Talk:Legion of Merit

Chief Commander
the Legion of Merit is issued in the following degrees:

* Chief Commander - Chief of State or Head of Government

Peter de la Billiere was a Chief Commander. This seems to be possible error in this article.

Ian Smith
Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian Prime Minister, is a Grand Commander of the Legion of Merit (GCLM). I've linked it here but it occurs that it may not be the same Legion of Merit. Does anyone know? David | Talk 12:26, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Rear Admiral Rodger Simpson
Why was he removed? Is he not considered notable? ScreaminEagle 14:19, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Not particularly. The category for Legion of Merit recipients has something like 400-500 names, all of people considered notable enough to be in wikipedia. Not all deserve a mention in this article. Rodger Simpson, in that regard, is pretty low on the importance scale. Not to mention the editor who added that name has been making bizarre edits for some time, hyping the ship he was once stationed on - you guessed it, the USS Simpson. --Nobunaga24 01:32, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah, thank you for the explanation. It's article lists like these that leave me a bit uncertain as to how notable a wikiperson should be to be included, so I usually just stay away from them as a rule.  Are there any general guidelines that would help folks like myself know who can be appropriately "singled out" for lists like these and who doesn't make the cut? --ScreaminEagle 20:18, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I would say for these short lists in the award's main article, I would list (and this is just my rule of thumb) people more well known to the general public. In other words, a famous general, or even an actor who fought in a war, or someone notable for the uniqueness of their award - i.e. he was awarded 48 silver stars in his career (no one ever has been). Simpson meets none of the criteria; additionally (as stated above) the editor contributing that has been making a number of questionable edits - I no longer assume good faith from him ;)--Nobunaga24 00:33, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Notable Recipients
In my opinion the heading "Notable Recipients" is redundant and potentially insulting to recipients not listed. My thinking is that anyone who receives this decoration is obviously notable otherwise he or she would not have received the metal.Kinema 09:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm not so sure about that. My uncle received one, but I doubt anyone here has ever heard of him.  I also doubt he'd cry himself to sleep if you told him he wasn't notable, either.  It's not like the Medal of Honor; just getting one doesn't make you notable, at least not in the eyes of Wikipedia.  If they can't get an article of their own based on what they've done in their lives/careers, they're not notable.  So I think making the distinction is a good one.  It recognizes that many people have received the award, but these are the people who have received it and are also notable for other achievements in their lives.  --ScreaminEagle 16:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Republican Presidential Legion of Merit
Should we do a disambig for the political award of similar name and similar appearance? 155.84.57.253 (talk) 13:31, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Grand Commander
Is this similar to the Grand Crosses of other orders? Does it come with a breast star and sash? 130.195.5.7 (talk) 01:09, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, for one it's Chief Commander, not Grand Commander, and no, no sash is associated with the LOM. The award itself is worn on the right chest, if I'm not mistaken.  I don't know of any U.S. awards that are placed on sashes. --ScreaminEagle (talk) 18:04, 10 November 2008 (UTC)


 * The only U.S. decoration which comes with a sash is the Presidential Medal of Freedom "with Distinction". The sash however has only a rosette with 13 stars and no medal on it. The medal of enlarged size is worn as a star on the left breast. LukGasz (talk) 11:29, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

King Olav V of Norway
Can someone ad the late King Olav V of Norway to the list of notable recepiants.:

He receaved the US Legion of Merit award

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olav_V_of_Norway

http://www.kongehuset.no/c29380/artikkel/vis.html?tid=29386

Mortyman (talk) 04:52, 9 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I assume he was awarded the Chief Commander Legion of Merit as a head of state rather than in a military function? --ScreaminEagle (talk) 18:09, 10 November 2008 (UTC)


 * As a monarch he was C-in-C of the Norwegian Armed Forces. LukGasz (talk) 12:43, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Grafics
I wonder is my las edit good or is the file names bad. If so could some admin delete it and reupload with proper names so there will be no more misunderstandings? —Preceding unsigned comment added by RoclorD (talk • contribs) 19:55, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

