THE ROMANCE OF MILITARY INSIGNIA 



495 



tary establishment and in association 

 with it." 



THE FIRST RECIPIENTS OE THE DISTIN- 

 GUISHED SERVICE MEDAL IN AMERICA 



At that time the Secretary was present- 

 ing - the medal to the following officers 

 whose services, with one exception, had 

 been rendered entirely on this side : 



General March, the Chief of Staff of 

 the Army, adviser of the Secretary of 

 War, and who. under the authority of the 

 Secretary, \ r irtually controlled the entire 

 Army. He is the one exception referred 

 to, as he was Chief of Artillery in the 

 A. E. F. until March, 1918. 



General Goethals, of the General 

 Staff, who had complete charge of the 

 program for the procurement of supplies 

 for the entire army. 



General Jervey, of the General Staff, 

 who as Director of Operations was re- 

 sponsible for the preparation and execu- 

 tion of the plans for the organization of 

 personnel and the movement of the troops 

 to France. 



General Crowder, Provost Marshal 

 General, under whose direction the Se- 

 lective Service Act was put into opera- 

 tion and the draftees distributed under 

 instructions coming from the Chief of 

 Staff. 



General Hines, Chief of Embarka- 

 tion, who organized and administered the 

 embarkation service, which carried all 

 our troops overseas and returned them. 



General Black, Chief of Engineers, 

 who administered the entire military rail- 

 way service. 



General Gorgas, the Surgeon General. 



It can readily be seen that the services 

 of these seven officers and those serving 

 under them were as important in the 

 prosecution of the war as any which were 

 rendered on the fighting front. The 

 troops could not have been mobilized, 

 equipped, or transported to France unless 

 this work had been performed properly 

 in Washington. On the other hand, the 

 Secretary's remarks should not be inter- 

 preted as meaning that this medal is given 

 only to those who served ill the rear or 

 on this side of the Atlantic. The great 

 majority of those awarded have been to 



members of the A. E. F., to the com- 

 manding generals and staff officers who 

 have actually planned and executed the 

 different campaigns and battles. 



GENERAL PERSHING'S CITATION 



The following is the citation awarding 

 this medal to General Pershing: 



"By direction of the President, under 

 the provisions of the act of Congress ap- 

 proved July 9, 1918, the distinguished 

 service medal was awarded on October 

 21, 1918, to General John Joskpii Per- 

 suing, commanding general. American 

 Expeditionary Forces, as a token of the 

 gratitude of the American people to the 

 commander of our armies in the field for 

 his distinguished services, and in appre- 

 ciation of the success which our armies 

 have achieved under his leadership." 



The same order also conferred this 

 medal on Marshal Foch, the Commander- 

 in-Chief of the Allied armies: Marshal 

 Joffre, the victor of the first battle of the 

 Marne ; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, 

 the Commander-in-Chief of the British 

 armies ; General Petain, the Commander- 

 in-Chief of the French armies : Lieuten- 

 ant General Diaz, the Chief of Staff and 

 virtual commander of the Italian armies : 

 and Lieutenant General Gillain, the Chief 

 of Staff of the Belgian Army, King Al- 

 bert himself being the Commander-in- 

 Chief. These were the first Distinguished 

 Service Medals awarded, the first presen- 

 tation being to Marshal Foch. 



DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL AWARDED 

 TO A WOMAN 



It should also be observed that this 

 decoration can be awarded to women, and 

 the following is a citation illustrating 

 this: 



"By direction of the President and 

 under the provisions of the act of Con- 

 gress approved July 9, 1918, the distin- 

 guished service medal was awarded post- 

 humously to Miss Jane A. Dkeano for 

 exceptionally meritorious and conspicu- 

 ous service as director. Department of 

 Nursing, American Red Cross. She ap- 

 plied her great energy and used her pow- 

 erful influence among the nurses of the 

 count rv to secure enrollments in the 



