Silver Star

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United States military medal for gallantry in action

title: "Silver Star" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["awards-established-in-1932", "courage-awards", "military-awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-air-force", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-army", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-coast-guard", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-marine-corps", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-navy", "awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-space-force", "1932-establishments-in-the-united-states"] description: "United States military medal for gallantry in action" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Star" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary United States military medal for gallantry in action ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military award"]

FieldValue
nameSilver Star Medal
imageSilver Star medal.png
image_size150px
presenter{{Plain list
* United States Department of the Army{{cite weburl
* United States Department of the Navy{{cite weburl
* United States Department of the Air Force{{cite weburl
* United States Department of Homeland Security{{cite weburl
typePersonal Valor Decoration
eligibilityUnited States Armed Forces personnel, foreign allied personnel and civilians serving alongside U.S. military personnel in combat
awarded_forGallantry in action against an enemy of the United States
statusCurrently awarded
established{{Plain list
* {{start date1932
* {{start date1942
firstawardedAugust 1932 (WWI Army Silver Star conversion)
higherArmy: 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
lowerDefense Superior Service Medal
image2[[File:Silver Star Medal ribbon.svg
caption2Service ribbon
reverse[[File:Silver Star Medal Reverse.jpg
::

::callout[type=note] United States military decoration ::

| name = Silver Star Medal | image = Silver Star medal.png | image_size = 150px | caption = | presenter = {{Plain list|

The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.

History

The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the successor award to the Citation Star which was established by an Act of Congress on 9 July 1918, during World War I. On 19 July 1932, the secretary 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 the U.S. Navy on 7 August 1942, and an Act of Congress for the U.S. Army on 15 December 1942. The current statutory authorization for the medal is Title 10 of the United States Code, for the U.S. Army, for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and 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". Since 21 December 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD) refers to the decoration as the "Silver Star Medal".

Award criteria

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: the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, the Air Force Cross, or the Coast Guard Cross. 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.

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.

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 an ace (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. However, during the Vietnam 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.

;Unit award equivalent

Appearance

The Silver Star Medal is a gold five-pointed star, 1+1/2 in in circumscribing diameter with a laurel wreath encircling rays from the center and a 3/16 in diameter silver star superimposed in the center. The pendant is suspended from a rectangular shaped metal loop with rounded corners. The reverse has the inscription FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION. The ribbon is 1+3/8 in wide and consists of the following stripes: 7/32 in Old Glory red (center stripe); proceeding outward in pairs 7/32 in white; 7/32 in ultramarine blue; 3/64 in white; and 3/32 in ultramarine blue.

;Ribbon devices Second and subsequent awards of the Silver Star Medal are denoted by bronze or silver oak leaf clusters in the Army and Air Force and by gold or silver inch stars in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

Recipients

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Cheney_Presents_Silver_Star_to_Spc._Monica_Brown.jpg" caption="Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]], 2008"] ::

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. Colonel David 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. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was awarded seven SSMs for his service in France in World War I from February to November 1918 as a colonel and then brigadier general. Donald H. Russell, a civilian Vought F4U Corsair technical support engineer attached to a Marine Corps fighter wing, received the SSM for his actions aboard after the carrier was attacked by a Japanese dive bomber in March 1945. In the fall of 1944, President Roosevelt's close adviser Harry Hopkins, the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow W. Averell Harriman and a military attaché presented the SSM to Soviet Red Army artillery officer Alexei Voloshin, who was the first to cross the Dnieper with his battery and was one of four junior Red Army officers who received the award.

Female recipients

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 1932, they were authorized to exchange them for Silver Stars. 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 in 2007:

  • Jane Rignel – Mobile Hospital No. 2, 42nd Division, for gallantry in "giving aid to the wounded under heavy fire" in France on 15 July 1918
  • Linnie Leckrone – Shock Team No. 134, Field Hospital No. 127, 32nd Division, for gallantry while "attending to the wounded during an artillery bombardment" in France on 29 July 1918
  • Irene Robar – Shock Team No. 134, Field Hospital No. 127, 32nd Division, for gallantry while "attending to the wounded during an artillery bombardment" in France on 29 July 1918

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 Lieutenant Elaine Roe, Second Lieutenant Rita Virginia Rourke, and Second Lieutenant Ellen Ainsworth (posthumous)—became the first women recipients of the Silver Star, all cited for their bravery in evacuating the 33rd Field Hospital at Anzio on 10 February 1944. , she was the only Asian woman to receive a Silver Star.

