usmccc awards

U.S. Maritime Commission Cadet Corps Awards & Decorations 1939-1944

The Regiment of Midshipmen has a long, understated tradition of awards and decorations specific to the Regiment itself. The first awards were ribbon awards – an innovation in an era when medals suspended by ribbands were the rule. At the Cadet Corp’s outset, cadets holding advanced academic placement were awarded a ribbon, and cadets who earned the commendation of the shipping companies to which they were assigned also wore a ribbon. In a discrete sense, the later was akin to a citation star. As the Cadet Corps coalesced into a Navy-style regiment, many of its members were in the thick of combat; some who returned stateside rated the Enemy Action Ribbon decoration. As the war dragged on, and the United States Maritime Commission established a pyramid of honor for the United States Merchant Marine establishment, the Regiment stopped awarding its specific combat-related ribbons and cadet-midshipmen wore awards and decorations of either its parent organization or the military. At the same time, U.S. Naval Academy-inspired embroidered Academic Stars supplanted academic honor ribbon awards. For almost decade, the Academy’s autochtonous decorations faded from view.

Before diving into the specifics of the awards and decorations, a couple definitions are worth presenting. In the context of military and paramilitary groups such as the Cadet Corps: a decoration is a ribbon or a medal given for personal achievement or bravery; an award is a ribbon or a medal earned for service or an act at a particular time or place. In an educational setting, awards are granted for academic excellence. Depending upon the environment, decorations often take precedence over awards.

Cadets Corps Scholastic & Company Award Ribbon

In 1939, the U.S. Maritime Commission instituted Scholastic and Company-presented awards for outstanding cadets in the Deck and Engine programs. The awards were commemorated in the form of silk (not moiré) ribbons with appurtenances for either program of study. The regulations for the ribbons remained in force through at least August 1942; yet, extant period photographs do not record them after this date – it is highly likely they were redesigned as a different ribbon prior to becoming patch stars and placed on cadet-midshipmen cuffs and shoulder boards (see note at end of the page).

from: *Cadetships in the Merchant Marine of the United States*, October 17, 1939.

Regulations denoted the ribbon to be ½in wide and 2in long; however, period photographs show they were ½in wide and 1¾in long – following the common ribbon bar size used by the United States Navy at the time.

from: Uniform Regulations for United States Maritime Commission Cadet Corps, January 1, 1942.

**Scholastic Award Ribbon – Engine program**

**Scholastic Award Ribbon – Deck program**

**Awardee of U.S. Maritime Commission Scholastic Award Ribbon – Deck.** *Col.: IW*

**1939 Clarence D. Wells awardee of U.S. Maritime Commission Scholastic and Company Ribbon – Deck**. *Col. IW*.

Gordon W. Lyons awardee of the U.S. Maritime Commission Scholastic and Company Ribbon – Deck. The photograph is prior to being lost at sea in 1944; the Company ribbon is circa 1941. The image is reprinted with the approval of the United States Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation. **Col.: USMMAAAF.**

Cadet Corps Cadet Stars for Survival of Enemy Torpedoing

Prior to the creation of the Merchant Marine Combat Bar ribbon and the Merchant Marine Mariner’s Medal in May 1943, the War Shipping Administration announced the formation of a “Torpedoed Seamen’s Club” in the Summer of 1942. The Club’s insignia was the Combat Bar ribbon with silver stars – each star representing a ship sunk by a torpedo; the ribbon was first awarded on October 9, 1942. Some months after the announcement of the new club, Commander Richard R. McNulty, supervisor of the United States Maritime Commission Merchant Marine Cadet Corps, authorized cadet-midshipmen who survived a torpedoing or were wounded by the enemy to wear a Cadet Corps-specific ribbon on their uniforms in December 1942. The ribbon awards were alternately known as “Cadet Stars for Survival of Enemy Torpedoing” or “Enemy Action Ribbons.” Cadet-midshipmen wore the award well after May 1943, into January 1944. Commander McNulty also required cadet-midshipmen to write Enemy Action reports which detailed the circumstances of vessel attacks, the corpus of which is accessible on the Enemy Action Reports page.

Enemy Action Ribbons came in two classes: torpedoed, and wounded. The former was a grey ribbon with a blue star, and the latter a green ribbon with an aluminum star. Each star on the ribbons represented a unique act. Cadet-midshipmen were eligible for either award only after a petition to their training organization. In practice, if a cadet-midshipman was authorized for both awards, the wounded ribbon took precedence over the torpedoed ribbon. If the ribbons and stars were not available at the United States Merchant Marine Academy or Basic Schools, cadet-midshipmen were authorized to procure their own lengths of ribbon, stars, and blank pins from any uniform supplier, and manufacture their own ribbons. Each ribbon held a maximum of three stars; the torpedoed ribbon’s stars had two rays of the stars pointing upward; the wounded ribbon’s stars had a single ray pointing upward.

In January 1943, Polaris – the Cadet Corps student magazine – published the first list of cadet-midshipmen authorized to wear either ribbon. At the time of publication, only one cadet was wounded during their “sea year.” After this initial notice, no subsequent mention was made in Polaris of additional awards; although, section graduation photographs and articles show the ribbons’ wear through January 1944 – often in conjunction with the Merchant Marine Combat Bar ribbon.

**Cadet-Midshipman William M. Thomas, Jr**. at the award ceremony of his Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal (June 1943). Note the **Enemy Action – torpedoed ribbon** to the right of the Merchant Marine Combat Bar with one silver star. There is the distinct possibility that the former is a “Torpedoed Seamen’s Club” ribbon. *Col.: AMMM*

In an effort to record all known recipients of either class of Enemy Action Ribbon, I created the table below. I only placed names of cadet-midshipmen with positively identifiable ribbons; in June 1943 some cadet-midshipmen appear to be wearing a solid ribbon broken by two thin stripes and a star – this may be a hitherto unknown academic honor ribbon.