As Ed Haynes pointed out in the
Legion of Merit thread, the United Stated is a relative latecomer in developing an awards system. It has nevertheless managed to create a vast and complex system characterized by overlapping award criteria, "equivalent" awards that aren't really equivalent among the services, and some rather cheap looking designs and lowest bidder products. What follows is a rough overview of the various US decorations as they evolved over the years since World War One found us without as many doodads and gewgaws as our allies and enemies.
Before World War One
When the US entered World War One, it had exactly one true decoration, the Medal of Honor, which had been established during the Civil War (the Navy Medal of Honor was established on December 12, 1861; the Army MoH was established on July 14, 1862). There had been a few fairly exceptional awards previously - the original Purple Hearts (called the Badge of Military Merit) awarded during the Revolution and the Certificate of Merit (established on March 3, 1847), for example - but no general system of awards.
The New Award Pyramid
For the Army, such a system came into being on July 9, 1918. The Certificate of Merit was discontinued and the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the silver Citation Star were created. The Navy followed suit on February 4, 1919, creating the Navy Cross and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and authorizing the Silver Star. The Act also created a "Tiffany Cross" as an award for non-combat naval heroism, but this was abolished in 1942. The Air Force, established in 1947, received Army awards until August 10, 1956, when the Air Force Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross and Air Force DSM were established (the design of the Air Force MoH didn't come into being until 1965, though). Each service now had at the top of the award pyramid the MoH, and below it a lower valor award and a lower meritorious service award, and below these the silver citation star as an analog to a UK "Mention in Despatches" or the French Croix de Guerre.
The Silver Star Medal
The silver Citation Star was originally worn on the campaign medal ribbon. On July 19, 1932, the Secretary of War approved the Silver Star medal to replace the Citation Star. It was extended to the Navy and Marine Corps by Act of Congress on August 7, 1942. Another Act of Congress on December 15, 1942 placed the Silver Star medal for the Army into law.
The Purple Heart
The Purple Heart was reestablished on the bicentennial of George Washington's birth, February 22, 1932. Until early in World War Two, the Purple Heart could be awarded for meritorious achievement or service, and was not solely for being wounded or killed. Originally an Army award, by Executive Order on December 3, 1942, award of the Purple Heart was extended to the Navy, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard.
Aviation Awards
The Distinguished Flying Cross was established by the Air Corps Act on July 2, 1926 for acts of "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight." The Air Medal was established by Executive Order on May 11, 1942, as amended on September 11, 1942, as a lesser award, primarily for aerial achievement, to prevent the degrading of the Distinguished Flying Cross (this it managed admirably, but in WW2 and Vietnam the Air Medal itself became severely degraded into an aerial service rather than aerial achievement medal).
Medals for Non-Combat Heroism
An Act of Congress of July 2, 1926 established the Soldier’s Medal for acts of heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. The Navy and Marine Corps Medal, also for non-combat bravery, was authorized on August 7, 1942. The Airman's Medal, the USAF equivalent, was authorized on July 6, 1960.
The Bronze Star Medal
An Executive Order of February 4, 1944 created the Bronze Star. The Air Medal had been established two years earlier, reportedly to boost the morale of airmen, but had succeeded in lowering the moral of the poor bloody infantry, who didn't have any ribbons to impress the lasses at the local pub while they (the infantry, not the lasses) took breaks from preparing for D-Day. Gen. George C. Marshall had written to FDR: "The fact that the ground troops, Infantry in particular, lead miserable lives of extreme discomfort and are the ones who must close in personal combat with the enemy, makes the maintenance of their morale of great importance. The award of the Air Medal have had an adverse reaction on the ground troops, particularly the Infantry Riflemen who are now suffering the heaviest losses, air or ground, in the Army, and enduring the greatest hardships." And not getting laid.
Commendation Medals
The Army Commendation Medal was authorized by the Secretary of War on December 18, 1945, as the "Commendation Ribbon with Metal Pendant" and was redesignated the Army Commendation Medal on March 31, 1960. The Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal was authorized by the Secretary of the Navy on January 11, 1944 and was originally known as the "Navy Commendation Ribbon." A metal pendant was appended in 1950. On August 11, 1960, the name was changed to the Navy Commendation Medal and on August 19, 1994, it was changed to the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. The Air Force Commendation Medal was authorized by the Secretary of the Air Force on March 28, 1958. The Coast Guard Commendation Medal was authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury on August 26, 1947 as the "Commendation Ribbon with Metal Pendant" and redesignated the Coast Guard Commendation Medal on October 2, 1959. Additionally, for personnel assigned to the Department of Defense and various joint service activities, a Joint Service Commendation Medal was created on June 25, 1963.
Achievement Medals
An even lower grade of award, the first of these was the Navy Achievement Medal, created on May 1, 1961 as the "Secretary of the Navy Commendation for Achievement," renamed the Navy Achievement Medal on July 17, 1967, and on August 19, 1994, again renamed the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. The Coast Guard followed suit on June 4, 1968 and the Air Force on October 12, 1980. The Army Achievement Medal dates from April 10, 1981 and is distinguished from the other services' Achievement Medals in that it cannot be given for combat. The Army Commendation Medal remains the Army's lowest combat award. A Joint Service Achievement Medal was added on August 3, 1983.
