Mini Medals

[kiltimabar]

Could you please cite the government regulation to which you are referring? I only ask because a cursory search through the Federal Code has failed yield any regulation concerning non-government employees and the wearing of medals. If there is some government regulation prohibiting the wearing of medals by private citizens, I should like to know of it.

I believe the reference is to the Stolen Valor Act, 18 USC 704, as amended in 2005, which forbids, among other acts, the wearing, or falsely claiming to have been awarded, decorations and medals to which one is not entitled.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I believe the reference is to the Stolen Valor Act, 18 USC 704, as amended in 2005, which forbids, among other acts, the wearing, or falsely claiming to have been awarded, decorations and medals to which one is not entitled.

The Stolen Valor act makes the wearing of military decorations and medals by those who did not receive them, a criminal act.

It does not prohibit the wearing of medals, per se, by private citizens, although it does clearly restrict the wearing of military decorations and medals to those who are lawfully entitled to same. Having wasted several hours of my researcher's time this morning, it would appear that there is no U.S. Government regulation, other than the Stolen Valor Act, relating to, or regulating, the wearing of orders, decorations, and medals by private citizens. That being the case, a private citizen not wearing the uniform of one of the various military or naval forces of the United States, may wear any medals, to which they are lawfully entitled, in any manner they may choose.

[macwilkin]

And, to further add to Rathdown's post, members of the US Armed Forces may wear medals and decorations of some hereditary/honourary military societies, as per this law:

10 USC Sec. 1123

-EXPCITE-

TITLE 10 - ARMED FORCES
Subtitle A - General Military Law
PART II - PERSONNEL
CHAPTER 57 - DECORATIONS AND AWARDS

-HEAD-

Sec. 1123. Right to wear badges of military societies

-STATUTE-

(a) A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps who is
a member of a military society originally composed of men who
served in an armed force of the United States during the
Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War,
the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, or the
Chinese Relief Expedition of 1900 may wear, on occasions of
ceremony, the distinctive badges adopted by that society.

(b) A member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps who is
a member of the Army and Navy Union of the United States may wear,
on public occasions of ceremony, the distinctive badges adopted by
that society.

-SOURCE-

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 88.)

-- http://suvcw.org/mollus/uniform.htm

Regards,

Todd