Defense Distinguished Service Medal

The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a United States military award which is presented for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to National security or defense of the United States. The medal was created on July 9, 1970 by President Richard Nixon in Executive Order 11545.

Read more about Defense Distinguished Service Medal:  Criteria, Appearance, Notable Recipients

Famous quotes containing the words defense and/or service:

    Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where.
    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    We too are ashes as we watch and hear
    The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
    Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
    Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
    The service record of his youth wiped out,
    His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.
    Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)