Instituted: 1932 Criteria: Gallantry in action against an armed enemy of the United States or while serving with friendly foreign forces. Awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States or while engaged in military operations involving conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The level of gallantry required, while of a high degree, is less than that required for the Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross. The Silver Star is derived from the Army’s “Citation Star”, a 3/16 diameter Silver Star device. It was worn on the ribbon bar and suspension ribbon of the “appropriate Army campaign medal “by any soldier cited in orders for gallantry in action. Although most applicable to the World War I Victory Medal, it was retroactive to all Army campaign medals dating back to the Civil War. The actual Silver Star Medal was instituted in 1932 with the first award presented to General Douglas MacArthur, the Army's then-Chief-of-Staff. The Silver Star was designed by Rudolf Freund of the firm of Bailey, Banks and Biddle. On August 7, 1942, the award was extended to Navy personnel and, later that year, authorized for civilians serving with the armed forces who met the criteria specified in the initial regulation. The medal is a five-pointed star finished in gilt-bronze. In the center of the star is a three-sixteenths inch silver five-pointed star within a wreath of laurel, representing the silver [citation] star prescribed by the original legislation. The rays of both stars align. The top of the medal has a rectangular- shaped loop for the suspension ribbon. The laurel wreath signifies achievement, and the larger gilt-bronze star represents military service. The reverse contains the inscription FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION with a space to engrave the name of the recipient. The ribbon, based on the colours of the National flag, has a center stripe of red flanked by stripes of white which are flanked by blue bands with borders of white edged in blue. Additional awards are denoted by bronze or silver oak leaf clusters.
Burtell E SUHR was awarded the bronze and silver star. Anywhere i can find out why? He was 18th Infantry, 1st Division Headquarters Company. KIA August 16th 1944. I do know that a lot of the records were destroyed in a fire but would there be any records of this elsewhere? Can't find anything on google. thanks
From Home of Heroes website: Suhr, Burtell E. HQ, 1st Infantry Division, G.O. No. 105 (1944) I checked the 1st Division documents that are online. Unfortunately, the 1st ID GOs from 1944 skip from #103 to #108. You may be able to get GO #105 from the NARA in College Park. I also checked the 18th IR GOs and found him mentioned twice. Both are effective 6 Jun 1944, but one has him in HQ Company and the other in C Company:
Thats wonderful thank you. I'll check out NARA, hopefully it can be done via email because i live in France; Is it likely to mention what he did to be awarded the bronze and silver stars do you think?
Actually, you will probably need to have a researcher go to the NARA and obtain a copy for you. The NARA will only copy complete documents, not individual pages. If you look at the document for the Bronze Star which I attached to my previous post, it says the BSM was awarded to all those listed "for heroic achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy in the initial assault on the northern coast of Normandy, France, 6 June 1944:" As for the Silver Star, the only way to know why it was awarded is to get a copy of the GO.
Ok thanks i'll look into it. Are there any on line records for the 28th Div 110th infantry do you know? i'm looking for info on Bruno Kudranski but can't find what company he was in. Thank you
