United Nations Service Medal
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The United Nations Service Medal is an international military decoration which was established by the United Nations on December 12, 1950. The decoration was the first international award ever created and recognized the multi-national defense forces which participated in the Korean War.
The United Nations Service Medal is awarded to any military service member, of an Armed Force allied with South Korea, who participated in the defense of Korea from North Korean aggression between the dates of June 27, 1950 and July 27, 1954. Military forces of the Netherlands are awarded to medal for service to January 1, 1955 and the militaries of Thailand and Sweden grant the award to July 27, 1955.
The ultimate award authority of the United Nations Service Medal is United Nations Commander-in-Chief of military forces in Korea. Most countries consider the United Nations Service Medal an automatic decoration, if some other Korean service award was bestowed, and generally award the medal without requesting permission through United Nations channels. For instance, in the United States Armed Forces, any service member awarded the Korean Service Medal is automatically granted the United Nations Service Medal.
On November 22, 1961, the United Nations officially changed the name of the United Nations Service Medal to the United Nations Korean Medal. This was as a prelude to the creation of a large number of subsequent United Nations Medals which are granted for various operations around the world.
Some countries, the United States among them, continue to refer to the decoration as the United Nations Service Medal in an effort to maintain consistency with older military files referring to the decoration by its original name.
Other Korean War service medals include the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and the Korean War Service Medal. The Korea Defense Service Medal is a United States military decoration awarded to those service members who have performed armistice duty from 1954 to the present.
