After the reorganization of the education program and alignment of the Cadet Corps into a Naval-style Regiment in January 1943, the U.S. Maritime Commission ribbons denoting academic honors fell by the wayside and cadet-midshipmen began adopting uniform notions from the U.S. Naval Academy. After the Second World War, the Academy became the recipient of a legacy of Admiral Emory S. Land – ex-chairman of the U.S. Maritime Commission and War Shipping Administration – a champion and supporter of both the Academy and a strong United States Merchant Marine in the form of an academic medal. Academic Stars and the Admiral Land Medal are markers of the long importance the Academy has held academics in its dual program of training learned and skilled merchant marine and military officers.
Academic Stars, 1940s-present day
In 2017, Midshipmen are awarded Academic Stars on the following basis:
Gold Star: a QPA of at least 3.50 with no course failures in the term. (left)
Silver Star: a QPA of at least 3.25 up to and including 3.49 with no course failures in the term. (right)
They are awarded on a term basis; for Term 1, the award ceremony takes place in February.
If a midshipman falls below the requisite QPA, the Academic Star is removed from the midshipman’s uniform. It is worn below the U.S.N.R. badge (known as the “Eagle Pin”) and above the left breast pocket; if the midshipman is wearing a ribbon rack (“Glory bars”), the star is placed above the ribbons.
Since Academic Stars were awarded each term, midshipmen once had the option of wearing each awarded Star on their uniform; I note the most worn was eight in 1971. Unlike their counterparts across the Long Island Sound at SUNY Maritime, Kings Pointers only now wear one Academic Star at a time; they abandoned this practice at the close of the 1970s.
Is worn for two academic quarters after the quarter for which it is awarded. This is irrespective of when the star is actually physically awarded. Only one star may be worn either a Silver Star for a GPA of 3.25 to 3.49 or a Gold Star for GPA of 3.5 and above. This device is worn above the left pocket, but below the eagle. The Regimental Academic Officer (RAO) is recognized to be the recommending official for this award. (USMMA MIDSHIPMAN UNIFORM REGULATIONS, 11 August 2017)
The first published Regulations Governing Appointments to Cadetships in the Merchant Marine of the United States in 1939 has a short section on Awards; it notes:
16. (a) Cadets receiving average grades of 85 percent or higher in annual examinations shall be permitted to wear a blue and white ribboned pin with a small gold anchor or propeller, as appropriate, in the white center. If a cadet receives a grade of 85 percent or higher in subsequent annual examinations additional small gold anchors or propellers shall be place on the pin.
(b) Steamship company employers may select one cadet (D) and one cadet (E) on January 1st of each year, as outstanding cadets in their service. The reports of the District Cadet Training Instructor may be consulted for the purpose of comparison or the employers may make awards based in their own records. Cadets selected by employer shall be permitted to wear a gold and blue ribboned pin with gold anchors or propellers, as appropriate, on the blue center. This pin shall not be awarded more than once to any cadet. If an outstanding cadet also has won a pin for high scholastic grades such pin shall be work as a continuation of the other.
However, with the issuance of Executive Order 9083 dated February 28, 1942 “Redistribution of Maritime Function” per “Section 5. Transfer of Training Functions from Maritime Commission,” the training of cadet-midshipmen came under the purview of the Coast Guard. With this change, previous awards to cadet-midshipmen ceased. Shortly thereafter, when the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy recruited Captain James H. Tomb as Superintendent in April 1942, the award structure re-visited. By 1943 came the “Scholastic Star.” Due to the nature of the instruction at the Academy, during the Second World War, the Star was only found on the uniforms of Second and First-Class Midshipmen. Unlike the present QPA qualifications determining which star could be worn, the Scholastic Star was awarded by the Academy’s Academic Board to midshipmen in the top 10% of their class. So as long as a midshipman remained in the top 10%, they rated the wear of the Star. It was available to midshipmen beginning the second quarter of their first year.
It took another twenty years before the “Outstanding Cadet” pin was re-introduced as the “Sea Year” ribbon.
Admiral Emory S. Land Medal for Excellence in Naval Architecture
The Academy has awarded midshipmen the Admiral Emory S. Land Medal for Excellence in Naval Architecture (also known as the abbreviated “The Admiral Land Medal”) at graduation since the class of 1950 up until the present day. At its outset, the medal was only one of ten awards available at graduation, The original qualifications are hazy; however, its past recipients often graduated Cum Laude. Its existence first appeared in print in the June 1950 issue of Polaris:
Unlike the other awards and decorations granted to midshipmen, this medal was only worn by the recipient in their last moments as a member of the Cadet Corps. In less than a couple of hours after the award’s announcement, the midshipman became a Kings Point alumnus. This has changed in recent decades as the number of awards granted to midshipmen at graduation has increased
Today, the medal is awarded a day prior to final exercises at a two-hour-long ceremony called “Awards Convocation” during the Academy’s “June Week.” The medal is one among 91 academic and service-oriented and 10 athletic awards granted to graduating midshipmen; and, it is one of the two medals sponsored by the Superintendent’s office. Along with the engraved medal comes a cash prize of $500 and the placement of one’s name on a perpetual plaque outside the Academy’s main space for public events, Ackerman Auditorium. The criteria for the medal are simply for a midshipman “outstanding in Naval Architecture” as selected by faculty who teach Naval Architecture. A noted change in the past decade is the medal is now known as “The Admiral Land Medal and Award.”
Despite the close similarity in name with the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), “The Vice Admiral Emory S. ‘Jerry’ Land Medal for Outstanding Accomplishment in the Marine Field,” the similarity is in name only. The Academy’s medal it is not sponsored by SNAME; in fact, the United States Merchant Marine Academy medal predates the 1952 creation date of the SNAME medal by two years. It is one of three decorations named in the honor of Admiral E. S. Land; the other two are the SNAME award as noted above, and the “Admiral Emory S. Land Trophy” – awarded since 1952 for leadership in athletics by the University of Wyoming to select undergraduate students; Admiral E. S. Land was an alumnus of the University of Wyoming.
Below, please find the sixth awarded Admiral Land Medal and an example of the current medal. The original medal was gilded bronze. As a design note, Admiral E. S. Land has a Maritime Commission “V” pin on his coat lapel. The present medal appears to be a cast in a base metal. (click on images for higher resolution examples)
1955
Col.: IW
2018
Col.: USMMA
Many thanks are due to the tireless efforts of Dr. Joshua Smith at the American Merchant Marine Museum to locate an example of the present medal and to verify the medal is still awarded.