482 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



U. S. Official Photograph 



a hospital Foursome wearing the bronze badge oe courage 



Both the Red Cross nurses and their American soldier patients in this French hospital garden 

 have been decorated with the Croix de Guerre. 



controlled by the same rules of custom 

 and good taste which govern the wearing 

 of any decoration. 



THE ETIQUETTE OE WEARING DECORATIONS 



In uniform, a military man wears 

 medals and decorations only on full-dress 

 occasions, and then he is limited to those 

 awarded him by his own, an equal, or a 

 superior government ; medals of inferior 

 origin are not worn. To illustrate: a 

 soldier of the United States Army, in 

 uniform, should never wear a medal pre- 

 sented to him by a State, municipality, 

 or society, but only those of the Federal 

 Government or a co-ordinate foreign gov- 

 ernment. 



A State officer, on the other hand, in 

 uniform can wear a medal presented by 

 his own or any other State, in addition to 

 those given to him by the United States 

 or a foreign government, but he should 

 not wear either a municipal decoration 

 or a society badge. This is on the prin- 

 ciple that it is derogatory to the dignity 

 of the government whose uniform is 



worn to ornament it with a decoration 

 emanating from a subordinate authority. 

 For civilian wear, the rule is more 

 elastic, but the same general principle ap- 

 plies. As already stated, medals are worn 

 only on full-dress occasions — that is, 

 on occasions of ceremony. Applying this 

 to civil life, we have the custom that 

 decorations should be confined to appro- 

 priate ceremonious occasions. At such 

 times a personal decoration awarded by 

 a sovereign government is rarely out of 

 place, but a service medal would be ap- 

 propriate only if it was a military cere- 

 mony, a State or municipal medal only 

 at a State or municipal occasion, and the 

 badge of a society only at a meeting of 

 that society. 



SUBSTITUTES WORN EOR MEDALS 



The canons of good taste furnish the 

 best guide, and these will not be violated 

 if the decorations and medals worn are 

 limited to those which are strictly appro- 

 priate to the occasion. 



It is thus apparent that medals and 



