Army - Streamers-1 (U.S.)

Last modified: 2002-10-12 by rick wyatt
Keywords: united states | streamers |
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• Overview

See also:

• U.S. Army flags
• Army Organizational, Rank, and Positional Flags List
• United States of America

Campaign or war service credits are awarded to units based on their participation in specific wars, campaigns or battles. The award takes the form of a streamer in the colors of the applicable campaign medal with an appropriate inscription for a campaign credit or without inscription for a war service credit. The latter credit is given for units which served in a designated theater of war but did not qualify for a campaign. Examples would be the WW II Asiatic-Pacific streamer with inscription LUZON (denoting participation in a 1944-45 Philippines campaign) or the same streamer without inscription (for a unit which remained in Hawaii throughout the war).

Unit decorations are awarded for gallantry or meritorious service, and their streamers bear the inscription of the action for which the unit was cited or (usually when an award is made for meritorious service rather than for gallantry) the theater or geographical area in which the unit served. Dates are added as necessary to distinguish among different awards of the same decoration. Examples would be the Presidential Unit Citation streamer with inscription NORMANDY (WW II era) or the Meritorious Unit Citation streamer with inscription VIETNAM 1968. The same practice is followed for foreign unit decorations, e.g. the French *Croix d'Guerre*.

Two other U.S. Army streamers which might be included as battle honors are the Combat Infantry Streamer and the Combat Medical Streamer. They are awarded to units when a specified percentage of their personnel have qualified for the Combat Infantry Badge and the Combat Medical Badge respectively.

U.S. Army streamers are carried on the staff of the organizational flag or color,