A Moment in Time . . .

Military Decorations and the Genesis of the Awards Program Submitted by LT Russell J. Graham, USPHS

Since the inception of the reorganized Marine-Hospital Service in 1871, uniformed personnel of the Service were authorized to wear military decorations and awards they earned prior to entry into the Marine-Hospital Service. However, personnel of the Marine-Hospital Service, which was reorganized as the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, and later reorganized to the Service we know today as the U.S. Public Health Service, were not authorized to earn military awards and decorations while serving as officers of the “Commissioned Corps” (Corps). Many Corps officers have served in forward areas of battle ranging from the Battle of Manila Bay to the front lines in Europe during World War I, but none were authorized to receive any military awards or decorations from the War Department or U.S. allies. However, several Corps officers distinguished themselves in these trying times and were recognized by foreign governments. Many foreign governments bestowed honorary knighthoods on Corps officers; however, upon return to the United States, many of these knighthoods (including the titles) and decorations associated with these highest of foreign honors were confiscated by the State Department. It was not until World War II that outcry about recognition of the achievements of Corps officers came from the U.S. Army of all places. In 1943, the Army petitioned a rather stunned Surgeon General Thomas Parran, Jr., who believed up to that point that Corps officers did not deserve military decorations, nor was he completely convinced that the Corps should be militarized. Colonel W. Lee Hart of the Army Medical Corps argued that “Public Health officers are assigned to the service with both the Army and Navy in time of national emergency, and function as an integral part of the organization to which they are assigned. Would it not therefore be proper that they should be entitled to such decorations and service medals as are authorized for the officers of the service to which they are assigned?” Colonel Hart was indeed successful in his argument for including Corps officers, as Surgeon General Parran was successful in securing wording in legislation and an Executive Order to allow Corps officers to receive military decorations. This action by Surgeon General Parran later paved the way to allow Corps officers assigned to the Department of Defense to receive military decorations and it ultimately lead to the establishment of the Public Health Service awards program, which was established in the 1960s.

Current Issue Front Page