Veteran Entrepreneurs: 14 Medal of Honor Recipients Who Built Successful Businesses

By Gregg Kell, Founder and Editor, Spotlight on Startups

Every Veterans Day we thank the men and women who wore the uniform. This year I want to honor a smaller group inside that community: veterans who received the Medal of Honor, known to many Americans as the Congressional Medal of Honor, and then went home and built businesses.

My view is simple. The discipline and sacrificial commitment behind the nation’s highest award for valor are the same foundations a successful entrepreneur stands on. Nobody sets out to earn this medal, and recipients will tell you they wear it for the people who stood beside them. But the habits revealed in those moments are the habits that carry a founder through a missed payroll, a failed product and the long years of slow growth. Those habits are preparation, composure, loyalty to a team and the willingness to put the mission ahead of personal comfort.

Our country is moving through a season of change. In a season like this, it helps to study people whose character was tested at the highest level and who kept serving afterward through enterprise. Here are 14 of them. Each profile opens with one attribute that any entrepreneur can emulate and apply.

Why Medal of Honor Discipline Translates to Entrepreneurial Success

Millions of Americans have served in uniform, and only about 3,500 have received the Medal of Honor. The award recognizes gallantry at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty. It does not recognize business talent. So why look to recipients for entrepreneurial lessons?

Because the citation describes a few hours, and the character behind it lasts a lifetime. Reading the business records of these 14 veterans, three threads keep appearing. The first is discipline, meaning the daily practice of doing hard things correctly when nobody is watching. The second is sacrifice, meaning a readiness to absorb personal cost so the team and the mission survive. The third is service, meaning success measured by what it does for other people.

Not every venture on this list ended well. Two of these founders went bankrupt or lost a company. I have kept those stories in on purpose, because how a person handles failure is part of the lesson.

Entrepreneurial Resilience: Veteran Founders Who Overcame Setbacks

Resilience: Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Air Lines and Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was America’s top ace of World War I, with 26 aerial victories. His Medal of Honor recognizes air combat near Billy, France, on September 25, 1918. President Herbert Hoover presented it in 1930.

His business life is a study in resilience. He founded the Rickenbacker Motor Company in 1921, and it went bankrupt in November 1927. That same month he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for $700,000. He kept the track alive through the Depression and sold it in 1945. In 1938 he and his backers bought Eastern Air Lines from General Motors for $3.5 million, and he led the airline as chief executive until 1959.

Apply it: A failed company is an event, not an identity. Rickenbacker’s largest successes came after his bankruptcy, and he closed his next deal the same month the first business died.

Learn more: The Many Lives of Edward Rickenbacker, National Medal of Honor Museum

Perseverance: Col. Paris Davis, Founder of the Metro Herald Newspaper

Paris Davis was one of the Army’s first Black Special Forces officers. As a captain on June 18, 1965, he refused to leave his wounded men behind during a long and brutal fight in Vietnam. His commander nominated him for the Medal of Honor right away. The Army lost the paperwork more than once, and the nomination took 58 years to complete. President Biden presented the medal on March 3, 2023. Davis is one of only four service members to hold both the Soldier’s Medal and the Medal of Honor.

He did not spend those decades waiting. After retiring as a colonel in 1985, he founded the Metro Herald in Alexandria, Virginia, a newspaper focused on his local community and on civil rights. He published it for about 30 years, until it closed in 2018.

Apply it: Recognition may arrive late or never. Build something worth doing whether or not anyone hands out an award for it.

Learn more: Colonel Paris D. Davis, U.S. Army Medal of Honor profile

Risk Tolerance: Dakota Meyer, Founder of Own the Dash and Dash Hydrate

Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer was 21 at the Battle of Ganjgal in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on September 8, 2009. He went into the kill zone again and again to bring out American and Afghan troops, and he lost four close friends that day. President Obama presented the medal on September 15, 2011, making him the first living Marine in 38 years to receive it.

Meyer has been building companies ever since. He founded a construction company in Kentucky, and his later ventures include the apparel line Own the Dash and the hydration company Dash Hydrate. He has been candid that the medal represents the worst day of his life and that he builds to honor the men he lost. He told Entrepreneur magazine what got him started in business: “I got comfortable with the unknown and I got comfortable with risk.”

