World War II - Silver Star - Army Air Force

Silver StarThe Silver Star Medal is the United States' third-highest award exclusively for combat valor and ranks fifth in the precedence of military awards behind the Medal of Honor, the Crosses (Distinguished Service Cross/Navy Cross/Air Force Cross), the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (awarded by DOD), and the Distinguished Service Medals of the various branches of service. It is the highest award for combat valor that is not unique to any specific branch; it has been bestowed by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines. It may be given by any one of the individual services to not only their own members, but to members of other branches of service, foreign allies, and even to civilians for "gallantry in action" in support of combat missions of the United States military.

Due to the sheer number of WWII awards of the Silver Star (nearly 100,000 Army awards alone) we ask for your patience as we build this area of the database.

Of the nearly 5,000 U.S. Army Air Force recipients of the Silver Star we have identified, we will post from the linked pages below the full-text citations for these awards as we uncover them. To date we have obtained nearly 75 of these citations.

* Indicates Killed in Action (KIA), Missing in Action (MIA), Prisoner of War (POW), or Died Non-Battle (DNB)