American Campaign Medal

The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by Executive Order 9265 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had performed military service in the American Theater of Operations during World War II. A similar medal, known as the American Defense Service Medal was awarded for active duty service prior to the United States entry into World War II.
The American Campaign Medal was issued as a service ribbon only during the Second World War, and wasn't issued as a full-sized medal until 1947.
The medal, made of bronze, is 1 1/4 inches wide. The obverse was designed by Thomas Hudson Jones. It shows a Navy cruiser underway with a B-24 Liberator bomber flying overhead. In the foreground is a sinking enemy submarine, and in the background is the skyline of a city. At the top of the medal are the words AMERICAN CAMPAIGN. The reverse of the medal, designed by Adolph Alexander Weinman, is the same design as used on the reverse of both the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. It depicts an American bald eagle between the dates 1941 - 1945 and the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The ribbon is 1 3/8 inches wide in oriental blue in the center is a 1/8 inch center stripe divided into thirds of old glory blue, white, and scarlet. Between the center and the edges are stripes of 1/16 inch in white, black, scarlet and white. The blue color represents the Americas; the central blue, white and red stripes, taken from the American Defense Service Medal ribbon, represents the continuance of American defense after Pearl Harbor. The white and black stripes represent the German part of the conflict on the Atlantic Coast, while the red and white stripes are for the Japanese colors and refer to that part of the conflict on the Pacific Coast.