Apply it: Risk tolerance is a trained skill. Get comfortable acting on incomplete information, then let purpose decide which risks are worth taking.

Learn more: Dakota L. Meyer, Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Business Discipline: Veteran Owned Companies Built to Last

Initiative: Robert E. Bush, Founder of Bayview Lumber Company

Robert Bush left high school to join the Navy and became a hospital corpsman attached to a Marine rifle company. On Okinawa on May 2, 1945, he stayed with a wounded officer under attack and protected him and the rest of the platoon. He was 18, the youngest member of the Navy in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor. President Truman presented it that October.

Bush went home to Washington State, finished high school and studied business administration at the University of Washington. In 1951 he founded Bayview Lumber Company in South Bend and Bayview Redi-Mix in Elma, and he built both into businesses worth millions. He also served two years as president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Apply it: Do not wait for the perfect opening. Bush finished his education, picked an industry his region needed and started. Initiative compounds.

Learn more: Robert E. Bush, Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Stewardship: Charles Coolidge, Chattanooga Printing & Engraving

Technical Sgt. Charles Coolidge earned his medal leading American troops through four days of fighting in the Vosges Mountains of France, beginning October 24, 1944.

His father had founded Chattanooga Printing & Engraving in 1910, and Coolidge worked there as a bookbinder before the war. After a short stint with the Veterans Administration he returned to the family company, ran it, and kept going to the office until he retired at 95. He was also a Sunday school teacher, a church deacon and a community leader. He died in 2021 at 99. Chattanooga named a park, a highway and its National Medal of Honor Heritage Center for him.

Apply it: Not every entrepreneur is a founder. Taking a business someone else built and carrying it well for another generation is its own discipline.

Learn more: Chattanooga Printing & Engraving

Lifelong Learning: Bennie Adkins, Founder of Adkins Accounting Service

Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie Adkins fought through a battle in Vietnam that lasted from March 9 to March 12, 1966, and was wounded 18 times while saving American lives. His Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor on September 15, 2014.

Adkins retired from the Army in 1978 and went back to school. He earned a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Troy State University. While he was still studying, he established Adkins Accounting Service in Auburn, Alabama, and he served as its chief executive for 22 years. He also taught night classes at Southern Union Junior College for 10 years and at Auburn University for six.

Apply it: A first career does not disqualify anyone from a second. Adkins became a student, a founder and a teacher after two decades as a soldier.

Learn more: Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins, U.S. Army Medal of Honor profile

Readiness: Charles Kettles, Founder of Kettles Ford Sales

Charles Kettles was drafted at 21, became an Army aviator and left active duty in 1956. He and his older brother Richard opened Kettles Ford Sales in DeWitt, Michigan, and he stayed in the Army Reserve while running the dealership.

In 1963 he returned to active duty and learned to fly helicopters. On May 15, 1967, near Duc Pho, Vietnam, he flew his damaged Huey back into enemy fire to bring out soldiers who had been left behind. He is credited with saving 44 men. Nearly 50 years later, on July 18, 2016, his Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. After the Army he built an aviation management program at Eastern Michigan University and worked for Chrysler Pentastar Aviation.

Apply it: Stay ready for the next call. Kettles kept his skills current while he ran a business, so he could answer when he was needed.

Learn more: Lt. Col. Charles Kettles, U.S. Army Medal of Honor profile

Resourcefulness: Larry Taylor, Lookout Sheet Metal Company

In June 1968, a patrol of four American soldiers was surrounded in Vietnam with no way out. First Lt. Larry Taylor, flying a Cobra attack helicopter that was never designed to carry passengers, found a way to get all four of them home. One of the men he saved put their odds of survival at zero without his unconventional thinking. Taylor received the Medal of Honor on September 5, 2023.

After the Army, Taylor operated a successful roofing and sheet metal business in Chattanooga, Tennessee, called Lookout Sheet Metal Company. He stayed active in veterans organizations and gave generously to nonprofits in his community. He died in January 2024.

Apply it: When the standard playbook has no answer, write a new one. Use what you have, not what you wish you had.

