For
service rendered in peacetime, the term "key individual" applies to a narrower
range of positions than would be the case in time of war and requires evidence of
significant achievement. In peacetime, service should be in the nature of a special
requirement or of an extremely difficult duty performed in an unprecedented and clearly
exceptional manner. However, justification of the award may accrue by virtue of
exceptionally meritorious service in a succession of important positions.
Order of Precedence
The Legion of Merit is awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States without
degree and is worn after the Defense Superior Service Medal and before the Distinguished
Flying Cross.
Awards to members of foreign armed forces are made in the degree of Chief Commander,
Commander, Officer, and Legionnaire. The first two degrees are comparable in rank to the
Distinguished Service Medal and are usually awarded to heads of state and to commanders of
armed forces, respectively. The last two degrees are comparable in rank to the award of
the Legion of Merit to United States service members
Devices
Army and Air Force
Additional awards are denoted by oak leaf clusters.
Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard
Additional awards are denoted by gold stars five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, and
the Combat Distinguishing Device may be authorized.
Designer and Sculptor
The Legion of Merit was designed by Colonel Robert Townsend Heard and sculpted by
Katharine W. Lane of Boston, Massachusetts.
First Recipients
American
The first American recipient of the Legion of Merit was Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Ann
Agnes Bernatitus, USN, whose award was approved on October 14, 1942 based on her service
as a nurse during the campaign in the Manila-Bataan Peninsula areas from December of 1941
to April of 1942.
Foreign
Legionnaire
The first foreign recipient of the Legion of Merit in the grade of Legionnaire was
Lieutenant de Vaisseau A. Bergeret of the Free French Navy and commander of the Corvette
Roselys, whose award was approved on October 27, 1942.
Officer
The first foreign recipient of the Legion of Merit in the grade of Officer was Colonel
Johanes K. Meijer of the Royal Netherlands Army in Surinam.
Commander
The first recipient of the Legion of Merit in the grade of Commander was Brigadier General
Amaro Soares Bittencourt of Brazil, who received his award at Miami, Florida on November
7, 1942.
Chief Commander
The first person to actually receive the Legion of Merit in the grade of Chief Commander
was General Sir Kenneth A.N. Anderson, the British Army commander in North Africa, who
received his award on June 18, 1943.
Description and Symbolism
Obverse
A five-armed white enameled cross of ten points, each point tipped with a gold ball. The
cross is bordered in American Beauty red enamel. In the center of the cross, thirteen
stars on a blue field are surrounded by a circle of heraldic clouds. Between the arms of
the cross, a laurel wreath is tied in a bow between the two lower arms of the cross.
Between the wreath and the center of the medal, situated in each re-entrant angle of the
cross, are two crossed arrows pointing outward.
The basic physical form and name of the Legion of Merit was adapted from the French Legion
of Honor, which is also a white enameled cross of five arms tipped with balls. The field
of thirteen stars surrounded by clouds is taken from the reverse of the Great Seal of the
United States and represents the "new constellation," the description of the
young republic used by the Founding Fathers. The laurel wreath alludes to achievement, and
the arrows pointing outward represent armed protection of the nation.
Reverse
The same cross appears on the reverse, except it is not enameled. In the center of the
cross is a blank circular space defined by a rope border to be used for engraving the
recipient's name. Contained within a second rope border (forming a space between the two),
the raised inscription, ANNUIT COEPTIS MDCCLXXXII with each word being separated by a
bullet. In place of the wreath that appears on the obverse, there is a band bearing the
raised inscription, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, each word also separated by a bullet. In the
re-entrant angles of the cross, in the space between the band and the center of the medal,
are two crossed arrows pointing outward.
The words ANNUIT COEPTIS (He [God] Has Favored Our Undertaking) is taken from the front of
the Great Seal of the United States, and the date MDCCLXXXII (1782) refers to the year
General George Washington founded the Badge of Military Merit, from which the Legion of
Merit is descended. .
Ribbon
The ribbon is purple-red (American Beauty Red) edged in white. The color is modified from
that of the Purple Heart, which is also derived from General George Washington's Badge of
Military Merit. |