The next known servicewomen to receive the Silver Star were Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq, Hester was the first woman in the Army to receive it for valor in combat.

On November 12, 2024, Capt. Lacie Hester was awarded the Silver Star for her role in the shootdown of 70 drones and three ballistic missiles launched at Israel, becoming the first woman in the Air Force, and the 10th woman in the U.S. military, to receive the Silver Star.

Other notable recipients

Main article: Recipients of the Silver Star}}{{div col

References

References

  1. (11 January 2018). "Army Regulation 600–8–22: Military Awards". Department of the Army.
  2. (18 September 2010). "SecNav Instruction 1650.1H: Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual". Department of the Navy.
  3. "Air Force Guidance Memorandum for Air Force Instruction (AFI) 36-2803, The Air Force Military Awards and Decorations Program". Department of the Air Force.
  4. "Coast Guard Military Medals and Awards Manual". Department of Homeland Security.
  5. (3 August 2010). "Fact Sheet: Silver Star Medal".
  6. "[[Code of Federal Regulations]]". Government Printing Office.
  7. (21 December 2016). "Department of Defense Manual 1348.33 Volume 3". Department of Defense Technical Information Center.
  8. Bergquist, Carl. (12 April 2008). "Korean War pilot receives Silver Star 56 years later".
  9. "Silver Star". Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army.
  10. (May 2008). "COMDTINSTM1650D Coast Guards Medals and Awards".
  11. (22 August 2006). "SecNav Instruction 1650.1H: Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual". Department of the Navy.
  12. "Silver Star Medal".
  13. Hackworth, Col. David H.. (December 2002). "Look Truth Right in the Eye".
  14. (7 November 1945). "First Civilian Wins Navy Silver Star". The New York Times.
  15. "Panzer Killers: Anti-Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front".
  16. "Rosguard celebrates the parade with 100-year-old front-line soldier, holder of the highest awards of the USSR and the USA".
  17. (1 May 2008). "The Overlooked Heroines: Three Silver Star Nurses of World War I". Military Medicine.
  18. (2 August 2007). "Daughter Accepts Silver Star Her World War I Nurse Mother Earned".
  19. Press, Associated. (25 March 2015). "Medic Stationed in Afghanistan Becomes 2nd Woman to Be Awarded Silver Star".
  20. Drummond, Tammerlin. (17 June 2016). "Filipina Silver Star winner, Richmond resident Magdalena Leones dies at 95". East Bay Times.
  21. . ["Magdalena Leones"](http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=88163).
  22. Nuval, Leonardo Q.. (1996). "Remember Them Kindly: Some Filipinos During World War II". Claretian Publications.
  23. Guillermo, Emil. (5 July 2016). "Magdalena Leones, Filipina WWII Silver Star Recipient Who Aided MacArthur, Dies in California". NBC News.
  24. . (21 June 2016). ["Only Filipina WWII US Silver Star recipient dies at 95"](http://globalnation.inquirer.net/140317/only-asian-female-wwii-us-silver-star-recipient-dies-at-95). *[[Philippine Daily Inquirer]]*.
  25. Simkins, J. D.. (16 June 2019). "This sergeant became the first woman in the US Army to earn a Silver Star for combat valor".
  26. Skovlund, Joshua. (2024-11-15). "Air Force captain becomes first woman in service history to receive Silver Star as crews honored for drone fight".
  27. (4 November 2015). "Battle joined: Army panel backs WWII vet's posthumous bid for Medal of Honor".
  28. O'Donnell, Maureen. "William J. Cullerton". [[Military Times]] Hall of Valor.
  29. "Barry McCaffrey".
  30. "Barry McCaffrey".
  31. "List of Silver Star Recipients".
  32. Williams, Rudi. (2004-03-25). "Korean War Double Hero Reflects on Life".

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awards-established-in-1932courage-awardsmilitary-awards-and-decorations-of-the-united-statesawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-air-forceawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-armyawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-coast-guardawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-marine-corpsawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-navyawards-and-decorations-of-the-united-states-space-force1932-establishments-in-the-united-states