Navy Distinguished Service Medal

This article is about Navy-awarded Distinguished Service Medal. For other U.S. versions, see Distinguished Service Medal (United States).

Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Awarded by United States Navy
Type	Medal
Awarded for	"Distinguishing oneself with exceptional meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great responsibility."
Status	Currently Awarded
Statistics
Established	4 February 1919
First awarded	Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen, USMC 13 March 1919
Precedence
Next (higher)	Army: Distinguished Service Cross Navy: Navy Cross Air Force: Air Force Cross
Equivalent	Distinguished Service Medal: Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard
Next (lower)	Silver Star
Navy Distinguished Service Medal ribbon

The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps which was first created in 1919.^[1] The decoration is the Navy and Marine Corps equivalent to the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal. The Navy Distinguished Service Medal was originally senior to the Navy Cross, until August 1943 when the precedence of the two decorations was reversed.

The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is bestowed upon members of the Navy or Marine Corps who distinguish themselves by exceptionally meritorious service to the United States government in a duty of great responsibility.^[1] The term “great responsibility” implies senior military responsibility, and the decoration is normally only bestowed to senior Navy Flag and Marine Corps General Officers. The decoration is rarely awarded to enlisted personnel, and then only to those who hold extremely senior enlisted positions such as the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, or Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. Additional awards of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal ^[2] are annotated by gold award stars.

The first award of the decoration was a posthumous presentation to Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen, USMC, on March 13, 1919.

The first Navy enlisted man to be awarded the Distinguished Service Medal was Delbert D. Black. Master Chief Black was the 1st Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON).

Notable recipients

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

• David W. Bagley
• Ralph Austin Bard
• George Barnett
• Jeremy Michael Boorda (with 2 gold stars)
• Delbert D. Black (1st Master Chief Petty Officer Of The Navy)
• Omar Bradley
• Miles Browning
• Smedley Butler
• Richard E. Byrd
• Kirkland H. Donald (with 1 gold star)
• Charles A. Doyen (first recipient)
• Charles W. Dyson
• Thomas Edison
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Daniel V. Gallery
• Roy Alexander Gano
• Jonathan W. Greenert (with 1 silver star)
• John L. Hall, Jr.
• William F. Halsey, Jr. (with 3 gold stars)
• H. Kent Hewitt
• Frank B. Kelso II (with 2 gold stars)
• Ernest J. King (with 2 gold stars)
• Alan G. Kirk
• Henry Louis Larsen (with 1 gold star)
• Lewis G. Lee
• John A. Lejeune
• Douglas MacArthur
• Chester M. 'Whitey' Mack
• Mildred H. McAfee
• Bernard J. 'Barry' McCullough, III
• Joseph V. Medina
• Michael Mullen (with 1 gold star)
• John Murtha
• Wendell C. Neville
• Chester W. Nimitz (with 3 gold stars)
• Eric T. Olson
• Hyman G. Rickover (with 2 gold stars)
• Eli Thomas Reich (with 1 gold star)
• Joseph Rochefort (posthumously)
• Gary Roughead (with 1 gold star)
• Harry Schmidt (with 2 gold stars)
• Harold Rainsford Stark
• Clark Daniel Stearns
• James Stockdale (with 2 gold stars)
• David W. Taylor
• Patricia A. Tracey
• Pedro del Valle
• Alexander Vandegrift
• Russell R. Waesche
• Patrick M. Walsh
• Theodore S. Wilkinson
• James A. Winnefeld, Jr.
• Jerauld Wright (with 1 gold star)
• Elmo Zumwalt (with 2 gold stars)

See also

	United States Navy portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• Awards and decorations of the United States military

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "TITLE 10, Subtitle C, PART II, CHAPTER 567, § 6243". U.S. Code. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00006243----000-.html. Retrieved 2006-12-12. 
2. ^ "TITLE 10, Subtitle C, PART II, CHAPTER 567, § 6247". U.S. Code. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00006247----000-.html. Retrieved 2006-12-12. 

External links