* Bronze Bauhinia Star, the lowest rank in Order of the Bauhinia Star, an honours system Hong Kong

The Bronze Star Medal or Bronze Star is an individual military decoration of the United States Armed Forces that may be awarded for acts of heroism, acts of merit, or meritorious service in a combat zone.

The Bronze Star Medal was established by Executive Order 9419, 4 February 1944 ( superseded by Executive Order 11046, 24 August 1962, as amended by Executive Order 13286, 28 February 2003 ).

The Bronze Star Medal may be awarded by the Secretary of a military department or the Secretary of Homeland Security with regard to the Coast Guard when not operating as a service in the Navy, or by such military commanders, or other appropriate officers as the Secretary concerned may designate, to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Coast Guard of the United States, after 6 December 1941, distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight —

The Bronze Star Medal is awarded only to service members in combat who are receiving imminent danger pay.

The Bronze Star Medal ( without the " V " device ) may be awarded to each member of the Armed Forces of the United States who, after 6 December 1941, was cited in orders or awarded a certificate for exemplary conduct in ground combat against an armed enemy after 7 December 1941.

Documents executed since 4 August 1944 in connection with recommendations for the award of decorations of higher degree than the Bronze Star Medal cannot be used as the basis for an award under this paragraph.

The Bronze Star Medal was conceived by Colonel Russell P. " Red " Reeder in 1943, who believed it would aid morale if there was a medal which could be awarded by captains of companies or batteries to deserving people serving under them.

President Roosevelt authorized the Bronze Star Medal by Executive Order 9419 dated 4 February 1944, retroactive to 7 December 1941.

Since the award criteria state that the Bronze Star Medal may be awarded to " any person ... while serving in any capacity in or with " the U. S. Armed Forces, awards to members of foreign armed services serving with the United States are permitted.

Thus, a number of Allied soldiers received the Bronze Star Medal in World War II, as well as U. N. soldiers in the Korean War, Vietnamese and allied forces in the Vietnam War, and coalition forces in recent military operations such as the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom and the Iraq War.

A number of Bronze Star Medals with the " V " device were awarded to veterans of the Battle of Mogadishu.

As a result of a study conducted in 1947, the policy was implemented that authorized the retroactive award of the Bronze Star Medal ( w / o " V ") to soldiers who had received the Combat Infantryman Badge or the Combat Medical Badge during World War II.

The basis for doing this was that the badges were awarded only to soldiers who had borne the hardships which resulted in General Marshall's support of the Bronze Star Medal.

In 2012, the US Air Force alleged that two of its female airmen were subjected to cyber-bullying after receiving Bronze Star Medals for meritorious non-combat service.

The awards sparked a debate as to whether or not the Air Force was awarding too many medals to its members, and whether the Bronze Star should be awarded for non-combat service.

The Air Force contended that meritorious service awards of the Bronze Star outnumber valor awards, and that it views awards on a case-by-case basis to maintain the integrity of the award.

The Department of Defense investigated the award of the Bronze Star Medal ( BSM ) by the USAF to some 185 individuals after operations in Kosovo in 1999.

The Bronze Star Medal was designed by Rudolf Freund ( 1878 – 1960 ) of jewelry firm Bailey, Banks & Biddle.

Additional awards of the Bronze Star Medal are denoted by oak leaf clusters in the Army and Air Force and 5 / 16 inch stars in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

The Bronze Star Medal with the " V " device is the United States military's fourth highest award for valor.

* Category: Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal

it: Bronze Star Medal

no: Bronze Star Medal

Category: Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal

Category: Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal

As a lieutenant from HMS Agincourt during the Egyptian war, he commanded a rifle company in the Naval Brigade at Ismailia and earned the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive's Bronze Star for this action.

Category: Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal

In the Middle Bronze Age an apparently " alphabetic " system known as the Proto-Sinaitic script is thought by some to have been developed in the Sinai peninsula during the 19th century BC, by Canaanite workers in the Egyptian turquoise mines.

Agate is one of the most common materials used in the art of hardstone carving, and has been recovered at a number of ancient sites, indicating its widespread use in the ancient world ; for example, archaeological recovery at the Knossos site on Crete illustrates its role in Bronze Age Minoan culture.

Though there was no Bronze Age city on the site, archaeology has detected human activity that is evident from the earliest Iron Age, circa 1100 BC.

Their non-Greek language is confirmed on the site by inscriptions in the Cypriot syllabary which alone in the Aegean world survived the Bronze Age collapse and continued to be used down to the 4th century BC.

There is little doubt that a Mycenaean megaron stood upon the hill during the late Bronze Age.

Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece around the Aegean Sea.

Crete is associated with the Minoan civilization from the Early Bronze Age.

A map of Cyprus in the later Bronze Age ( such as is given by J. L. Myres and M. O. Richter in Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum ) shows more than 25 settlements in and about the Mesaorea district alone, of which one, that at Enkomi, near the site of Salamis, has yielded the richest Aegean treasure in precious metal found outside Mycenae.

Dating to the Greek Bronze Age ( 13th century BC ), it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use.

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive.

It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal.

Though bronze is generally harder than wrought iron, with Vickers hardness of 60 – 258 vs. 30 – 80, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age ; this happened because iron was easier to find and easier to process.

Bronze is considerably less brittle than iron.

Bronze resists corrosion ( especially seawater corrosion ) and metal fatigue more than steel and is a better conductor of heat and electricity than most steels.

Bronze is nonmagnetic.

Bronze is still commonly used in ship propellers and submerged bearings.

Bronze is used to make bronze wool for woodworking applications where steel wool would discolor oak.

Bronze is the preferred metal for top-quality bells, particularly bell metal, which is about 23 % tin.

Bronze is also used for the windings of steel and nylon strings of various stringed instruments such as the double bass, piano, harpsichord, and the guitar ..

Bell Bronze is used to make the tone rings of many professional model banjos.

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons.

The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies.

The Harappan culture, which dates from 1700 BC to 1300 BC, overlapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age ; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately.