I think there are a couple reasons for this award. First, Glories could be awarded by division commanders. When in a rush to get an award approved, or if the senior unit was unaccessable, then it may well have been considered prudent to award what could be awarded, rather than wait (though this one took long enough to award!) Also, the fact that it took so long to award may have been because she ended up in hospital for some reason and her unit couldn't get the award to her in time, which meant the delay in the awarding. Finally, Glories were a BIG deal when a soldier returned home. By this time, Red Banners and Red Stars had been significantly "devalued" as long-service awards, whereas to earn a Glory you had to actually be in combat... It was much more prestigious to go home to the old village wearing a Glory as a "real" combat veteran vice a Lenin/Red Banner/Red Star trio as a long-serving "benchwarmer." Were I a betting man, I would say she was nominated for the Red Banner and the award was sent up as such (or at least a Red Star.) Honestly, a Red Banner seems a bit excessive for the citation, and from my thought process above, I think that the opinion was that the Glory was a better combat award. Anyway, while the award was being routed through the chain of command, she ended up in hospital and the award was rushed through, to be bottom-lined by the division commander in order to get her at least "A" award before she was gone from the unit permanently. Well, she left and the award never caught up to her. Thus the reason it took so long to catch up - it was probably lost in filiing somewhere, she was unlocatable, and by the time she could be found (or perhaps she heard from another vet that she had been nominated for it?) it was 45 years later. Still, remarkable! Dave