Legion of Merit | |
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Awarded by United States Department of Defense | |
Type | Medal |
Awarded for | exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements |
Status | Currently awarded |
Statistics | |
First awarded | 1942 |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | Defense Superior Service Medal |
Next (lower) | Distinguished Flying Cross |
ribbon |
The Legion of Merit is a military decoration of the United States armed forces that is awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued both to United States military personnel and to military and political figures of foreign governments. The Legion of Merit (Commander degree) is one of only two United States military decorations to be issued as a neck order (the other being the Medal of Honor) and the only United States decoration which may be issued in award degrees (much like an order of chivalry or certain Orders of Merit).[1][2]
The Legion of Merit is sixth in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations, and is worn after the Defense Superior Service Medal and before the Distinguished Flying Cross. In contemporary use in the U.S. armed forces, the Legion of Merit is typically awarded to Army, Marine Corps and Air Force general officers and colonels, and Navy and Coast Guard flag officers and captains occupying command or very senior staff positions in their respective services. It may also be awarded to officers of lesser rank and senior enlisted personnel, but these instances are less frequent and circumstances vary by service.
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Although recommendations for creation of a Meritorious Service Medal were initiated as early as September 1937, no formal action was taken toward approval.
In a letter to the Quartermaster General (QMG) dated 24 December 1941, the Adjutant General formally requested action be initiated to create a Meritorious Service Medal and provide designs in the event the decoration was established. Proposed designs prepared by Bailey, Banks, and Biddle and the Office of the Quartermaster General were provided to Assistant Chief of Staff (G1) (Colonel Heard) by the QMG on 5 January 1942.
The Assistant Chief of Staff (G1) (BG Hilldring), in a response to the QMG on 3 April 1942, indicated the Secretary of War approved the design recommended by the QMG. The design of the Legion of Merit (change of name) would be ready for issue immediately after legislation authorizing it was enacted into law.
An Act of Congress (Public Law 671—77th Congress, Chapter 508, 2d Session) on 20 July 1942, established the Legion of Merit and provided that the medal "shall have suitable appurtenances and devices and not more than four degrees, and which the President, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, may award to
The medal was announced in War Department Bulletin No. 40, dated 5 August 1942. Executive Order 9260, dated 29 October 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, established the rules for the Legion of Merit and required the President's approval for the award. However, in 1943, at the request of General George C. Marshall, approval authority for U.S. personnel was delegated to the War Department.
Executive Order 10600, dated 15 March 1955, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, revised approval authority. Current provisions are contained in Title 10, United States Code 1121.
The reverse of the medal has the motto taken from the Great Seal of the United States "ANNUIT COEPTIS" (He [God] Has Favored Our Undertakings) and the date "MDCCLXXXII" (1782) which is the date of America's first decoration, the Badge of Military Merit, now known as the Purple Heart. The ribbon design also follows the pattern of the Purple Heart ribbon.
