For these actions, West was awarded the Medal of Honor just over a year later, on January 29, 1954. He was hesitant to receive the honor, believing that "if one was going to get a medal, everybody ought to have one. We all went, we all served." He was the second person from Greenup County to be conferred the Medal of Honor (after John W. Collier) and the first living recipient from that county.
