DALLAS – Jerry Jones can already hear it on a prime-time NFL telecast. The Dallas Cowboys owner imagines a national broadcast calling attention to the National Medal of Honor Museum and Leadership Institute down the road from AT&T Stadium, honoring the legacy of the medal’s recipients. Jones values that message.
“It says everything when I look at (us) saying, ‘We need to show each other love from every kind of bias we can talk about,’” Jones told USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve never seen anything that nails it like the recognition of the Medal of Honor winners and what they stood for.”
And so, on the 30th anniversary of National Medal of Honor Day — and 258 years to the day after the first Medal of Honor was bestowed during the Civil War as the highest military award for valor in combat — Jones is committing $20 million to advance the museum campaign. The funding pushes the museum to $70 million as it nears completion of its design phase, with plans to break ground next spring.
“I’m keenly aware,” Jones said of leveraging his NFL platform, “that when we endorse or we significantly recognize something special about our country, that’s going to have notice.”
Values, not valor
The Jones family involvement dates to 2019. The National Medal of Honor Foundation sought to further cement the values of an award that has recognized 3,507 individuals, 69 of whom are still living. The museum location search had narrowed to two cities: Arlington and Denver.
