The Vietnam Service Medal was established by Executive Order 11231 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 8, 1965.
The Vietnam Service Medal was awarded for qualifying service between July 4, 1965, and March 28, 1973.
The Vietnam Service Medal was awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who served at any time between July 4, 1965, and March 28, 1973, in Vietnam or its contiguous waters or airspace; or, for any period of service during the same time period in Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia or the air spaces thereover and in direct support of operations in Vietnam.
ORDER OF PRECEDENCE
The Vietnam Service Medal is worn after the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and before the Southwest Asia Service Medal.
The Vietnam Service Medal was designed by Mercedes Lee and sculpted by Frank King.
The identity of the first recipient of the Vietnam Service Medal is not known.
DESCRIPTION AND SYMBOLISM
In the center of a bronze medallion one and a quarter inches in diameter, an Asian dragon in profile is shown partially hidden by a grove of bamboo trees. In the exergue, the words REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM SERVICE are shown in three lines.
The bamboo grove was taken from the flag of the President of Vietnam, who at the beginning of the war was Ngo Ninh Diem (1901-1963). Diem was the first President of the Republic of Vietnam. The bamboo grove was a symbol of the first republic Vietnam, which followed the last imperial government under Emperor Bao Dai. The bamboo grove represented the lawful, democratic state. The dragon behind the bamboo grove is a traditional symbol of vietnam.
In the center of a bronze medallion one and a quarter inches in diameter, a crossbow over which is superimposed a flaming torch. In the lower half of the medal, and following the contour of its rim, the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The crossbow is the ancient weapon of Vietnam. It is surmounted by the torch from the Statue of Liberty, symbolic of the United States and of freedom.
The ribbon to the Vietnam Service Medal consists of a gold background edged in green, with three red stripes in the center. The gold background with the three red stripes is the flag of South Vietnam and represents the political state supported by the United States during the war; the green edge stripes represent the vegetation of Southeast Asia and allude to the physical terrain in which the service was rendered.