THE ROMANCE OF MILITARY IXSIGXIA 



499 



designed to be worn by the holder of the 

 certificate to indicate possession of it, and 

 in this it differs from all our other deco- 

 rations, the certificate being the real re- 

 ward and the medal only the visible evi- 

 dence thereof. 



Any specially meritorious services ren- 

 dered by an enlisted man made him eligi- 

 ble for this certificate, whether it was an 

 act of gallantry in action not justifying 

 the award of the Medal of Honor or a 

 deed of heroism in time of peace, such as 

 saving life or property from fire, the sea, 

 or floods, at the risk of his life, or for 

 any other services rendered which, in the 

 judgment of the President, deserved a 

 reward. It therefore corresponded very 

 closely to the Navy Cross, except that its 

 issue was confined entirely to enlisted 

 men. 



The first Certificate of Merit was 

 awarded to Private John R. Scott, Com- 

 pany B, Second Dragoons, for heroism 

 at the battle of Cerro Gordo, in the Mex- 

 ican War, and a total of 545 were given 

 for services rendered in the Mexican 

 War. It is a reasonable inference that 

 quite a number of these would have been 

 awarded the Medal of Honor instead of 

 the Certificate had that decoration been 

 in existence at that time. The Navy was 

 never included in this reward. 



In July, 1918, Congress abolished the 

 Certificate of Merit and directed that all 

 enlisted men then holding one should ex- 

 change it for a Distinguished Service 

 Medal. It is a pity that it should have 

 been found necessary to do away with 

 our oldest reward, one which had been in 

 use for seventy-one years and was asso- 

 ciated with the Mexican, Civil, and Span- 

 ish Wars, with the Indian Campaigns 

 and the Philippine Insurrection. 



America's unique citation stars 



Every officer or enlisted man who is 

 cited in orders for gallantry in action, 

 under conditions not warranting the 

 award of a higher decoration, is entitled 

 to wear a silver star, 3/16 inch in diam- 

 eter, on the ribbon of the medal for the 

 campaign in which the citation was given 

 and on the corresponding service ribbon. 

 (See Victory service ribbon illustration, 

 page 505.) No other nation has anything 

 corresponding to this star, so it is a 



unique feature in decorations. It was in- 

 stituted in July, 1918, by act of Congress, 



The conditions should be clearly un- 

 derstood. In the first place, the citation 

 must be in orders issued from the head- 

 quarters of a force commanded by a gen- 

 eral officer of the United States Army : 

 secondly, it must be for gallantry in 

 action; and, finally, it cannot be worn if 

 a Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service 

 Medal, or Distinguished Service Cross is 

 given for the same act. These are re- 

 quirements of law and therefore, cannot 

 be disregarded. 



No specific award of the star is made : 

 the order citing the individual is itself the 

 award and constitutes all the authority 

 needed for wearing the star, provided the 

 three requisite conditions are fulfilled. 

 There can never be any question regard- 

 ing the first and third. However, the 

 second condition may require decision. 



THE STAR AS AN INDIVIDUAL DECORATION 



Many citations have been published in 

 orders praising entire units for gallantrv 

 in action ; nevertheless, citation stars are 

 not authorized in such cases. The star is 

 an individual decoration and can only be 

 worn for individual services ; gallantry on 

 the part of an entire unit is appropriately 

 rewarded by a decoration for the unit as 

 a whole rather than for the individuals 

 composing it. 



The citation star is not limited to the 

 World War. It can be worn for suitable 

 citation in any war, on the proper ribbon. 

 Formerly it was not the custom in our 

 country to issue such orders ; in fact, at 

 one time the War Department, in an offi- 

 cial communication, deprecated the publi- 

 cation of orders in praise of living offi- 

 cers. It was considered perfectly proper 

 in reports, but not in orders which are 

 made public ; consequently very few cita- 

 tions in orders were made prior to the 

 European War. 



TIN': VICTORY MEPAE 



During the spring of 1918, while hos- 

 tilities were still at their height, the differ- 

 ent allied and associated nations agreed 

 to adopt a medal which would be the same 

 for all, to commemorate the great war. 



This plan has two advantages : In the 

 first place, it is symbolical of the union 



