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Distinguished Service Medal (Army)
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The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility. The performance must be such as to merit recognition for service that is clearly exceptional. Exceptional performance of normal duty will not alone justify an award of this decoration.
Separate Distinguished Service Medals exist for the different branches of the military as well as a fifth version of the medal which is a senior award of the United States Department of Defense.
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Encyclopedia
The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility. The performance must be such as to merit recognition for service that is clearly exceptional. Exceptional performance of normal duty will not alone justify an award of this decoration.
Separate Distinguished Service Medals exist for the different branches of the military as well as a fifth version of the medal which is a senior award of the United States Department of Defense. The Army version of the Distinguished Service Medal is typically referred to simply as the "Distinguished Service Medal" while the other branches of service use the service name as a prefix.
For service not related to actual war, the term "duty of a great responsibility" applies to a narrower range of positions than in time of war, and requires evidence of conspicuously significant achievement. However, justification of the award may accrue by virtue of exceptionally meritorious service in a succession of high positions of great importance.
Awards may be made to persons other than members of the Armed Forces of the United States for wartime services only, and then only under exceptional circumstances, with the express approval of the President in each case.
Description
- The Coat of Arms of the United States in Gold surrounded by a circle of Dark Blue enamel, 1 ˝ inches in diameter, bearing the inscription "FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MCMXVIII".
- On the reverse is a scroll for the name of the recipient (which is to be engraved) upon a trophy of flags and weapons. The medal is suspended by a bar attached to the ribbon.
Ribbon
- The ribbon is 1 3/8 inches wide and consists of the following stripes:
- 5/16 inch Scarlet 67111;
- 1/16 inch Ultramarine Blue 67118;
- 5/8 inch White 67101;
- 1/16 inch Ultramarine Blue;
- 5/16 inch Scarlet.
- Additional awards of the Distinguished Service Medal are denoted by oak leaf clusters.
Criteria
- The Distinguished Service Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States Army, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility.
- The performance must be such as to merit recognition for service which is clearly exceptional.
- Exceptional performance of normal duty will not alone justify an award of this decoration.
- For service not related to actual war, the term "duty of a great responsibility" applies to a narrower range of positions, than in time of war, and requires evidence of conspicuously significant achievement.
- However, justification of the award may accrue by virtue of exceptionally meritorious service in a succession of high positions of great importance.
- Awards may be made to persons other than members of the Armed Forces of the United States for wartime services only, and then only under exceptional circumstances, with the express approval of the President in each case.
Components
- The following are authorized components of the Distinguished Service Medal and applicable specifications:
- Decoration (regular size): MIL-D-3943/7.
- NSN for decoration set: 8455-00-444-0007.
- NSN for replacement medal is 8455-00-246-3830.
- Decoration (miniature size): MIL-D-3943/7. NSN 8455-00-996-5008.
- Ribbon: MIL-R-11589/52. NSN 8455-00-252-9922.
- Lapel Button (metal replica of ribbon bar): MIL-L-11484/4. NSN 8455-00-253-0809.
History of the Distinguished Service Medal
The Distinguished Service Medal was authorized by Presidential Order dated 1918-01-02, and confirmed by Congress on 1918-07-09. It was announced by War Department General Order No. 6, 1918-01-12, with the following information concerning the medal: "A bronze medal of appropriate design and a ribbon to be worn in lieu thereof, to be awarded by the President to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the Army shall hereafter distinguish himself or herself, or who, since 1917-04-06, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility in time of war or in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States." The Act of Congress on 1918-07-09, recognized the need for different types and degrees of heroism and meritorious service and included such provisions for award criteria. The current statutory authorization for the Distinguished Service Medal is Title 10, United States Code, Section 3743.
Recipients
- Among the first awards of the Distinguished Service Medal for service in World War I, were those to the Commanding Officers of the Allied Armies:
- Marshal Ferdinand Foch
- Marshal Joseph Joffre,
- General Philippe Petain of France,
- General Arthur Currie of Canada
- General John Monash of Australia,
- Field Marshal Douglas Haig of Great Britain,
- General Armando Diaz of Italy,
- General Cyriaque Gillain of Belgium,
- General John Joseph Pershing.
More than 2,000 awards were made during World War I, and by the time the United States entered World War II, approximately 2,800 awards had been made. From July 1, 1941 to June 6, 1969, when the Army stopped publishing awards of the DSM in Department of the Army General Orders, over 2,800 further awards were made.
It should be noted that until the first award of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal in 1965, United States Air Force personnel received this award as well, as was the case with several other Army decorations until the Air Force fully established its own system of decorations.
Notable recipients
Because the Army Distinguished Service Medal is principally awarded to general officers, a list of notable recipients would include nearly every general and admiral since 1918, many of whom received multiple awards, as well as a few civilians prominent for their contributions to national defense. Among notable recipients below flag rank are: X-1 test pilot Chuck Yeager and X-15 test pilot Robert M. White, who both received the DSM as U.S. Air Force majors; Air Force Major Rudolph Anderson, the U-2 pilot shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis; director Frank Capra, decorated in 1945 as an Army colonel; actor James Stewart, decorated in 1945 as an Army colonel (later Air Force Brigadier General); Col. Wendell Fertig, who led Filipino guerrillas behind Japanese lines; Col. (later Major General) John K. Singlaub, who led partisan forces in the Korean War; and Maj. Maude C. Davison, who led the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor" during their imprisonment by the Japanese. Among notable civilian recipients are Harry L. Hopkins, Robert S. McNamara and Henry L. Stimson.
Notable foreign recipients include:
- Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, Field Marshal, British Army
- Albert I, King of the Belgians
- Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, General (later Field Marshal), British Army
- Pietro Badoglio, General, Italian Army
- William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, General, British Army
- Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, General (later Field Marshal), British Army
- Chiang Kai-shek, General, Chinese Army
- Winston Churchill, British Minister of Munitions (later Prime Minister)
- Harry Crerar, Lieutenant General, Canadian Army
- Andrew B. Cunningham, Admiral, Royal Navy
- Arthur Currie, Lieutenant General, British Army, commanding Canadian Corps
- Miles Dempsey, Lieutenant General, British Army
- John Dill, Field Marshal, British Army
- Freddie De Guingand, Major General, British Army
- Arthur T. Harris, Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force (later a Marshal of the Royal Air Force)
- Charles Mangin, General, French Army
- John Monash, General, Australian Army
- Bernard L. Montgomery, Field Marshal, British Army
- Frederick E. Morgan, Lieutenant General, British Army
- Louis Mountbatten, Admiral, Royal Navy (later Admiral of the Fleet)
- Charles F.A. Portal, Marshal of the Royal Air Force
- Arthur Tedder, Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force (later Marshal of the Royal Air Force)
- Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, General, French Army (later a Marshal of France)
- Sir Henry Worth Thornton, Major General, British Army (American born)
See also
External links
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