The Navy Commendation Star or Navy Letter of Commendation Star was a Department of the Navy service device which was authorized in 1918 to be "placed" on the World War I Victory Medal. The Navy Commendation Star was issued to any service member of the Navy and Marine Corps who had been cited and commended by the Secretary of the Navy.
The Navy Commendation Star was a 3/16" silver star which was placed on the service and suspension ribbon of the World War I Victory Medal, above all battle clasps. When worn as a ribbon on a military uniform, the Navy Commendation Star was placed before all service stars. The Navy Commendation Star was identical to the United States Army Citation Star which was worn on the World War I Victory Medal to denote a soldier or a Marine (attached to the Second Division) was cited for gallantry in action and awarded a citation. Unlike the Citation Star, however, the Navy Commendation Star could not be converted to the Silver Star Medal (1932).
At the start of the Second World War, the Navy Commendation Star was declared obsolete and none were issued between 1941 and 1945. In the 1950s, the Department of the Navy began accepting applications from eligible World War I veterans authorized a Navy Commendation Star in order to be issued the Navy Commendation Ribbon with Metal Pendant and the Navy Commendation Medal (Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, 1994) starting in 1960.
Famous quotes containing the words navy, commendation and/or star:
“People run away from the name subsidy. It is a subsidy. I am not afraid to call it so. It is paid for the purpose of giving a merchant marine to the whole country so that the trade of the whole country will be benefitted thereby, and the men running the ships will of course make a reasonable profit.... Unless we have a merchant marine, our navy if called upon for offensive or defensive work is going to be most defective.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“Exhaust them, wrestle with them, let them not go until their blessing be won, and, after a short season, the dismay will be overpast, the excess of influence withdrawn, and they will be no longer an alarming meteor, but one more brighter star shining serenely in your heaven, and blending its light with all your day.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)