Your medals are earned because of your sacrifice, driven by your dedication and resilience to overcome each mission, do what needs to be done, and conquer the impossible. Displaying your medals, or the medals of a loved one is something to take pride in; honor their sacrifice, what they bled for, and what they believed in.
There have been times in U.S. history where being a veteran wasn’t something to be proud of. There was no sense of pride after being spit on, yelled at or heckled returning home from Vietnam.
As time went on, attitudes and behavior towards active duty and veterans became more positive. Thankfully, there is more positive behavior and a sense of thankfulness towards military members, active or retired.
Displaying military medals is a time-honored tradition for families, veterans, and loved ones to display and value sacrifices and achievements of the soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and coasties have made for our country. It is an act of respect and admiration for the brave men and women who have served and often dedicated their careers to the U.S. military.
The integrity and honor of these incredible men and women should never be lost in displaying medals and there should be a sense of pride and achievement.
Since the beginning, Medals of America has been building medals racks to regulation and the highest standard. Using premium draping materials and standards set by the Institute of Heraldry, the medals are always up to par and exceed expectations.
Medals Rack Builder
It is now easier than ever to create multi-service racks and add awards. They are mounted and shipped in-house and quality checked by veterans to assure there are no mistakes before they are in your hands.
Military Medals Shadow Box
The foundation of Medals of America is our professionally and personally crafted shadow boxes, one of the most popular ways to display military medals. Our Military Award Specialists take pride in their military service and in the service they do completing shadow box arrangements.
Our Military Award Specialists walk the customer through everything they need for a shadow box. They can read through a DD-214 and start to build the foundation for all service awards, medals, and medal and ribbon attachments that need to go into the shadow box. The Military Award Specialists have a wealth of knowledge about medal qualifications and awards and can answer any question you have, especially if you don’t have another resource to answer your questions.
Medals are placed front and center of the display case, highlighting and pinpointing the achievements and pride in one’s service alongside mementos, ranks or dog tags.
Individual medals can be displayed in a display case that can fit one medal, or a larger one that can fit four medals; the smaller display cases are ideal for your desk at work or home.
Having a smaller case can be a great family activity to put together without the stress of a huge shadow box, but still impart memories and significance.
Commemorative Medals and Awards
Alongside awarded medals, we offer commemorative medals to memorialize participation in a division, conflict or war, or a specific achievement. For example: Seabees commemorative medal, 82nd Airborne, Korean War, and Honorable Discharge commemorative medals. These medals are not required or government issued, but many people like to include them in honoring a family member or highlighting their own acts of service.
To complement commemorative and awarded medals, customizable certificates are a popular choice to have framed and to display medals without hanging a medal on the wall! These certificates span both commemorative and awarded medals and have options for all branches, conflicts, battles and wars. You are able to add the recipient’s name to the certificate to make it truly your own.
Framing commemorative certificates can be a great way to carry the significance of a medal without having to go through the display case process. Framed certificates always add a nice touch to offices, work spaces, or any room in the home.
The rack you receive is always built to military specifications: including order of precedence, overlap allowed by branch, and correct ribbon colors. It is put together by our Military Award Specialists, the veterans that work with you to make sure your medals, ribbons, and shadow boxes are perfect for you.
From here these medals can be pinned to clothing and uniforms for special occasions like the military balls thrown by all branches, and funerals.
How to Display Military Medals on Uniforms
The classic, tride-and-true way of how to display your military medals is by wearing a medal rack on your uniform. Wearing your medals during a wedding, banquet, funeral, is a traditional and classic way to display your medals, if only for a short time.
Displaying your medal racks can vary by branch and medal type: full size or miniature. Below is a brief overview of the different branch uniform regulations for each medal type:
- Army:
- Full Size: Service medals are worn on blue uniforms, which is the preferred dress. Please note that green uniforms are discontinued.
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- Miniature: They are authorized for wear on the mess and evening uniform jackets.
- Marine Corps:
- Full Size: These medals are worn on blue and white dress jackets and centered and in line between the first and second button on the uniform.
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- Miniature: Miniature medals are worn on even dress jackets and centered on the left front jacket panel.
- Navy:
- Full Size: Are able to be worn on full dress uniforms, centered on the left side of the uniform.
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- Miniature: Worn with all formal and dinner dress uniforms centered on the left lapel of a uniform jacket or left breast of a suit jacket.
- Air Force:
- Full Size: Traditionally worn on service and ceremonial dress uniforms.
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- Miniature: Worn on the blue mess dress or formal dress.
With a Military Medal Decal
Display your pride in your service and display your military medals with a decal. Alongside patch and rank decals, we offer a large selection of medal decals in four different sizes, small to extra large. They range from Vietnam Service to the Foreign Expeditionary Service Commemorative decals. These are ideal for the back window of your car, on your cooler or any flat surface where you want to show your pride in your service.
Our goal is to help you preserve the memories, sacrifice, and honor of your service or a loved one. There are many options to do this, some more serious like a military shadow box or more fun with a military medal decal. Our medal rack builder is a great place to start to get all of your medals together, see their order of precedence, and have your medals!