--Don't know who could fix this, but the Chief Commander ribbon appurtenance is reversed with the Commander ribbon appurtenance. It should be gold for Chief Commander and silver for Commander, per listed information at http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/LOM1.html. PushkinsBarber —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.27.1.3 (talk) 22:11, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

article inconsistencies
The Medal of Honor page says: "The Medal of Honor is one of two military neck order awards issued by the United States Armed Forces, but is the sole neck order awarded to its members. The other is the Commander's Degree of the Legion of Merit, which is only authorized for issue to foreign dignitaries." while this page claims: "The decoration is issued both to United States military personnel and to military and political figures of foreign governments. The Legion of Merit is one of only six United States decorations to be issued as a neck order [...]" Is it 2 or 6 neck order awards? Is the LoM only for foreign dignitaries or not? 68.254.162.244 (talk) 02:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The Medal of Honor and the Legion of Merit are the only two Military neck orders, the others neck orders being civilian neck orders (though the only one I can think of is the Presidential Medal of Freedom)
 * Likewise, when awarded to US personell it is awarded without reference to rank or degree (and thus is effectively equal to the Legionnaire rank or degree). Only awards of the ranks or degree's of Commander or Chief Commander constitute the neck order portion of the award.  So, as a neck order, it is only awarded to foreigners.   The award itself, not as a neck order, IS awarded to both Americans (and to foreigners).
 * Gecko G — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.248.130.182 (talk) 02:32, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

Peruvian Generals awarded circa 1944
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jccvmi99/3737795826/

That's what the above link (and picture) claims. Seems to be correct. The two people would be:
 * Cesar de la Fuente, Peruvian War Minister.
 * Fernando Melgar, Peruvian Minister of Aviation.

However, I'm not sure what rank of the decoration they got.

Anyway, this is more than anything to serve as a foundation for anyone who is interested in actually looking up the information. Cheers!-- MarshalN20 | T a l k 20:03, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Legion of Merit Orders HEADQUARTERS EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS GO 100 UNITED STATES ARMY 25 MAY 1945 LEGION OF MERIT. By direction of the President, under the provisions of AR 600-45, 22 September 1943, as amended, the Legion of Merit is awarded, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services during the respective periods indicated, to: First Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy (then Staff Sergeant and Second Lieutenant) (Army Serial No 01692509), Infantry, United States Army — 22 January 1944 to 18 February 1945. BY COMMAND OF GENERAL EISENHOWER: T.B. Larkin, OFFICIAL: Major General USA, Deputy Chief of Staff. /s/ R.B. LOVETT Brigadier General, USA, Adjutant General. Citation For Legion of Merit ”First Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy (then Staff Sergeant, and Second Lieutenant) (Army Serial No 01692509), Infantry, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services in Italy and France, as Platoon Sergeant, Platoon Leader and Company Commander of Company “B”, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, from 22 January 1944 to 18 February 1945. First Lieutenant Murphy has always carried out his missions, no matter how hazardous, with marked ability. He often assumed leadership of his platoon in the absence of sufficient commissioned personnel and so intelligently and courageously led his men that he was commissioned an officer during the French campaign and commanded his company in a superior manner during the obliteration of the Colmar Pocket. First Lieutenant —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.247.205.244 (talk) 03:47, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Recipients of Legion of Merit
Is the link at the bottom of the article listing the recipients of the LoM supposed to be all-inclusive? Because it isn't so far. How does one go about editing the actual list?

