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WWII Occupation Army Award is a military award of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department on 5 April 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany or Japan.
The original Army of Occupation Medal was intended only for members of the United States Army, but was expanded in 1948 to encompass the United States Air Force shortly after that service's creation. The U.S. Navy and Marine equivalent of the Army of Occupation Medal is the Navy Occupation Service Medal.
Although authorized in 1946, it was not until 1947 that the first Army of Occupation Medals were distributed. The first medal was presented to General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower who had been the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Commander during World War II.
Because of the legal status of West Berlin, as an occupied territory until the unification of Germany, the Army of Occupation Medal was issued for forty five years making it one of the longest active military awards of both the Second World War and the Cold War.
In addition, some recipients of the award were born two generations after the end of the conflict which the medal was designed to represent. Much like the National Defense Service Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal has come to be considered a "multi-generational" award.
