Below is a random image of one of these military medals:
American medals are linked on this page. See the links at left for German, Soviet, and British medals.
U.S. medals, like medals of other countries, include two main categories:
Many of the American aces profiled elsewhere on this site earned the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, or the Silver Star.
Medal of Honor
The nation's highest decoration for valor, 3,549 have been awarded since the medal was created in 1862.
Distinguished Service Cross
2nd highest award for valor, for "Extraordinary Heroism in Connection with Military Operations Against an Opposing Armed Force." Established 1918.
Navy Cross
2nd highest award for valor, for "Navy or Marine Corps who distinguishes himself with extraordinary heroism not justifying the award of the Medal of Honor, ... " Established in 1919.
Silver Star
3rd highest award for valor, for "Gallantry in Action Against an Opposing Armed Force." Established 1918. Awarded to all services.
Distinguished Flying Cross
"For Heroism or Extraordinary Achievement while Participating in Aerial Flight." Established 1926. Widely awarded in WW2
Air Medal
"For Meritorious Achievement while Participating in Aerial Flight." Established 1942. Over 440,000 awarded by 8th Air Force in WW2.
Bronze Star
"For Heroic or Meritorious Achievement of Service, not involving aerial flight, in connection with Operations Against an Opposing Armed Force." Established 1944.
Purple Heart
"For being wounded in action in any war or campaign." Thus designated by FDR in 1942, although the decoration had existed previously.
The following were awarded for service in WW2:
Prisoner of War Medal
Created in 1985. Awarded retrospectively to WW2 POWs.
Women's Army Corps Service Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
In June 2000, President Clinton awarded an additional 20 Medals of
Honor to members of the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat
Team. This was the result of a re-examination of the files of dozens of
Japanese-American soldiers to see if any of them might have been denied
awards because of possible prejudice. One of these recipients was
Hawaii's U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye.
The 32nd Infantry Division, "The Red Arrow," earned 11
Medals of Honor, 157 Distinguished Service Crosses, 845 Silver Stars,
49 Legion of Merit, 78 Soldiers Medals, 1,854 Bronze Stars, 11,500
Purple Hearts, and 98 Air Medals.
During World War Two, the 101st Airborne Division spent 214
days in combat. In addition to 2 Medals of Honor awarded to Soldiers of
the 101st, the Division awarded 47 Distinguished Service Crosses, 516
Silver Stars and 6,977 Bronze Stars. Troopers of the 82d Airborne, the All Americans," were
awarded three Medals of Honor, 70 Distinguished Service Crosses, 894
Silver Star Medals, 2,478 Bronze Star Medals, and numerous foreign
decorations.
Airmen of the Eighth Air Force were awarded 17 Medals of
Honor, 226 Distinguished Service Crosses, 864 Silver Stars, 45,977
Distinguished Flying Crosses, 442,300 Air Medals, and 2,984 Bronze
Stars.
The 3rd Bombardment Group (of the Fifth Air Force) had
established an impressive record. Its personnel had earned a Medal of
Honor, 37 Distinguished Crosses, 187 Silver Stars, 159 Distinguished
Flying Crosses, 17 Bronze Stars, 24 Soldiers’ Medals, 640 Air Medals
and 257 Purple Hearts. In World War II, Navy Corpsmen earned seven Medals of Honor, 61 Navy
Crosses, 465 Silver Stars, and 982 Bronze Stars. Highly Decorated Units of WW2
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the famed Japanese-American
"Go for Broke" unit earned more than 18,000 individual decorations
including one Medal of Honor, 53 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588
Silver Stars, 5,200 Bronze Star Medals, 9,486 Purple Hearts, and eight
Presidential Unit Citations (the nation's top award for combat units).
WW2 American Medals for Sale
In Dec. 2008, I looked on eBay for World War 2 U.S. medals for sale, only looking at completed transactions. There were no completed listngs for DSC, Navy Cross, nor Purple Heart, which is one measure of how rare and precious those medals are.
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