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33-871: The command originated in September 1941, when the US Military Iranian Mission, led by Colonel Raymond A. Wheeler (US Army Corps of Engineers) was established. At this same time, the Iranian District of the North Atlantic Division was set up to provide construction support. In August 1942 the mission was re-designated as the Persian Gulf Service Command, and in December 1943 became the Persian Gulf Command. It subsequently came under

66-560: A Marine Corps fighter wing, received the SSM for his actions aboard USS  Franklin after the carrier was attacked by a Japanese dive bomber in March 1945. In the fall of 1944, President Roosevelt's close adviser Harry Hopkins , the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow W. Averell Harriman and a military attaché presented the SSM to Soviet Red Army artillery officer Alexei Voloshin, who was the first to cross

99-514: A foot deep, but had to pitch tents to sleep on the ground for the next six months until huts were built. The rainy season was followed by temperatures that rose as high as 100 degrees, accompanied by sand storms that lasted for up to a week, constantly changing the landscape. Between 1942 and 1945, the United States equipped Russia with 192,000 trucks and thousands of aircraft, combat vehicles, tanks, weapons, ammunition and petroleum products. Before

132-467: A naval aviator and a naval flight officer/radar intercept officer who had achieved this distinction, were eventually awarded the Air Force Cross and Navy Cross, respectively, in addition to SSMs previously awarded for earlier aerial kills. The Silver Star Medal is a gold five-pointed star , 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (38 mm) in circumscribing diameter with a laurel wreath encircling rays from

165-596: Is the United States Armed Forces ' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the successor award to the " Citation Star " ( 3 ⁄ 16 silver star) which was established by an Act of Congress on 9 July 1918, during World War I . On 19 July 1932,

198-702: The Department of Defense (DoD) refers to the decoration as the "Silver Star Medal". The Silver Star Medal is awarded for gallantry, so long as the action does not justify the award of one of the next higher valor awards: the Distinguished Service Cross , the Navy Cross , the Air Force Cross , or the Coast Guard Cross . The gallantry displayed must have taken place while in action against an enemy of

231-518: The Hoover Medal in 1958. The award's citation described Wheeler as a man who: typifies all that is best in leadership, training, experienced judgment, character and warm friendship in both the military engineer and the civilian engineer. His accomplishments throughout his life are outstanding, have brought great credit to his chosen profession, and mark him an eminent engineer of national and international recognition. His significant contributions include

264-520: The Secretary of War approved the conversion of the "Citation Star" to the SSM with the original "Citation Star" incorporated into the center of the medal. Authorization for the Silver Star Medal was placed into law by an Act of Congress for the U.S. Navy on 7 August 1942, and an Act of Congress for the U.S. Army on 15 December 1942. The current statutory authorization for the medal is Title 10 of

297-591: The Suez Crisis , and the construction of tens of thousands of miles of rail and highway through Iraq and Iran during the development of Allied supply lines from Europe to Russia during World War II. He was born to Stephen and Margaret ( née Maple) Wheeler in Peoria, Illinois on 31 July 1885. He attended the United States Military Academy , graduating 5th in his class in 1911, subsequently participating in

330-510: The 33rd Field Hospital at Anzio on 10 February 1944. Later that same year, Corporal Maggie Leones , a Filipino who later immigrated to the United States, received the medal for clandestine activities on Luzon ; as of 2016 , she is the only female Asian to receive a Silver Star. The next known servicewomen to receive the Silver Star were Army National Guard Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on

363-584: The Dnieper with his battery and was one of four junior Red Army officers who received the award. Three Army nurses that served in World War I were cited in 1919 and 1920 with Citation Stars for gallantry in attending to the wounded while under artillery fire in July 1918. In 2007, it was discovered that they had never been awarded their Citation Stars. The three nurses (Army nurses served without rank until 1920) were awarded

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396-835: The Marne in World War I , where he earned a Silver Star , and in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II , where he personally accepted the Japanese surrender in Singapore . During and after the war he held key roles in major engineering projects of the 20th century, to include construction of the Ledo Road , St. Lawrence Seaway , and Missouri Basin Program , the clearing of the Suez Canal during

429-493: The Silver Star Medal are denoted by bronze or silver oak leaf clusters in the Army and Air Force and by gold or silver 5 ⁄ 16 inch stars in the Navy , Marine Corps , and Coast Guard . The Department of Defense does not keep extensive records for the Silver Star Medal. Independent groups estimate that between 100,000 and 150,000 SSMs have been awarded since the decoration

462-517: The Silver Star Medal posthumously: An unknown number of servicewomen received the award in World War II. Four Army nurses serving in Italy during the war— First Lieutenant Mary Roberts, Second Lieutenant Elaine Roe , Second Lieutenant Rita Virginia Rourke, and Second Lieutenant Ellen Ainsworth (posthumous)—became the first women recipients of the Silver Star, all cited for their bravery in evacuating

495-557: The Silver Star upon becoming an ace (i.e., having five or more confirmed aerial kills), which entails the pilot and, in multi-seat fighters, the weapons system officer or radar intercept officer, intentionally and successfully risking his life multiple times under combat conditions and emerging victorious. However, during the Vietnam War , the last conflict to produce U.S. fighter aces: an Air Force pilot and two navigators/weapon systems officers (who were later retrained as Air Force pilots),

528-495: The United States Code , 10 U.S.C.   § 7276 for the U.S. Army, 10 U.S.C.   § 8294 for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and 10 U.S.C.   § 9276 for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The U.S. Army awards the medal as the "Silver Star". The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard award the medal as the "Silver Star Medal". Since 21 December 2016,

