Order of Glory

Order of Glory
Order of Glory medal 3rd class
Awarded by the  Soviet Union
Type	3 grade order
Eligibility	Red Army non-commissioned officers and air force junior-lieutenants
Awarded for	Bravery in the face of the enemy
Status	No longer awarded
Statistics
Established	November 8, 1943
First awarded	November 28, 1943
Total awarded	2,620 first class, 46,473 second class, 997,815 third class
Related	Order of Labor Glory (Civilian)
Ribbon of the Order of Glory , "Georgian Ribbon".

The Order of Glory (Russian: Орден Славы) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on November 8, 1943. It was awarded to non-commissioned officers of the Red Army as well as to junior lieutenants of the air force, for bravery in the face of the enemy. It became defunct with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1992, the Cross of St. George was revived to serve the same purpose of rewarding bravery in NCO's and enlisted service personnel.

The original statute from the 1943 decree establishing the Order stated that: "the Order of Glory is awarded to privates and sergeants of the Red Army, and to aviation second-lieutenants, who displayed glorious feats of bravery, courage and fearlessness in the battle for the Soviet Motherland."

The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 7, 1951 amended the ranks to read: "privates, corporals and sergeants" in lieu of "Sergeant" and "junior lieutenant" in lieu of "second lieutenant" for aviators.

The Order of Glory, which was modelled closely after the Tsarist Cross of St. George was divided into three classes. A person initially received the award third class, and would subsequently be promoted to higher classes for further acts of bravery; one who received all three classes was called a "Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory" (Russian: "полный кавалер ордена Славы"). Approximately 2600 individuals, including four women, attained the Full Cavalier status.

The Order of Glory was worn on the left side of the chest and in the presence of other medals of the USSR, immediately after the Order of the Badge of Honor. If worn in the presence of awards of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.

Below are the specific award criteria for both ground troops and aviators.

The badge of the "Order of Glory" was a five-pointed star with a central medallion: a golden star with a golden central medallion for the award 1st class, a silver star with a gilt central medallion for the award 2nd class, and a silver star with a silver central medallion for the award 3rd class. The central medallion featured the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, with a red enamelled five-pointed star at its top and a red enamelled scroll at the bottom bearing the word "GLORY" (Russian: СЛАВА). Laurel branches on each side along the medal circumference stopped just short of the red star. The reverse had the Cyrillic inscription for "USSR" (Russian: СССР) within a ring with a raised rim. The award serial number was etched above the ring on the reverse of the upper arm of the star.