The 1st official American War Decoration...............

was began in 1782, when General George Washington established the "Badge of Military Merit" a.k.a "Decoration for Honor" .

There were only three of these awarded to soldiers after its institution, for their service during the American Revolutionary War. These three men were: Sergeant Elijah Churchill, Sergeant William Brown, and Sergeant Daniel Bissel. They were awarded this decoration on August 7/ 1782.

This decoration was a heart shaped and made of either purple cloth--purple silk, and had a silk edge with narrow lace. This decoration was sewn onto the recipients uniform.

There were 6 other medals given during the Revolution. One was to General George Washington for his "Beating the British at Boston", the next one was given to General Horatio Gates for winning the "Battle of Saratoga", and the last one was awarded to General "Light Horse" Harry Lee, (father of) future Confederate General, Robert Edward Lee, for his participation in the "Battle of Paulus Hook, New Jersey."

The other three medals were awarded to Militiamen, who captured the British Spy Major John Andre, while he was carrying the plans to West Point, which he recieved from Benedict Arnold. The Decoration for Honor badge was revived by the War Department as the Purple Heart on February 22/ 1932, on the 200th anniversary of General George Washington's birthday.

The award criteria for the Purple Heart was:

Purple Heart: is awarded for being wounded in action in any war or campaign under conditions which entitle the wearing of a wound chevron AND for those persons who perform any singularly meritorious act of extraordinary fidelity or essential service. Also, this award can only be awarded to a wounded person if the wound was recieved as a direct result, of enemy action.

[ 19 October 2002, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

 

Got your PM-thanks Carl
Although I am sure the criteria for the award has changed since then, as the Purple Heart is now only awarded for being killed/wounded in action against an actual enemy force.
It is no longer awarded for singular acts of merit-hence the institution of the:-

Army Commendation Medal
Soldier's Medal
Bronze Star
Silver Star
Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Cross

 

Correct but, a civilian that is doing a service for the govt and or military who is wounded by this country's enemy--is also still eligable.

These award criteria--to the best of my knowledge and research--are still exactly the same as laid down by those who originally did so.

Ill post the award criteria of the Bronze Star--Silver Star, Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force Crosses, And the Distinguished Service Cross. A bit later. The Criteria I listed for the P.H. was directly copied from a book I recently discovered at Barnes and Nobles that was written by an ex U.S.M.C. Colonel (retired).

 

Nice info, Carl! I have learned quite a lot about US armed forces in this forum. I hope it would remain this way.

 

Friedrich--I have more to come soon.

 

Bump

 

I'm pretty sure that Ernie Pyle got the Purple Heart....or at least his next of kin did. I wonder if there were any other civilian correspondants....

 

Hey, here are some American medlas from WWI:

 

Thank you Friedrich, and beautiful medals they are.

 

Even if they're Americans, they're quite pretty.