Certificate of Merit Medal

This military award, established by George Washington, was given in recognition of soldiers who displayed unusual gallantry or extraordinary fidelity.The legislation authorized brevets to non-commissioned officers and for privates who distinguished themselves in service "the President may in like manner grant him a certificate of merit, which shall entitle him to additional pay at the rate of two dollars per month.This created a dilemma for some soldiers, who applied for both awards, hoping to benefit from the pay increase included with the Certificate, in spite of the fact that military protocol restricted them to only one decoration.Adjutant General's Circular number 2 dated 11 February 1892 stated:[8] Medals of honor should be awarded to officers or enlisted men for distinguished bravery in action, while certificates of merit should, under law, be awarded for distinguished service, whether in action or otherwise, of a valuable character to the United States as, for example, extraordinary exertion in the preservation of human life, or in the preservation of public property, or rescuing public property from destruction by fire or otherwise, or any hazardous service by which the Government is saved loss in men or material.The last act recognized by a Certificate of Merit was May 1918, when Corporal Paul Scaletta made a water rescue of soldiers in dangerous surf condition at Ocean Beach, California.[3] The reverse of the medal bears the word, FOR MERIT surrounded by an oak wreath of two branches, the stems joined at the bottom by a bow.
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