Martin Clemens recently issued an open letter to the people of the Solomon Islands where he worked as a Coast Watcher during WWII (http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2006/482/). He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his services during the Guadalcanal campaign. A precise of his story is available on the US Marine Raiders page: (http://www.usmarineraiders.org/book1.htm). The list needs to be updated (as per the previous post). (unsigned post)


 * The recent removal of all the recipients was probably not the best idea.  It should be restored if possible into its own article as there is a lot of interesting material in that list. -OberRanks (talk) 20:37, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Please add Neo Kian Hong, retired Lieutenant General, Singapore Armed Forces to the list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Foxhound66 (talk • contribs) 14:34, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Officer
Washington D.C. on 8 April 1948th U.S. General A. P. Boling in the name of U.S. President Harry Truman delivered the  U.S. medal  Legion of Merit of the third degree  to Colonel Živan Knezević, Chief of the Military Cabinet of the Government of Slobodan Jovanović in London during the war, in which General Draža Mihailović was a minister of the army, navy and air force.--Свифт (talk) 19:34, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

non-notables?
Hi ... we have a few names listed that both lack refs, and are not blue-links. I would suggest that they be deleted (or tagged, and then deleted if refs are not provided).--Epeefleche (talk) 04:14, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Lt. General Guy Simonds
If someone could add Lieutenant General Guy Simonds to the list of recipients of The Commander Degree of the Legion of Merit Medal, that would be great. I don't see any reason why he would not be listed under the notable recipients.

IDF Chief of staff should be added
Current IDF chief of staff Binyamin Gantz was awarded the Legion of Merit today. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.13.100.194 (talk) 18:01, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Color
Noticing that Frank Kelso had more ribbons in the picture than awards mentioned in the article, I set about reconciling them. It seemed at first that the pic has a strange color balance, such that some of the ribbons did not match well against the graphics in the WP articles for those decorations. This seems to be partially true – gold-colored bands show as white in the picture, perhaps because they are partially metallic in real life and more reflective than the ribbon material around them. Make sense?

Others, though, like the Legion of Merit, point out that our article's graphic (File:Legion of Merit ribbon.svg) may well be wrong, too. Looking at the Institute of Heraldry description, that ribbon is supposed to be crimson. Here are various sources and swatches:

The IoH should be the authoritative source, but it's not even self-consistent. In comparison to all the others, the Kelso pic appears to be hue-shifted towards orange/yellow ("east"; away from violet/blue) in addition to being over-exposed, so it's hard to read true colors from it.

Any comments? Are the physical ribbons consistently colored? Is it possible to get a correct color for them (i.e. all awards) somehow/somewhere? —&#91;  Alan M 1  (talk) &#93;— 23:03, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Official government spec sheets: . EricSerge (talk) 14:16, 5 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Right – it confirms Crimson with "cable number HM 67112", just like the last few links above. The problem is figuring out what color that actually is, as those various sources conflict as shown. —&#91;  Alan M 1  (talk) &#93;— 13:54, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Have a look too at File:Ehud Barak with Legion of Merit cropped.jpg. I would not describe that color as crimson. Is it possible the color has not always been interpreted consistently, even among official sources? Wilhelm Meis (&#9742; Diskuss &#124; &#x270D; Beiträge) 04:17, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Part of the issue is getting the moire pattern and how it affects color in different lighting situations. What about this Legion of Merit ribbon.png.  EricSerge (talk) 18:29, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

Recipients database
Is there a central list of recipients? Gbawden (talk) 10:34, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Legion of Merit. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120331032923/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/legion_of_merit.aspx to http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/legion_of_merit.aspx

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 14:13, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Legion of Merit. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050901090657/http://www.mediacen.navy.mil/pubs/allhands/jan00/pg27.htm to http://www.mediacen.navy.mil/pubs/allhands/jan00/pg27.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:57, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

authority to award?
From the article:

"Authority to award the Legion of Merit is reserved for general officers and flag officers in pay grade O-9 (e.g., Lieutenant General and Vice Admiral) and above"

Lieutenant General's and Vice Admiral's are O-8 - not O-9... TerraFrost (talk) 05:36, 11 November 2018 (UTC)