Other than the awards to unknown soldiers of World War I, the Medal of Honor, the highest United States valor decoration, has not been awarded to a non-U.S. recipient. The highest valor decoration which non-U.S. individuals may receive is the service crosses of the services - the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, and the Air Force Cross. To date, no awards of the Air Force Cross have been made to non-U.S. individuals. The Army has awarded 440 Distinguished Service Crosses to non-U.S. individuals, with most of these having come in World War I (154) and World War II (258). The Navy and Marine Corps have awarded 124 Navy Crosses to non-U.S. individuals, again with most of these having come in World War I (100) and World War II (19). Among notable recipients of these decorations were:
Famous quotes containing the words recipients and/or gallantry:
“The proclamation and repetition of first principles is a constant feature of life in our democracy. Active adherence to these principles, however, has always been considered un-American. We recipients of the boon of liberty have always been ready, when faced with discomfort, to discard any and all first principles of liberty, and, further, to indict those who do not freely join with us in happily arrogating those principles.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“Age wins and one must learn to grow old.... I must learn to walk this long unlovely wintry way, looking for spectacles, shunning the cruel looking-glass, laughing at my clumsiness before others mistakenly condole, not expecting gallantry yet disappointed to receive none, apprehending every ache of shaft of pain, alive to blinding flashes of mortality, unarmed, totally vulnerable.”
—Diana Cooper (1892–1986)