Army of Occupation Medal

Army of Occupation Medal
Obverse of the Army of Occupation Medal
Awarded by the United States Army United States Air Force
Type	Service medal
Eligibility	Personnel of the United States Army and United States Air Force
Awarded for	30 or more consecutive days of duty in one of the occupied territories after World War II.
Status	Inactive
Clasps	Germany Japan
Statistics
Established	5 April 1946
First awarded	2 April 1947
Last awarded	2 October 1990
Precedence
Next (higher)	World War II Victory Medal
Equivalent	Navy Occupation Service Medal
Next (lower)	Medal for Humane Action
Service ribbon and campaign streamer

The Army of Occupation Medal is a military award of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department on 5 April 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany, Italy, Austria, or Japan. The original Army of Occupation Medal was intended only for members of the United States Army, but was expanded in 1948 to encompass the United States Air Force shortly after that service's creation. The Navy and Marine equivalent of the Army of Occupation Medal is the Navy Occupation Service Medal.

Although authorized in 1946, it was not until 1947 that the first Army of Occupation Medals were distributed. The first medal was presented to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had been the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Commander during World War II.

Because of the legal status of West Berlin as an occupied territory, the Army of Occupation Medal was issued for forty-five years until the unification of Germany in 1990, making it one of the longest active military awards of both the Second World War and the Cold War.

In addition, some recipients of the award were born two generations after the end of the conflict which the medal was designed to represent. Much like the National Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal has come to be considered a "multi-generational" award.