July 3 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will posthumously award the Medal of Honor to two Union soldiers who on Wednesday took part in a successful operation against the Confederacy behind enemy lines during the Civil War.
The honors for Union Pvt. Philip G. Shadrach and Pvt. George D. Wilson, part of what is now known by historians as the Great Locomotive Chase, have languished for years as it was unclear why they were not initially considered and a House bill passed in 2008 to honor the soldiers in 2008 did not produce any action until now.
Descendants of both men will be on hand at the White House for the ceremony.
The soldiers are credited with infiltrating the Confederacy, hijacking a train and driving it 87 miles north, destroying railroad tracks and cutting telegraph wires along the way that hampered the South.
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