Requesting Military Medals, Awards, and Decorations

Military medals, awards, and decorations represent an official record of service and valor — and the federal government maintains formal processes through which veterans, next of kin, and authorized representatives may request replacement or issuance of awards that were earned but never received. This page explains the scope of requestable items, the filing mechanisms across service branches, the situations that commonly trigger a request, and the boundaries that distinguish a replacement request from an appeal for an award upgrade or new award recommendation.

Definition and scope

Military decorations are official recognitions authorized by Congress or the Department of Defense and awarded through service-specific channels to personnel who meet qualifying criteria for valor, meritorious service, wounds received in combat, or campaign participation. The term "medals" commonly encompasses three distinct categories:

• Service medals and ribbons — awarded for participation in defined campaigns, theaters, or time periods (e.g., the Vietnam Service Medal or the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal)
• Individual awards and decorations — awarded for specific acts or sustained performance (e.g., the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, or Air Medal)
• Unit citations and commendations — conferred on an entire unit rather than an individual, but worn on an individual's uniform

The legal authority for military decorations is distributed across Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which governs armed forces, and individual service branch regulations. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), serves as the primary custodian of military personnel records and is the central point of contact for most replacement medal requests.

Replacement medal requests are distinct from military service records requests, though both often originate from the same repository. A replacement request asks for physical medals to be reissued; a records request seeks documentary proof of service and awards earned.

How it works

The replacement and issuance process follows a structured pathway that varies by service branch. The general sequence applies across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard:

1. Identify the correct requesting authority. Each branch maintains its own awards office. The Army Human Resources Command, the Navy Personnel Command (PERS-312), the Air Force Personnel Center, and Marine Corps Headquarters each adjudicate requests independently. Coast Guard requests route through the Personnel Service Center.
2. Gather supporting documentation. The requestor must provide the veteran's full name, Social Security number or service number, branch of service, dates of service, and the specific medal or award being requested. A DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) is the foundational document.
3. Submit the request using Standard Form 180 (SF-180). The SF-180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records), available from NARA, is the standard request form and can be submitted by mail, fax, or in person at NPRC in St. Louis, Missouri.
4. Processing and verification. The receiving office verifies the award against official records. If records were destroyed — as occurred in the 1973 fire at the NPRC that damaged or destroyed records for an estimated 16 to 18 million Army and Air Force personnel — the office will attempt reconstruction through alternate sources such as morning reports, unit records, or hospital records.
5. Issuance. Confirmed awards are replaced at no cost to the veteran or next of kin for the first replacement set. Subsequent duplicates may incur nominal charges through official suppliers.

Next of kin may request medals on behalf of deceased veterans. The priority order recognized by the military services runs: spouse, children, parents, siblings.

Common scenarios

Scenario 1: Lost or damaged medals. The most frequent request involves medals that were lost during a move, damaged over time, or never physically received after discharge. These cases are straightforward when a DD Form 214 documents the awards.

Scenario 2: Awards omitted from the DD Form 214. Clerical errors at the time of separation sometimes result in earned awards being absent from discharge paperwork. In these cases, the requestor must supply corroborating evidence — unit orders, award citations, or sworn statements — to support the claim. This scenario is addressed through the same service branch channels but may require longer adjudication.

Scenario 3: Next-of-kin requests for deceased veterans. Families of veterans who died before collecting their medals, or whose medals were lost after death, follow the same SF-180 process. Proof of relationship and the veteran's death certificate are typically required.

Scenario 4: Veterans of the National Guard or Reserve. As detailed in the reserve and National Guard benefits context, Guard and Reserve personnel who served on federal active-duty orders may be eligible for the same decorations as active-duty personnel. Requests for these veterans route through the relevant state adjutant general's office for state awards and through federal branch channels for federal awards.

Decision boundaries

Understanding where replacement requests end and award review processes begin is essential for setting realistic expectations.

Replacement vs. upgrade. Replacing a medal already documented on official records is an administrative function. Requesting that an award be elevated — for example, asking that a Bronze Star be upgraded to a Silver Star — is a separate legal process governed by each service's awards board and subject to strict statutory time limits. Most services impose a time limit of 3 years from the act of valor for award nominations, though Congress has periodically authorized exceptions for specific conflicts.

Replacement vs. new award recommendation. If a veteran believes an unreported act of valor merits a decoration that was never awarded, that claim does not go through NPRC. It requires submission of a formal recommendation through the appropriate service branch awards authority, accompanied by eyewitness statements and unit documentation.

Error correction through the Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR). When a service branch denies a request or when the error is embedded in official records, veterans may petition the relevant BCMR — each branch maintains its own — under 10 U.S.C. § 1552. The BCMR has authority to correct any military record, including adding omitted awards. This is a more formal process than an administrative replacement request and is distinct from the VA appeals process, which governs benefits claims rather than military records.

Veterans seeking broader guidance on navigating federal records and benefits systems can find an orientation to available resources at Veterans Authority, which maps the full landscape of federal programs and filing pathways.