Learn more: Capt. Larry L. Taylor, U.S. Army Medal of Honor profile

Leadership and Innovation: Medal of Honor Recipients as Business Leaders

Innovation: Col. Jack Jacobs, Founder of AutoFinance Group

On March 9, 1968, First Lt. Jack Jacobs was advising a South Vietnamese infantry battalion when devastating fire disabled its commander. Wounded himself, Jacobs took charge and made repeated trips across open ground to bring out the injured, driving off enemy squads three times. President Nixon presented his Medal of Honor in 1969.

Jacobs retired as a colonel in 1987 and moved into finance. He was a founder and the chief operating officer of AutoFinance Group Inc., one of the firms that pioneered the securitization of debt instruments. The company was later sold to Key Bank. He went on to become a managing director at Bankers Trust, where he ran foreign exchange options worldwide.

Apply it: Bring a beginner’s eyes to an old industry. Jacobs entered finance in his forties and helped pioneer a new way to fund lending.

Learn more: Jack Jacobs, PBS American Valor

Composure: Maj. John Duffy, Founder of a Discount Brokerage Firm

In April 1972, Maj. John Duffy was the senior advisor to a South Vietnamese airborne battalion under siege in the Central Highlands. The battalion commander had been killed and Duffy had been wounded twice, yet he refused evacuation and kept directing the defense. The soldiers he served with credit him with saving the battalion from annihilation. His Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor on July 5, 2022.

As a civilian, Duffy was president of a publishing company. He then became a stockbroker and founded a discount brokerage firm that was eventually bought by TD Ameritrade. He has also published six books of poetry and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Apply it: Composure is a competitive advantage. The leader who stays calm when the plan falls apart is the one people follow, and the one buyers trust.

Learn more: Major John J. Duffy, U.S. Army Medal of Honor profile

Servant Leadership: Paul Bucha, Founder of Paul W. Bucha and Company

Capt. Paul Bucha, a West Point graduate with a Stanford MBA, led Delta Company against a far larger enemy force near Phuoc Vinh, Vietnam, from March 16 to March 19, 1968. He received the Medal of Honor in 1970. When he protested that he did not deserve it, a sergeant reminded him that his own men had nominated him and that he would wear it for them. That became his mantra.

Bucha ran international operations for Ross Perot’s Electronic Data Systems, then formed his own consulting firm, Paul W. Bucha and Company, in 1978. He expanded into real estate and developed Port Liberte on New York Harbor. His entrepreneurial career had peaks and valleys, and he later spoke publicly about seeking counseling for post-traumatic stress so other veterans would feel free to do the same. He died in 2024.

Apply it: Credit belongs to the team. Leaders who wear success on behalf of their people earn the loyalty that carries a company through the valleys.

Learn more: Paul Bucha, Thayer Leadership

Humility: Peter Lemon, Construction and Insurance Entrepreneur

Peter Lemon was born in Toronto and became an American citizen. On April 1, 1970, in Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam, the young assistant machine gunner fought off waves of attackers and was wounded several times. He seriously considered turning down the Medal of Honor, and he dedicates it to three comrades who died beside him.

For years, few of his college friends or neighbors knew he was a recipient. He simply went to work. Lemon spent three decades as an entrepreneur, owning businesses in the construction and insurance industries. Later he wrote the book Beyond the Medal and served as executive producer of a PBS special by the same name.

Apply it: Let the work speak. Lemon built his companies on performance, not on the most impressive credential an American can hold.

Learn more: Peter C. Lemon, official website

Versatility: Joe Foss, Founder of Joe Foss Flying Service

Marine Capt. Joe Foss grew up on a South Dakota farm without electricity and paid for flying lessons with odd jobs. At Guadalcanal he shot down 26 enemy planes in 63 days, and President Franklin Roosevelt presented his Medal of Honor in 1943.

Back in Sioux Falls, Foss opened Joe Foss Flying Service, a charter and flight instruction business that grew to 35 aircraft. He also co-owned a Packard dealership with a friend. Then he kept reinventing himself. He organized the South Dakota Air National Guard, served two terms as governor and became the first commissioner of the American Football League.

Apply it: Skills transfer. Foss carried the same leadership into aviation, retail, government and professional sports, and he never let one title define him.

