| Silver Star Medal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Personal Valor Decoration |
| Awarded for | Gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States |
| Presented by | |
| Eligibility | United States Armed Forces personnel, foreign allied personnel and civilians serving alongside U.S. military personnel in combat |
| Reverse |  |
| Status | Currently awarded |
| Established |
|
| First award | August 1932 (WWI Army Silver Star conversion) |
 | |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | Army:Distinguished Service Medal (Army) Naval Service:Navy Distinguished Service Medal Air and Space Forces:Distinguished Service Medal (Air and Space Forces) Coast Guard:Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal |
| Next (lower) | Defense Superior Service Medal |
TheSilver Star Medal (SSM) is theUnited States Armed Forces' third-highestmilitary decoration forvalor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces forgallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.
The Silver Star Medal (SSM)[5] is the successor award to theCitation Star which was established by anAct of Congress on 9 July 1918, duringWorld War I. On 19 July 1932, thesecretary of war approved the conversion of the Citation Star to the SSM with the original Citation Star incorporated into the center of the medal.
Authorization for the Silver Star Medal was placed into law by an Act of Congress for theU.S. Navy on 7 August 1942, and an Act of Congress for theU.S. Army on 15 December 1942. The current statutory authorization for the medal isTitle 10 of the United States Code,10 U.S.C. § 7276 for the U.S. Army,10 U.S.C. § 8294 for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and10 U.S.C. § 9276 for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.
The U.S. Army awards the medal as the "Silver Star". The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard award the medal as the "Silver Star Medal".[6] Since 21 December 2016, theDepartment of Defense (DoD) refers to the decoration as the "Silver Star Medal".[5]
The Silver Star Medal is awarded for gallantry, so long as the action does not justify the award of one of the next higher valor awards: theDistinguished Service Cross, theNavy Cross, theAir Force Cross, or theCoast Guard Cross.[7] The gallantry displayed must have taken place while in action against an enemy of the United States, while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.[5]
The Silver Star Medal is awarded for singular acts of valor or heroism over a brief period, such as one or two days of a battle.[5]
Air Force pilots and combat systems officers and Navy/Marine Corps naval aviators and flight officers flying fighter aircraft, are often considered eligible to receive the Silver Star upon becoming anace (i.e., having five or more confirmed aerial kills), which entails the pilot and, in multi-seat fighters, the weapons system officer or radar intercept officer, intentionally and successfully risking his life multiple times under combat conditions and emerging victorious.[8] However, during theVietnam War, the last conflict to produce U.S. fighter aces: an Air Force pilot and two navigators/weapon systems officers (who were later retrained as Air Force pilots), a naval aviator and a naval flight officer/radar intercept officer who had achieved this distinction, were eventually awarded the Air Force Cross and Navy Cross, respectively, in addition to SSMs previously awarded for earlier aerial kills.[citation needed]
The Silver Star Medal is a goldfive-pointed star,1+1⁄2 inches (38 mm) in circumscribing diameter with alaurel wreath encircling rays from the center and a3⁄16 inch (4.8 mm) diameter silver star superimposed in the center. The pendant is suspended from a rectangular shaped metal loop with rounded corners. The reverse has the inscriptionFOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION. The ribbon is1+3⁄8 inches (35 mm) wide and consists of the following stripes:7⁄32 inch (5.6 mm) Old Glory red (center stripe); proceeding outward in pairs7⁄32 inch (5.6 mm) white;7⁄32 inch (5.6 mm) ultramarine blue;3⁄64 inch (1.2 mm) white; and3⁄32 inch (2.4 mm) ultramarine blue.[9]
Second and subsequent awards of the Silver Star Medal are denoted by bronze or silveroak leaf clusters in theArmy andAir Force and by gold or silver5⁄16 inch stars in theNavy,Marine Corps, andCoast Guard.[5][10][11]
The Department of Defense does not keep extensive records for the Silver Star Medal. Independent groups estimate that between 100,000 and 150,000 SSMs have been awarded since the decoration was established.[12]ColonelDavid Hackworth who was awarded ten SSMs while serving in the Army during the Korean War and Vietnam War, is likely to be the person awarded the most SSMs.[13]General of the ArmyDouglas MacArthur was awarded seven SSMs for his service in France inWorld War I from February to November 1918 as a colonel and then brigadier general. Donald H. Russell, a civilianVought F4U Corsair technical support engineer attached to aMarine Corps fighter wing, received the SSM for his actions aboardUSS Franklin after the carrier was attacked by a Japanesedive bomber in March 1945.[14] In the fall of 1944, President Roosevelt's close adviserHarry Hopkins, the U.S. Ambassador in MoscowW. Averell Harriman and a military attaché presented the SSM toSoviet Red Army artillery officer Alexei Voloshin, who was the first to cross the Dnieper with his battery[15][page needed] and was one of four junior Red Army officers who received the award.[16]
Three Army nurses that served in World War I were cited in 1919 and 1920 with Citation Stars for gallantry in attending to the wounded while under artillery fire in July 1918. In 2007, it was discovered that they had never been awarded their Citation Stars. The three nurses (Army nurses served without rank until 1920) were awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously:[17][18]
An unknown number of servicewomen received the award in World War II. Four Army nurses serving in Italy during the war—First Lieutenant Mary Roberts,Second LieutenantElaine Roe, Second Lieutenant Rita Virginia Rourke, and Second LieutenantEllen Ainsworth (posthumous)—became the first women recipients of the Silver Star, all cited for their bravery in evacuating the 33rd Field Hospital atAnzio on 10 February 1944.[19] Later that same year, CorporalMaggie Leones, a Filipino who later immigrated to the United States, received the medal forclandestine activities onLuzon;[20][21][22][23] as of 2016[update], she is the only female Asian to receive a Silver Star.[24]
The next known servicewomen to receive the Silver Star were Army National GuardSergeantLeigh Ann Hester in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy inIraq[19] and ArmySpecialistMonica Lin Brown in March 2008, for extraordinary heroism as acombat medic in theWar in Afghanistan.[19]
On November 12, 2024, Capt Lacie “Sonic” Hester,494th Fighter Squadron, was awarded the Silver Star for her role in the shootdown of more than 80 Iranian drones launched at Israeli cities, becoming the first female airman and 10th female U.S. military recipient of the Silver Star.[25]
Filipino WWII veterans and her family members mourn the passing of Cpl. Magdalena Estoista Leones, 95, who entered the history books as the only Asian female to have been awarded the Silver Star in World War II for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.
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