Enlisted recipients of US DSM's

[John5813]

All,

Hope someone can help me with this. I am looking for a list of enlisted recipients of the Distinguished Service Medals of the various services except those that were replacement awards of the Certificate of Merit. I have found awards to the senior enlisted members of each of the services( including one with an OLC ). I have also found an award to Floyd Bennett for service in the arctic and awards of the Navy DSM to three enlisted marines during WWI. However I have read that the Navy DSM was awarded to 15 enlisted members during this period as were 2 Army DSM's. Thanks in advance.

John

[Dave Danner]

Joseph L. Lockard, one of the radar operators at Opana site on Oahu who detected the approaching Japanese attack force on December 7, 1941 but were dismissed by their command center, received the DSM in March 1942. He was a private on December 7 and had been promoted to staff sergeant by the time of the award. He was later commissioned, as his Congressional testimony in the Pearl Harbor investigation is as a 1st Lt., Signal Corps.

Four of the Soviet recipients of the DSM in 1944 were NCOs.

[John5813]

Thanks Dave. Would you happen to have the names of the Soviet recipients? Additionally, of the 2 Army DSM recipients one was from the 1st ID and the other from the 40th ID if anyone has access to the WWI histories of either division. Thanks again.

John

[Dave Danner]

Guards Sergeant Zainadin Khusnueldinov

Senior Sergeant Khait Khuzhmatov

Senior Sergeant Fyodor Kononovich Moskalenko

Senior Sergeant Vitalii Onufriyevich Polyakov

[John5813]

Thanks Dave.

[Wilco]

Guards Sergeant Zainadin Khusnueldinov

Senior Sergeant Khait Khuzhmatov

Senior Sergeant Fyodor Kononovich Moskalenko

Senior Sergeant Vitalii Onufriyevich Polyakov

Any further dates known on receiving the decorations an on the persons?

[Mike Page]

All,

Hope someone can help me with this. I am looking for a list of enlisted recipients of the Distinguished Service Medals of the various services except those that were replacement awards of the Certificate of Merit. I have found awards to the senior enlisted members of each of the services( including one with an OLC ). I have also found an award to Floyd Bennett for service in the arctic and awards of the Navy DSM to three enlisted marines during WWI. However I have read that the Navy DSM was awarded to 15 enlisted members during this period as were 2 Army DSM's. Thanks in advance.

John

WWI recipient:

Halyburton, Edgar M., SGT, Company F, 16th Infatnry, 1st Division DSM# 1425

This evidently was not a Certificate of Merit conversion.

[David S]

What about these guys who received the DSM in WW1

HARVEY, Alva L Staff Sgt US Army Air Svc

SHARP, George A Sgt Co A, 115 Engrs, 40 Div

Edited April 8, 2007 by David S

[Igor Ostapenko]

Hi,

How much Army DSM awarded for WWI

and how for WWII ?

Thank you !

[David S]

I have no numbers for WW2

The numbers for WW1 for the DSM is 1844, broken down as follows

Americans - 1075

Belgians - 31

British - 131

French - 316

Italians - 59

Japanese - 6

Other countries - 6

Members of the US Army in lieu of the Certificate of Merit - 220

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you !

May be you have numbers of another galantry awards ?

[JBFloyd]

The Army reported the following award numbers for 7 Dec 41-30 Jun 47:

MoH - 289

DSC - 4,434

DSM - 1,439

Silver Star - 73,651

Legion of Merit - 20,273

DFC - 126,318

Soldier's Medal - 12,485

Bronze Star - 395,379

Air Medal - 1,166,471

They reported only 1 DSM to an enlisted man, but this was a statisticla summary, so no names.

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you !

These awarding for WW2 only for USA soldiers ?

[Dave Danner]

For World War I:

MoH - 96 (90 to soldiers and 6 to Marines)

DSC - 6,430 according to the Army; 6,309 according to another source

Foreign recipients:

WW1

DSC - 154

Navy Cross - 100

WW2

DSC - 258

Navy Cross - 19

I don't think anyone knows how many Silver Stars or other awards below the DSM went to foreign recipients.

[JBFloyd]

These numbers are for US Army members. The summary also reported awards to other US services and by individual countries.

The summary was published as OMSA Medal Note No. 2 "Decorations Awarded by the United States Army to Army and Non-Army Personnel, 7 December 1941 through 30 June 1947: A Statistical Survey".

It breaks down awards by division and numbered Air Force, covering all decorations except the Purple Heart.

[Igor Ostapenko]

I have statistical summary of DSC Awards .

Somebody have some statistical summary of another bravery awards ?

[Igor Ostapenko]

WWII period DSM ?

[Igor Ostapenko]

DSC

[Dave Danner]

All,

Hope someone can help me with this. I am looking for a list of enlisted recipients of the Distinguished Service Medals of the various services except those that were replacement awards of the Certificate of Merit. I have found awards to the senior enlisted members of each of the services( including one with an OLC ). I have also found an award to Floyd Bennett for service in the arctic and awards of the Navy DSM to three enlisted marines during WWI. However I have read that the Navy DSM was awarded to 15 enlisted members during this period as were 2 Army DSM's. Thanks in advance.

John

Back to the original question: worth noting is that when the Navy Distinguished Service Medal was established, it outranked the Navy Cross. Also, both decorations could be given for heroism or meritorious service. The distinction between cross for heroism and medal for meritorious service did not come until later. Thus Navy practice initially differed from Army practice.

The majority of World War I-era Navy DSMs to enlisted personnel were for heroism. Here are the names I have:

Burger, Philip J. - Seaman 2nd Class

Christ, William B. - Chief Gunner's Mate

Fifer, Ursher L. - Hospital Apprentice 1st Class

Fitzgerald, Patrick - Fireman 1st Class

Gourlay, George - Chief Gunner

Groh, Edmund P. - Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class

Kyrkland, Karl V. - Boatswain

Mallon, John V. - Seaman 2nd Class

McCrisaken, Joseph B. - Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class (posthumous)

O'Connor, Charles L. - Chief Water Tender

Purdy, F.G. - Chief Carpenter

Vail, William T. - Engineer 2nd Class

Bogan, Henry S. - Sergeant, USMC

Smiley, Dean F. - Private, USMC

Wiman, Amil, Gunnery Sergeant, USMC

Boyce, William L. - Acting Machinist, USCG (posthumous)

As an example of the different criteria at the time, here is a Navy DSM citation for heroism:

And a Navy Cross citation for meritorious service:

[Igor Ostapenko]

DSM № 946 from France

[JBFloyd]

Unfortunately, not traceable through US records. However, "947" was issued to a French officer, so it is likely that this was too.

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thank you !

[John5813]

All,

Thanks for all the information. I've been wondering about those Navy awards for quite a while.

John