The Army of Cuban Occupation Medal was a military award which was created by the United States War Department in June 1915. The medal recognizes those service members who performed garrison occupation duty in Cuba, following the close of the Spanish-American War.
To be awarded the Army of Cuban Occupation Medal, a service member must have performed duty within the geographical borders of Cuba between the dates of July 18, 1898 and May 20, 1902. The medal was primarily awarded to members of the United States Army, but was available to other branches of service under certain circumstances.
The first Army of Cuban Occupation Medal was awarded to Major General Leonard Wood. A similar post Spanish-American War occupation medal was the Army of Puerto Rican Occupation Medal. The Army of Cuban Pacification Medal was a similarly named decoration, but was awarded for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Cuba seven years after the close of the Spanish-American War.
Famous quotes containing the words army, cuban and/or occupation:
“Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“Because a person is born the subject of a given state, you deny the sovereignty of the people? How about the child of Cuban slaves who is born a slave, is that an argument for slavery? The one is a fact as well as the other. Why then, if you use legal arguments in the one case, you don’t in the other?”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“Wars will remain while human nature remains. I believe in my soul in cooperation, in arbitration; but the soldier’s occupation we cannot say is gone until human nature is gone.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)