561-571: The United States, while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The Silver Star Medal is awarded for singular acts of valor or heroism over a brief period, such as one or two days of a battle. Air Force pilots and combat systems officers and Navy/Marine Corps naval aviators and flight officers flying fighter aircraft, are often considered eligible to receive

594-678: The center and a 3 ⁄ 16 inch (4.8 mm) diameter silver star superimposed in the center. The pendant is suspended from a rectangular shaped metal loop with rounded corners. The reverse has the inscription FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION . The ribbon is 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches (35 mm) wide and consists of the following stripes: 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) Old Glory red (center stripe); proceeding outward in pairs 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) white; 7 ⁄ 32 inch (5.6 mm) ultramarine blue; 3 ⁄ 64 inch (1.2 mm) white; and 3 ⁄ 32 inch (2.4 mm) ultramarine blue. Second and subsequent awards of

627-565: The command of a succession of engineer generals. Following the War Department's full militarization of construction, the Iranian District ceased to exist in May 1943. Three districts directly subordinate to the area command eventually replaced it. Eventually thousands of personnel worked in Iraq as well. Iran was already occupied by British and Russian troops who were guarding the oil fields and monitoring

660-739: The construction of the Panama Canal and working on engineering projects in Mexico with Douglas MacArthur , who was then a captain in the Corps of Engineers. He attended the United States Army War College from 1936 to 1937. At the time the United States entered World War II, Wheeler was developing a transportation network in the Middle East to ship munitions to the Soviet Union , which involved

693-523: The construction of the aircraft assembly plant at Abadan , Iran, the United States Army Air Forces flew A-20 medium bombers across the Atlantic to Abadan, where they were turned over to Russian flyers. Army engineers transformed the camel paths into a highway for trucks and improved the railroad with its more than 200 tunnels so trains could carry tanks and tons of other heavy equipment over

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726-418: The country were on alert to protect the leaders, and British, Soviet and American troops together prevented an alleged German assassination attempt at the conference. The PGC shoulder sleeve insignia featured a green shield, 3 1 ⁄ 4  inches high, with a 7 pointed white star above a red scimitar fimbriated in white bendwise, point up. The red scimitar, from the flag of Iran (or Persia) represented

759-585: The extensive rebuilding of the railroads and highways of Iraq and Iran. In autumn 1943, he was appointed to the South East Asia Command (SEAC) of the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II on the staff of Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten , Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia , where he served as principal administrative officer and directed construction of the Ledo Road . From February 1944, he served as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, replacing General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell , and

792-591: The insignia's original approval is not recorded in the Institute of Heraldry files. Correspondence dated 13 May 1944 indicates the insignia drawing may be declassified. The unclassified drawing was approved on 29 August 1944. Raymond A. Wheeler Raymond Albert Wheeler (31 July 1885 – 9 February 1974) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army Corps of Engineers and an engineer of international recognition. He fought in both World Wars, at

825-708: The monumental task of clearing the Suez Canal. He was made a member of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers , American Society of Mechanical Engineers , and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( I.E.E.E. ), vice president of the Society of American Military Engineers for 1949, and a member of the board of review of the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority . He

858-774: The mountains. In total, more than 4 million tons of Lend-Lease material entered the Soviet Union via the Persian corridor, making it a vital contribution to the Soviet war effort. The Command, in conjunction with the British Tenth Army and Soviet troops, also provided security for the Teheran Conference in the fall of 1943, the meeting of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt , British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin . Allied troops across

891-595: The pro-German Iranians ( Persians ). Adolf Hitler believed that German military forces could eventually take possession of the oil fields and the railroad that went through the mountains from the Persian Gulf to the Russian border. Conditions in Persia were foreign and inhospitable to the U.S. forces, with hotter temperatures than they had trained for. Those who arrived in the summer of 1942 met with pouring rain and mud more than

924-656: The projects he was consulted on was a 9,000-mile survey of Indus basin water resources. He commanded the United Nations Suez Canal Clearance Operations following the 1956 Suez Crisis . Wheeler's military awards included the Silver Star, the Air Medal , an Army Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Legion of Merit . He fought in France during World War I, for which he

957-459: The warlike spirit of the ancient Persians. The white seven pointed star is taken from the flag of the Kingdom of Iraq, and represents purity and the religion of the Middle East. The green color of the shield denotes the agriculture of Persia in antiquity, and also stands for Islam , the religion of both Iran and Iraq. The colors red, green and white are found in the flags of both countries. The date of

990-737: Was also a member of the chairman advisory board of the Mekong River Survey Mission in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, from 1960-1969, and an honorary member of American International Assurance . Wheeler died on 9 February 1974 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . Source: Silver Star The Silver Star Medal ( SSM )

1023-858: Was awarded the Silver Star and a Distinguished Service Medal . In 1945 Wheeler received the honorary title Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE, Military Division). 1947, he was honored as Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) for his construction of the Ledo Road. For his work in clearing the Suez Canal, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded Wheeler

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1056-621: Was established. Colonel David Hackworth who was awarded ten SSMs while serving in the Army during the Korean War and Vietnam War, is likely to be the person awarded the most SSMs. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was awarded seven SSMs for his service in France in World War I from February to November 1918 as a colonel and then brigadier general. Donald H. Russell, a civilian Vought F4U Corsair technical support engineer attached to

1089-700: Was the United States' representative in August 1945 at the Japanese surrender in Singapore . He served as Chief of Engineers for the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 4 October 1945 to 28 February 1949, managing major projects including the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Missouri Valley Development. Following his retirement from the Army in 1949, Wheeler joined the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as an engineering consultant; among

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