Awards and decorations of the United States Army

Awards and decorations of the United States Army are those military awards including decorations which are issued to members of the United States Army under the authority of the Secretary of the Army. Together with military badges such awards provide an outward display of a service member's accomplishments.

The first recognized medals of the U.S. Army appeared during the American Civil War and were generally issued by local commanders on an unofficial basis. The Medal of Honor was the first award to be established in regulations as a permanent Army decoration, complete with benefits. The Medal of Honor is the only Civil War era award which has survived as a decoration into the modern age.

Furthermore, the U.S. Army mandates that all unit awards will be worn separate from individual awards on the opposite side of a military uniform. The Army is the only service to require this separation between unit and individual decorations. All Army unit awards are worn enclosed in a gold frame.

The Spanish–American War was the first widespread award of campaign medals, both for service in the actual conflict and for participation in subsequent garrison and occupation duty. After the Spanish–American War, however, medals in the U.S. Army fell into disuse and, apart from a few peacetime Medal of Honor decorations, two medals for service in Mexico, or on the border, during the period 1911–17, plus the Civil War Campaign Medal and the Indian Campaign Medal, both finally authorized in 1907, there were no further Army decorations created until the First World War.

World War I saw the first widespread distribution of medals for combat, as the Medal of Honor returned awarded for bravery in battle against an enemy force. The Distinguished Service Cross was also created for those soldiers who had performed feats of bravery but not to the level required of the Medal of Honor. The only other medals of World War I were the World War I Victory Medal, accompanied by a confusing array of battle clasps to denote combat participation, and the very belated Army of Occupation of Germany Medal.

...
Wikipedia