Other Meritorious Service Awards
To eliminate non-combat related Bronze Star awards, the Meritorious Service Medal was established by Executive Order on January 16, 1969. It ranked immediately below the Bronze Star (although now the Purple Heart has moved up to that position).
Besides the various joint medals listed above, the Department of Defense established three medals in the 1970s for personnel in DoD and joint activities. These are: the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (July 9, 1970), equivalent to and ranking immediately above the services' Distinguished Service Medals; the Defense Superior Service Medal (February 6, 1976), equivalent to and ranking immediately above the Legion of Merit; and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (November 3, 1977), equivalent to and ranking immediately above the Meritorious Service Medal.
Unit Citations
The Navy Presidential Unit Citation was established by Executive Order on February 6, 1942 and promulgated by a Navy Department General Order on February 3, 1943. The Navy Unit Commendation was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy on December 18, 1944. A Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation was added on July 17, 1967. The Navy also has a Battle Efficiency Award, whose recipients wore an embroidered "E" on their sleeves. This was replaced by the Navy "E" Ribbon in 1976.
The Army's Distinguished Unit Citation was established by Executive Order on February 26, 1942 and was redesignated the Presidential Unit Citation (Army) on November 3, 1966. The War Department established the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque on August 23, 1944, and authorized wear of a golden wreath patch on the lower sleeve. The plaque was replaced by the Meritorious Unit Commendation in 1947, and a scarlet streamer was introduced for unit guidons that year, but stocks of the patch were not exhausted until 1966, so the current red ribbon in a gold frame for individual wear was not issued until then. The Army added the Valorous Unit Award, for acts of valor by a unit that would warrant the award of the Silver Star to an individual, on January 12, 1966.
There are a slew of other unit awards, but the criteria are rather complicated, and the description of the basic awards above leaves out a lot of detail, so I will stop for now. I also realize that as long-winded as this is, I've also left out a number of individual awards such as the Aerial Achievement Medal and the services' good conduct medals.
Summary of Awards System and Comments
With all of the additions, and a few tangents such as aviation awards and the services' non-combat heroism medals, the basic pyramid remains. At the top is the Medal of Honor and below it each service's principal valor award and principal merit award, and on down from there:
Lesser Valor Medals
- Distinguished Service Cross/Navy Cross/Air Force Cross
- Silver Star
- [Legion of Merit with "V" Device - Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard]
- Soldier's Medal/Navy & Marine Corps Medal/Airman's Medal/Coast Guard Medal (non-combat heroism)
- Bronze Star with "V" Device
- Joint/Army/Navy and Marine Corps/Air Force/Coast Guard Commendation Medal with "V" Device
- Navy and Marine Corps/Coast Guard Achievement Medal with "V" Device
Merit Medals
- Defense/Army/Navy/Air Force/Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal
- Defense Superior Service Medal/Legion of Merit
- Bronze Star (combat merit)
- Defense Meritorious Service Medal/Meritorious Service Medal
- Joint/Army/Navy and Marine Corps/Air Force/Coast Guard Commendation Medal
- Joint/Army/Navy and Marine Corps/Air Force/Coast Guard Achievement Medal
The Distinguished Flying Cross, whether for heroism or aerial achievement, ranks below the Legion of Merit; the Air Medal ranks below Meritorious Service Medal.
One thing to note about the pyramid: for valor awards, it is the degree of heroism which determines which medal is given, while for merit awards, rank tends to be the overriding criterion. This is not explicitly the case, but is in practice. The valor awards have some rank-based bias, but have been far more egalitarian. For merit awards, though, rank matters. Degrees of merit theoretically apply - whether a Staff Sergeant receives a Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal or Army Achievement Medal for a particular act of merit or period of meritorious service depends on actual merit, but there's a snowball's chance in hell that the staff sergeant would ever get a Distinguished Service Medal.
A quick perusal at recent statistics bears this out. To take one award, the Legion of Merit: in 2001, the Army awarded at least 1908 Legion of Merit medals (I say "at least" because the statistics don't include general officers). Of the 1908, 987 were received by field grade officers (526 to colonels, 417 to lieutenant colonels, and 44 to majors), one went to a captain and none went to lieutenants. Sergeants major received 388 (346 of these were retirement awards, for a career of service) and first sergeants received 144 (133 retirement). Sergeants first class received 13 (all retirement), staff sergeants 6, sergeants 2, corporals and privates none. The rest went to warrant officers (again, almost all to senior WOs and almost none to junior WOs). And another interesting observation: while the two LOMs to sergeants went to soldiers in combat units and were for meritorious acts, 5 of the 6 awards to staff sergeants were service awards to NCOs at the US Army Personnel Command, probably for scratching each other's backs.
Well, that's all for now. I hope this is of interest and/or of use and I hope there are some good comments out there on the US decorations system and its controversies.
Regards,
Dave
The US Awards System
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