The Badge of Military Merit is considered the first military award of the United States Armed Forces. Although the Fidelity Medallion is older, after being issued to three soldiers for a specific event in 1780 it was never awarded again, so the Badge of Military Merit is often considered the oldest. The Purple Heart is the official successor decoration of the Badge of Military Merit.
Read more about Badge Of Military Merit: History, Recipients, Other Recipients, Status of Original Badges, Disuse
Famous quotes containing the words badge of, badge, military and/or merit:
“Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman,—repose in energy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman,—repose in energy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)