Learn more: American Ace: The Joe Foss Story, South Dakota Public Broadcasting

Brand Building: William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Founder of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West

William F. Cody received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for gallantry as a civilian scout with the 3rd Cavalry. Congress rescinded his medal and other civilian awards in 1917, and the Army restored it in 1989.

In 1883 Cody founded Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a touring outdoor production that ran for three decades across the United States and Europe and made him one of the most recognized people of his time. His era, and the way his show portrayed Native Americans, are viewed more critically today. As a business case he offers two lessons. He was a brilliant brand builder, and he was a poor money manager. By 1913 the show had failed and he was deep in debt.

Apply it: A strong brand opens every door, and financial discipline keeps the doors open. A founder needs both.

Learn more: The William F. Cody Archive

How Entrepreneurs Can Apply These Medal of Honor Attributes

Fourteen lives, fourteen attributes. Here is how I would put them to work in a business this week.

• Resilience and perseverance: Write down the worst setback of the past year and the next move you will make because of it. Rickenbacker and Davis both kept building.
• Risk tolerance and initiative: Pick the one decision you have delayed for lack of perfect information, and make it. Meyer and Bush acted.
• Stewardship and lifelong learning: Invest in what you already own, including your own skills. Coolidge and Adkins played the long game.
• Readiness and resourcefulness: Keep your skills current and solve the problem with the tools on hand. Kettles and Taylor did both under fire.
• Innovation and composure: Question how your industry has always done it, and stay calm when the plan breaks. Jacobs and Duffy turned both into companies that were acquired.
• Servant leadership and humility: Give the credit away. Bucha and Lemon built trust that outlasted any single venture.
• Versatility and brand building: Carry your strengths into new arenas and make your name stand for something, as Foss and Cody did. Then guard the balance sheet.

None of these attributes requires a battlefield. They require a decision, repeated daily, to put the mission and the team first. That is what I mean by sacrificial success.

Frequently Asked Questions About Medal of Honor Veteran Entrepreneurs

How many Medal of Honor recipients became entrepreneurs?

No official count exists. This post profiles 14 recipients with documented records as founders or business owners, drawn from Army, Congressional Medal of Honor Society, museum and news sources. There are certainly more, especially among earlier generations whose business lives were never recorded in detail.

Is it the Medal of Honor or the Congressional Medal of Honor?

The official name is the Medal of Honor. The President presents it in the name of Congress, which is why many people call it the Congressional Medal of Honor. The recipients’ own organization, chartered by Congress, is named the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

What traits do Medal of Honor recipients share with successful entrepreneurs?

Discipline, sacrifice and service to a team are the common threads. The profiles above also show resilience after failure, comfort with risk, composure under pressure, resourcefulness and humility. These are the same attributes that help a founder survive hard seasons in a business.

Which Medal of Honor recipient built the largest business?

By scale, Eddie Rickenbacker. He bought Eastern Air Lines in 1938 and led it as chief executive until 1959, as it grew into one of the major airlines in the country. He also owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1927 to 1945.

Are any of these veteran entrepreneurs still active in business?

Dakota Meyer is the most active founder on this list, with ventures that include Own the Dash and Dash Hydrate. Chattanooga Printing & Engraving, the Coolidge family company, still maintains a website, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues under later ownership. Most of the other businesses were sold or closed years ago.

Honoring Veteran Entrepreneurs This Veterans Day

These 14 Americans did not need a second act. They had already given more than the country could ask. They built anyway. They made payroll, served customers, taught night classes, printed newspapers and created jobs in their hometowns.

To every veteran who has started a business, and to every veteran thinking about it: thank you for your service, and thank you for continuing it. The discipline you learned and the sacrifices you made are assets. The rest of us would do well to learn from them.

Sources

• U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient profiles
• Congressional Medal of Honor Society
• National Medal of Honor Museum
• How the Memory of His Fallen Brothers Powers Dakota Meyer’s Passion, Entrepreneur
• Col. Jack Jacobs profile, NBC News
• Man of Honor: Charles Coolidge, The American Legion
• Charles Kettles, Home of Heroes
• Peter C. Lemon, Home of Heroes
• HeroVet Paul W. Bucha, WeSalute
• Buffalo Bill, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains