Vietnam Military Merit Medal

Infobox Military Award
name = Vietnam Military Merit Medal


caption =Vietnam Military Merit Ribbon
awarded_by = South Vietnam
type = Medal
eligibility = Enlisted military personnel only
for = Soldiers who had performed extreme acts of bravery or had given their lives in armed combat with enemy forces of Vietnam.
status = Discontinued on April 30, 1975
description =
clasps =
established = August 15, 1950
first_award =
last_award = 1973
total =
posthumous =
recipients =
individual = National Order of Vietnam
higher = None
same =
lower = Vietnam Distinguished Service Order
related = Modelled after Médaille militaire


caption2 =

The Vietnam Military Merit Medal was the highest military decoration of South Vietnam during the years of the Vietnam War. Created August 15, 1950, the Military Merit Medal was modelled after the French Médaille militaire, and was the Vietnamese equivalent to the United States Medal of Honor and was authorized to those soldiers who had performed extreme acts of bravery or had given their lives in armed combat with enemy forces of Vietnam.

A stipulation of the Vietnam Military Merit Medal was that it could only be bestowed upon enlisted personnel. For military officers, the National Order of Vietnam was considered an equivalent decoration.

The United States military authorized the Vietnam Military Merit Medal as a foreign decoration and permitted the medal to be worn on U.S. uniforms. A high number of bestowals, however, were made posthumously as the medal was most often awarded to United States enlisted personnel who had been killed in action fighting the forces of North Vietnam or the guerrilla forces of the Viet Cong.

The Vietnam Military Merit Medal was last issued to U.S. personnel in 1973 and was discontinued after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. The decoration is now only available through private dealers in military insignia.

ee also

* Vietnam Service Medal
* Vietnam Gallantry Cross
* Vietnam Campaign Medal
* Awards and decorations of the United States military

External links

* [http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/host/vietnam/ Military Orders, Decorations, and Medals of the Republic of Vietnam]