Mention in Dispatches

A member of the armed forces mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which is described his or her gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy.

In a number of countries, a servicemember's name must be mentioned in dispatches as a condition for receiving certain decorations.

In the British Armed Forces, the despatch is published in the London Gazette.

Soldiers of the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations who are mentioned in dispatches but do not receive a medal for their action, are nonetheless entitled to receive a certificate and wear a decoration. For 1914–1918 and up to 10 August 1920, the decoration consisted of a spray of oak leaves in bronze. This decoration was only established in 1919, but it had retroactive effect. From 1920 to 1993, the decoration consisted of a single bronze oak leaf, and in the Canadian Armed Forces still does. In a change introduced in 2014 to the British Armed Forces, multiple decorations may now be worn on a single campaign medal for those awarded since 1962. Prior to this change, even if the soldier was mentioned in dispatches more than once, only a single such decoration was worn. In Britain, since 1993, the decoration is a single silver oak leaf. In each case the decoration is pinned or sewn diagonally on to the appropriate campaign medal ribbon. If no campaign medal is awarded, the oak leaf is worn on the left breast of the dress uniform.

Prior to 1979, a mention in dispatches was one of the three awards that could be made posthumously, the others being the Victoria Cross and George Cross. If a man performed an act of an unusually high degree of heroism that led to his death, his commanders would know that any recognition of that act would be either the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth's highest decoration—and therefore the subject of much scrutiny, both before and after it was awarded—or else the MiD, the Commonwealth's lowest decoration – a decoration that did not even confer its own discrete medal. The 1979 reform removed the 'all or nothing' lottery.

Soldiers can be mentioned multiple times. The British First World War Victoria Cross recipient John Vereker, later Field Marshal Viscount Gort, was mentioned in dispatches nine times, as was the Canadian general Sir Arthur Currie. The Australian general Gordon Bennett was mentioned in dispatches a total of eight times during the First World War, as was Field Marshal Sir John Dill.

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