Chief Commander | Commander | Officer | Legionnaire |
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Nationality |
Rank |
Name |
Force |
Date |
Comments |
Lieutenant-General | Kenneth A.N. Anderson, CB, MC | British Army | 18 June 1943 | ||
Generalissimo | Chiang Kai-shek | Chinese Armed Forces | July 1943 | ||
General | Bernard Law Montgomery, KCB, DSO | British Army | 6 August 1943 | ||
Temporary Air Chief Marshal | Sir Arthur William Tedder, GCB | Royal Air Force | 27 August 1943 | ||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Aleksandr Mikhajlovich Vasilevskij | Red Army | 22 June 1944 | ||
Chief Marshal Of Aviation | Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Novikov | Military Air Forces | 22 June 1944 | ||
Rear-Admiral | Sir Victor Crutchley VC, KCB, DSC | Royal Australian Naval Squadron | September 1944 | For exceptionally meritorious conduct 1942-44 in command of Task Force 44 in the Pacific | |
Air Marshal | Arthur Travers Harris, OBE, AFC | Royal Air Force | 17 October 1944 | Known as "Bomber" Harris; because of moral qualms, he was the only major British commander not to receive a peerage[4] after World War II. He instituted "area bombing"[5] of German cities in order to kill civilians and depress German morale. | |
King | George VI of the United Kingdom | British Armed Forces | 1945 | ||
Air Chief Marshal | William Sholto Douglas, GCB, MC, DFC | Royal Air Force | |||
Admiral of the Fleet | Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham Bt, GCB, DSO** | Royal Navy | First Sea Lord | ||
Admiral | Sir John Henry Dacres Cunningham KCB | Royal Navy | For gallant and distinguished service during the invasion operations in Northern Italy and the South of France. | ||
Admiral | Sir Bertram Home Ramsay KCB, KBE, MVO | Royal Navy | 15 January 1945 | For gallant and distinguished service whilst in command of the invasion operations on Normandy. | |
Acting Air Marshal | Sir Arthur Coningham KCB, DSO, MC, DFC, AFC | Royal Air Force | |||
Commander-In-Chief | Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah | Iraqi Armed Forces | 1 June 1945 | ||
Vice Admiral | Sir Philip Vian KBE, CMG | Royal Navy | 17 July 1945 | ||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Georgy Zhukov | Red Army | 1945 | ||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Ivan Stepanovich Konev | Red Army | 1945 | ||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov | Red Army | |||
Army General | Stanislav Giljarovich Poplavskij | Red Army | |||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Kirill Afanasievich Meretskov | Red Army | |||
Marshal of the Soviet Union | Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovskij | Red Army | |||
General | Andrey Ivanovich Yeryomenko | Red Army | |||
King | Michael I of Romania | Romanian Armed Forces | 1945 | ||
General | Charles De Gaulle | French Armed Forces | 24 August 1945 | ||
Emperor | Haile Selassie | Ethiopian Armed Forces | 1945 | ||
Vice Admiral | Sir Geoffrey Blake KCB, DSO | Royal Navy | 6 November 1945 | ||
Chief of Defence of Norway | Crown Prince Olav | Norwegian Armed Forces | 23 November 1945 | "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services from August 1944 to July 1945" | |
King | Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdur Rahman al Faisal Al Saud | Saudi Arabian Armed Forces | 18 February 1947 | ||
President | Miguel Aleman | Mexican Armed Forces | 1 May 1947 | ||
Shah | Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi | Iranian Armed Forces | 7 October 1947 | ||
General | Dragoljub Mihailović | Yugoslav Royal Army | 29 March 1948 | ||
General | Sir William Slim, GBE, KCB, DSO, MC, ADC | British Army | 1948 | ||
Prime Minister | The Rt Hon Robert Menzies, KC, MP | Australian Armed Forces | 1950 | ||
Field Marshal | Kodandera Madappa Cariappa | Indian Army | 1950 | ||
King | Paul I | Greek Armed Forces | 28 October 1953 | ||
President | Celal Bayar | Turkish Armed Forces | 27 January 1954 | ||
Field Marshal | Luang Plaek Pibulsonggram | Thai Royal Army | 2 May 1955 | ||
King | Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) | Thai Armed Forces | 28 June 1960 | ||
General | Kim Yong-Bae | Republic Of Korea Army | 14 February 1968 | For service April 1965 to March 1966. Revoked in commander degree and replaced with chief commander. | |
Minister | Kim Sung-Eun | Republic Of Korea | 9 December 1968 | For service March 1963 to June 1966 | |
President | Kenan Evren | Turkish Armed Forces | 27 June 1988 | ||
General | Wolfgang Schneiderhan | Bundeswehr | |||
General | Hilmi Özkök | Turkish Armed Forces | 2002 | ||
Major General | Tariq Khan | Pakistan Army | 9 December 2007 | ||
Admiral | Mohammad Anwar Mohammad Nor | Malaysian Armed Forces | |||
