The Army of Occupation of Germany Medal is a type of decoration of the United States military which was created by the (55 Stat. 781) act of the United States Congress on November 21, 1941. The decoration recognizes those members of the U.S. military who served in the European occupation force following the close of the First World War.
The medal is retroactive by design and is awarded to any service member who performed occupation garrison duty in either Germany, or the former Austria-Hungary, between the dates of November 12, 1918 and July 11, 1923. The medal was primarily created due to the rising tension with Germany, between 1939 and 1941, and also as a means to honor the World War I service of General of the Armies John J. Pershing, whose likeness appears on the actual medal. Initially the blue edge stripe was wavy, to signify the Rhine River, but that proved impractical to mass produce and was changed to a straight line.
The first Army of Occupation of Germany Medal was presented to General of the Armies Pershing with retroactive presentations made to any service member upon application to the United States War Department. Ironically, less than three weeks after the medal was first authorized, the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor which led to another full-scale war with Germany, now allied with Japan.
Famous quotes containing the words army of, army, occupation and/or germany:
“Roach, foulest of creatures,
who attacks with yellow teeth
and an army of cousins big as shoes ...”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The army is always the same. The sun and the moon change. The army knows no seasons.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“... possibly there is no needful occupation which is wholly unbeautiful. The beauty of work depends upon the way we meet it—whether we arm ourselves each morning to attack it as an enemy that must be vanquished before night comes, or whether we open our eyes with the sunrise to welcome it as an approaching friend who will keep us delightful company all day, and who will make us feel, at evening, that the day was well worth its fatigues.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
“If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)