A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of the military who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a higher status as the award usually involves deployment to a foreign region or service in a combat zone.
History[]
Campaign medals were first invented to recognize general military service in war, in contrast to meritorious decorations which were only issued on a small scale for acts of heroism and bravery. The first widespread use of campaign medals dates to the era of the Napoleonic Wars when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered a large number of ribbons and medals for issue to the soldiers serving under his command.
Campaign medals by country[]
- Australian campaign medals
- British campaign medals
- Canadian campaign medals
- Malaysian campaign medals
- NATO Medal refers to a number of campaign medals
- New Zealand campaign medals
- Philippines campaign medals
- Polish campaign medals
- South African campaign medals
- South Korean campaign medals
- Soviet campaign medals
- Sri Lankan campaign medals
- United Nations Medal refers to a number of campaign medals
- United States campaign medals are included in Awards and decorations of the United States military
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The original article can be found at Campaign medal and the edit history here.