American Campaign Medal

The American Campaign Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Originally issued as the “American Theater Ribbon”, the medal was intended to recognize those service members who had performed duty in the American Theater of Operations during World War II. A similar medal, known as the American Defense Service Medal existed for American defense service prior to the United States entry into World War II.

Criteria
The requirements for the American Campaign Medal were: a service member was required to either perform one year of duty (cumulative) within the continental borders of the United States, or perform 30 days consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days of duty outside the borders of the United States but within the American Theater of Operations. The American Theater was defined as the entirety of the United States to include most of the Atlantic Ocean, a portion of Alaska, and a small portion of the Pacific bordering California and Baja California.

The eligibility dates of the American Campaign Medal were from December 7, 1941 to March 2, 1946. Service stars were authorized to any service member who was engaged in actual combat with Axis forces within the American theater. This primarily applied to those members of the military which had engaged in anti-U-Boat patrols in the Atlantic.

The first recipient of the American Campaign Medal was General of the Army George C. Marshall.

Appearance
The American Campaign Medal was issued as a service ribbon only for the entirety of the Second World War, and was only made a full-sized medal in 1947.

The medal, made of bronze, is 1 1/4 inches wide. The obverse was designed by Thomas Hudson Jones. It shows a Navy cruiser underway with a B-24 Liberator bomber flying overhead. In the foreground is a sinking enemy submarine, and in the background is the skyline of a city. At the top of the medal are the words AMERICAN CAMPAIGN. The reverse of the medal, designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman, is the same design as used on the reverse of both the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. It depicts an American bald eagle between the dates 1941 - 1945 and the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The ribbon is 1 3/8 inches wide in oriental blue in the center is a 1/8 inch center stripe divided into thirds of old glory blue, white, and scarlet. Between the center and the edges are stripes of 1/16 inch in white, black, scarlet and white. Service stars are authorized for wear on the service and suspension ribbons for the American Campaign Medal.

Navy campaigns
Participation in these escort, antisubmarine, armed guard, and special operations entitle recipients to one campaign star for each participation:


 * Convoy ON 67 21 − 26 February 1942
 * USS Atik (AK-101) (antisubmarine operations) 27 March 1942
 * USS Asterion (AK-100) (antisubmarine operations) 22 March 1942 − 31 January 1943
 * Task Group 21.13 12 July − 28 August 1942
 * Convoy TAG 18 1 − 6 November 1942
 * Convoy SC 107 3 − 8 November 1942
 * Task Group 21.14 27 July − 10 September 1943
 * Task Group 21.15 24 March − 11 May 1944
 * USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136) (antisubmarine operations) 24 April 1945
 * USS Atherton (DE-169) and USS Moberly (PF-63) - 6 May 1945

Army campaigns
A bronze service star is authorized for participation in the antisubmarine campaign. To qualify individuals must have been assigned to or attached to, and present for duty with, a unit with antisubmarine campaign credit.