The 39th Annual Ellis Island Medals of Honor
May 15 -16  2026
Ellis Island, NYC

2026 Ellis Island Medal of Honor Recipuents

Thomas Abraham
General David Allvin, USAF (Ret)
HRH Ambassador Reema Bandar Al-Saud
Michael Amini
A. Hamid Andalib
Stuart Anderson
Susan Ford Bales
Bryan Bender
Dr. Mitchel Berger
Tina Beriro
Ebs Burnough
Alfred Cerullo
Gerald Chan
Honorable Raj Chouhan
Ronnie Davis
Patricia Duff
Sarah Friar
Philip George, Jr.
Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg
Googoosh
Dorothy (Deecy) S. Gray
Lee Greenwood
General Michael Guetlein, USSF
Dr. Roger Hartl
Dr. Xuedong Huang
Dr. Billy Hudson
Vice Admiral Sara Joyner, USN
Ola Kallenius
Chief Joseph Kenny, NYPD
Michelle Ketchum
Michael Mina
Victor Montagliani
Elissa Ann Montanti
Bruce Mosler
Jose Luis Nazar
Dr. Kathleen Nazar
Dominic Ng
General John Nicholson, USA (Ret)
Jeffrey Orridge
Tracy Palandjian
Sheldon Pang, PhD
Beatriz Perez
Secretary Mike Pompeo
Gelila Puck
Wolfgang Puck
Jimmy Rane
Detective Lieutenant Devin Ross
Matthew Rubel
Morvarid Sahafi
Richard Salomon
Honorable Randeep Sarai
Kamal Shouhayib
Sanyin Siang
Major General Bob Sofge, USMC (Ret)
John Temple
Jonesly Theus
Robert Tucker
Barbara Van Allen
Dr. Mario Vezza
Sandra Watson
Herbert Wertheim
Norman Willox
Professor Omar Yaghi
Afshin Yazdian
Charles Zhang
Lynn Zhang

 

Global Humanitarian

Lech Wałęsa

https://www.eihonors.org/

The Ellis Island Honors Society honors the importance of immigration to America’s prosperity and celebrates the contributions immigrants and their progeny have made to our nation.

In 1986, Ellis Island Honors Society founded the Ellis Island Medals of Honor to commemorate the indefatigable spirit of those who immigrated to the United States during the Ellis Island era.

The Medal is presented annually to those who have shown an outstanding commitment to serving our nation either professionally, culturally or civically, among other criteria.
 

2027 Nomination Criteria
Nominations for 2027 are open.
Click here to nominate a worthy individual
 

INTEGRITY
The nominee should be a person of integrity who has done, or been the impetus for, an honorable act that exemplifies their character
 and reputation

PASSION
Discuss how passion has led the nominee to focus their lives on a social cause, an ideological concept, a humanitarian philosophy, etc.

GRAVITAS
Consider if the nominee received any academic, professional and humanitarian accolades. Please mention any objective peer-reviewed awards or citations, innovations, inventions or humanitarian recognition’s

HUMANITARIAN
Detail the nominee’s commitment and efforts on behalf of humanitarian causes. Humanitarian efforts should be considered beyond financial contributions. Please describe how their personal time and passion have helped move their cause forward

ETHNIC HERITAGE
Describe how the individual honors their ethnic heritage, how they promote it and/or what have they contributed to

+ For naturalized Americans, consider how they have integrated themselves into our national identity

+ For native-born Americans, please consider the individual’s contributions to their self-identified ethnic homeland, as well as their professional and personal achievements

Please note that the Medal is not awarded posthumously
 

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