    
DEVICES AND ATTACHMENTS
Small metal devices are worn on the ribbon bar or medal suspension ribbon to denote additional awards, campaigns or service. These attachments come in the form of stars, oak leaf clusters, numerals or arrowheads. Each service has different devices and manner of attachments.
  
UNIT AWARDS & RIBBONS WITHOUT MEDALS
This is a special class of honors that comes as a ribbon only award since there is no medal associated with it. The first such awards were the Presidential Unit Citations established by the Army and Navy in World War II as a reward to units/ships cited for collective battle honors and as visual recognition to the individuals serving in these units or ships. All the services now have several ribbon-only awards for specific purposes (i.e., Recruiting Duty, etc.).
  
FOREIGN MEDALS
Beginning in World War I, the United States relaxed it's rule on military personnel receiving Foreign Medals. Since World War II, many foreign services medals have been authorized and they are listed under the Foreign Medal section of each service and examples usually shown in the sample displays.
COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS are just that. They are struck to commemorate a specific event or for a specific purpose. The 50th anniversary of World War II Commemorative Medal honors World War II veterans. The Korean War Service Commemorative not only honors Korean Veterans, but is struck in the form of the actual Korean War Service Medal offered by the Korean Government to U.S. troops, but refused by the War Department.
Finally, there are SKILL BADGES: marksmanship medals, ribbons and badges which denote various levels of skill. The Navy and Coast Guard use marksmanship medals, the Army and Marines use badges and the Air Force uses a ribbon.
The definitive guide to U.S. medals is United States Military Medals, 1939 to Present. |