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Word ‘medal’ dropped from 4 medals

The embossed word “medal” will be removed from four campaign and service awards to make them more like all the others.

The Institute of Heraldry, which oversees the design of awards and decorations for all the services, will remove the word “medal” from the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal and Armed Forces Service Medal.

The change will align the designs of those decorations with other campaign and service medals, such as the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and the Kosovo Campaign Medal. While all the awards are officially called medals, the change means just that the word will not longer be part of the minting.

The Institute of Heraldry also will resize eight campaign and service medals that were designed 1/8-inch larger in diameter than normal. The larger medals gradually will be replaced by properly sized medals as current stocks are depleted. In addition, miniature versions of these medals will be resized from a 11/16-inch diameter, to 5/8 of an inch.

The larger medals are not obsolete and remain authorized decorations, according to the Defense Department.

The medals being resized are the Kosovo Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korea Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal and Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.

Historically, campaign and service medal pendants are 1¼ inches in diameter.

The only exceptions are the victory medals commemorating the end of World War I and World War II. These medals are 1 13/32 inches in diameter to enhance their stature, given the magnitude of the two world wars.

DISCUSS: Is this necessary?