning, I knew the camera was a magical tool, a way to express myself and to capture and share the beauty and wonder that surrounds us all,\" he explains. \"For me, photography is about beauty.\"
Frasier studied psychology at Frostburg State University in Maryland but honed his photography skills while serving in the Army and later as an apprentice to several master photographers. Today, he specializes in portraits, landscapes, architecture, and studio product shots. He has done work for editorial, corporate, and advertising clients both locally and nationally for more than 20 years, including international hotels such as Marriott, Sheraton, and Hilton. His portraiture features everyone from political personalities such as Dick Cheney, Laura Bush and Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Obama, to celebrities such as Robert Duval, Cokie Roberts, and Lionel Ritchie.
Frasier has been the official photographer for the Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase for 20 years, which has given him an additional specialty in equestrian photography. He maintains a studio in Northern Virginia and markets a line of greeting cards showcasing Washington, D.C.
When not at work, Frasier is an avid gardener. He lives with his family in Vienna, Virginia.
Frasier's projects for the U.S. Postal Service include Medal of Honor: World War II (2013), Medal of Honor: Korean War (2014), Medal of Honor: Vietnam War (2015), and Honoring Extraordinary Herosim: Service Cross Medals (2016).