 Twenty African Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in the Vietnam War, including James Anderson, Jr., the first African-American Marine to receive the Medal.Before World War II, the Medal of Honor could be awarded for actions not involving direct combat with the enemy; eight African Americans earned the Medal in this way, all of them sailors.Robert Augustus Sweeney received two peacetime Medals of Honor, one of only 19 men, and the only African American, to be awarded the medal twice.