- Time Period: Interwars Period
- Institution: 28 June 1941
- Country: United States
The American Defense Service Medal is a United States Armed Forces military award established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 28, 1941 (Executive Order 8808). The medal recognizes military service members who served on active duty between the dates of September 8, 1939 and December 7, 1941. There is a similar medal, called the American Campaign Medal, that was established in 1942 for operations during World War II.
Members of the United States Army and the Army Reserve and Army National Guard could receive this medal for any length of service provided that they were on orders to active duty for at least twelve months or longer and had passed their initial physical examinations. The Navy excluded reservists that had been on duty for less than ten dates.
The American Defense Service Medal Authorized Devices
There are several devices authorized for the American Defense Service Medal. These include:
- Foreign Service Clasp: For military service (Army) outside the continental limits of the U.S., including in Alaska. It’s a bronze bar 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) wide and 1+1⁄2 in (38 mm) long and has the words FOREIGN SERVICE inscribed.
- Base Clasp: For service (Navy and Marine Crops) outside the continental limits of the U.S., including Alaska or Hawaii.
- Fleet Clasp: For service (Coast Guard) on the high seas while regularly attached to any vessels of the Atlantic, Pacific, or Asiatic fleets or of Naval Transport Service and those operating directly under the Chief of Naval Operations. It’s a bronze bar 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) wide and 1+1⁄2 in (38 mm) long with the inscribed words FLEET.
- Sea Clasp: For all other vessels and aircraft (Coast Guard) not qualifying for the Fleet Clasp but that conducted patrols at sea regularly.
- “A” Device: For members of the Navy that served duty in actual or potential belligerent contact with Axis Powers between June 22 and December 7, 1941 in the Atlantic Ocean. The device could also be worn on the medal’s uniform ribbon.
- Service star: Worn in lieu of clasps when wearing the medal as a ribbon on a military uniform.
The American Defense Service Medal Design
The service ribbon design was approved by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Navy on January 7, 1942. The medal was designed by Mr. Lee Lawrie, a civilian sculptor from Easton, Maryland, and the model approved by the Commission of Fine Arts on May of the same year.
A similar medal, known as the American Campaign Medal, was established in 1942, for service in the American Theater during the World War II era.
The bronze medal measures 1 1/4 inches in width. On the obverse is a female Grecian figure symbolic of defense, holding in her sinister hand an ancient war shield in reverse and her dexter hand brandishing a sword above her head, and standing upon a conventionalized oak branch with four leaves. Around the top is the lettering “AMERICAN DEFENSE”. The reverse is the wording “FOR SERVICE DURING THE LIMITED EMERGENCY PROCLAIMED BY THE PRESIDENT ON SEPTEMBER 8, 1939 OR DURING THE UNLIMITED EMERGENCY PROCLAIMED BY THE PRESIDENT ON MAY 27, 1941” above a seven-leafed spray of laurel.
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