"Not Only Gallantry"

Last week the Navy announced its first award of the newest U.S. medal, the Legion of Merit, to Chief Nurse Anna Bernatitus for "courageous and outstanding performance of duty during the Manila-Bataan campaign, December 1941 to April 1942." The week before, President Roosevelt had awarded the Legion of Merit to an ally, Brigadier General Amaro Scares Bittencourt, onetime Brazilian military attache in Washington.

Authorized by Act of Congress last July the newest U.S. medal is "a five-pointed American star, of heraldic form, in red and white enamel, centered with a constellation of the 13 original stars on a blue enameled field breaking through a circle of clouds." The Legion of Merit is a sort of junior Distinguished Service Medal for noncombatants whose qualifications are "extraordinary fidelity and essential service," but whose duties do not carry the "great responsibility" required of those eligible for the D.S.M.

Like its combat equivalent, the Purple Heart, prettiest of all U.S. medals, which was re-created in 1932 chiefly for men wounded in action, the Legion of Merit's ancestry is traced to the oldest of U.S. decorations, George Washington's Badge for Military Merit (1782). Washington awarded his medal for "not only instances of unusual gallantry, but also of extraordinary fidelity, and essential service in any way."

Last week President Roosevelt also set up three World War II campaign medals: American (Western Hemisphere outside the U.S.), European-African-Middle Eastern, and Asiatic-Pacific. Anyone can wear a campaign medal who serves overseas any time between Dec. 7 and six months after the war.

The new medals brought the number of existing U.S. decorations to about 50, most of which are campaign medals (Cuban Occupation, Mexican Border, World War Victory Medal), some of which are not very distinctive (Defense Bar, open to anyone in service before last Dec. 7) and a few which are highly prized:

> The Congressional Medal of Honor. Only 129 (101 Army, 28 Navy) were awarded in World War I. In the present war five soldiers and 21 sailors have won Army or Navy Medals of Honor, twelve of them posthumously.

> The Distinguished Service Cross (Army) and its equivalent, the Navy Cross, for "extraordinary heroism . . . against an armed enemy."

>The Distinguished Flying Cross for aerial heroism, against either nature or the enemy.

> The Silver Star for gallantry in an action not warranting a D.S.C. or Navy Cross.

>For repeaters, an Oak Leaf Cluster or Gold Star (Navy) is awarded instead of another medal.

Besides these and the D.S.M., both services, particularly the Navy, give many lesser medals, such as the Soldier's Medal (for heroism not in combat, i.e., pulling comrades out of burning airplanes), Navy Good Conduct Medal, Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal, etc.

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