General | Gabi Ashkenazi | Israeli Defence Forces | 24 July 2008 | ||
General | Ashfaq Parvez Kayani | Pakistani Army | 1 January 2009 | ||
General | Babaker Shawkat B. Zebari | Iraqi Army | 7 January 2010 |
Nationality |
Rank |
Name |
Force |
Date |
Comments |
Brigadier General | Amaro Soares Bittencourt | Brazilian Army | 1942 | First recipient of this medal in any degree. | |
Wing Commander | Guy Penrose Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar | Royal Air Force | 3 December 1943 | WWII leader of the Dams raid (Operation Chastise) in 1943 | |
Lieutenant General | Władysław Anders | 2nd Polish Corps | 1 August 1944 | ||
Admiral | Sir Gerald Charles Dickens KCVO, CB, CMG | Royal Navy | 1945 | WWII Commander | |
Lieutenant General | Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg, VC, KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO | 2nd New Zealand Division, New Zealand Military Forces | 2 August 1945 | ||
Major General | Georges Vanier | 1946 | Canadian representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to France, later Governor General | ||
Major General | Stefan Pawel Rowecki | Armia Krajowa | 9 August 1984 | Awarded by Ronald Reagan posthumously forty years and one week after his death at the hands of the Gestapo. | |
General | Michel Roquejeoffre | French Army | 14 July 1991 | ||
General | Sir Peter de la Billière KCB, KBE, DSO, MC & bar | British Forces to the Middle East during Gulf War I | 14 July 1991 | ||
General | Alfred John Gardyne Drummond de Chastelain, OC, CMM, CH, CD | 1995 | In 1999, he was made a Companion of Honour by HM The Queen. He is the former Chief of the Defence Staff (Canada) for the Canadian Forces and he is the Chairman of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning since November 1995 for the Northern Ireland Peace Process. | ||
Lieutenant General | Peter Leahy | Chief of Army (Australia) | 2004 | ||
Commander-in-Chief | Mehmet Yaşar Büyükanıt | Turkish Armed Forces | 12 December 2005 | ||
General | Franciszek Gągor | Polish Armed Forces | 23 May 2008 | For exceptionally meritorious service as the Chief of Staff of the Polish Armed Forces from February 2006 to May 2008. | |
General | Toshio Tamogami | Air Self-Defense Force | 19 August 2008 | [6] | |
General | I.M. Elias Nino Herrera | Colombian Marine Corps | For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as Commandant of the Colombian Marine Corps. General Nino's cooperation and understanding have been a significant contribution to the mutual friendship between Colombia and the United States. | ||
Admiral | Giampaolo Di Paola | ||||
General de Ejercito (General of the Army) |
Paco Moncayo | For of his exceptionally superior performance as Chief of the Armed Forces Joint Command and his contribution to Ecuadorian history, politics and democracy | |||
General | Fidel Ramos | ||||
General | Alfredo Santos | Armed Forces of the Philippines | |||
General | Sir Phillip Bennett General John Baker General Peter Cosgrove |
Australian Defence Force | Chiefs of the Defence Force | ||
Rear Admiral | Leonard W. Murray | Canadian Northwest Atlantic | 1946 | Architect of the Battle of the Atlantic. | |
General | Hans-Otto Budde Adolf Heusinger Klaus Naumann Wolfgang Schneiderhan |
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General | Edgard de Larminat Alain de Boissieu Vincent Desportes Jean-Louis Georgelin |
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Brigadier General | Sharif Uddin Ahmed | Bangladesh Army | The first Bangladeshi General to receive this award for his outstanding service as the Defence Attache from 1985 to 1989 in Bangladesh Embassy, United States. | ||
General | Michael John Dawson Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham GCB, CMG, CBE, ADC, DL | Implementation Force in Bosnia | Former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) in the United Kingdom | ||
Air Chief Marshal | Sir Keith Rodney Park | Royal Air Force | WWII commander during the Battle of Britain and later Allied Air Commander South East Asia | ||
Major General | William Henry Evered Poole, CB, CBE, DSO | 6th South African Armoured Division | Unit is part of the 5th US Army during the Italian Campaign in World War II | ||
Admiral of the Fleet | Vladimir Vasilyevich Masorin | Russian Navy | |||
Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces | Sverker Göranson | Swedish Armed Forces | 2010 | For dedication and professionalism as supreme commander led the continuing transformation of the Swedish Armed Forces and the Swedish international operations. |
When the Legion of Merit is awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States it is awarded without reference to degree.
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