Authorize the award of the Europe Defense Service Medal

WHEREAS: The Allied NATO Forces, from their original inception from April 1949 to December 1991, and by their concerted efforts to act in unison for the strategic purpose to prevent outright aggressions, whether by conventional means and/or by nuclear means upon the continent of Europe; and

WHEREAS: The United States of America, with its different branches of the Armed Forces, maintained a presence upon the European continental lands, airspace, and contiguous and surrounding waters, for the sole purpose to deter aggressive acts of war from belligerent hostile nations, and to promote peace, freedom and stability upon the European continent; and

WHEREAS: Approximately 5 million service personnel from the United States Armed Forces, consisting of the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard, were assigned to and deployed in areas from 80 degrees latitiude from the continent of Greenland, going in a southerly direction to a latitude of 30 degrees from the the nation of Algeria on the continent of Africa, going in an easterly direction to a longitude of 45 degrees from the nation of Turkey, proceeding in a northerly direction to a longitude of 45 degrees and a latitude of 80 degrees to an area of the former Soviet Union and the nation of Finland; and

WHEREAS: These millions of U.S. service personnel stationed in the above given theaters of deployment, were often deployed at duty stations for months and years at a time. They were deployed in areas of extreme cold to extreme heat conditions. They were deployed on aircraft, crowded aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, escort and support ships, and submarines, on and under the various high seas. They were deployed as ground forces, on and near the former termed "Iron Curtain" area of Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the nation of Czechoslovakia. They were deployed for a distance of approximately 850 miles on the front, and for hundreds of more miles on the northern and southern flanks; and

WHEREAS: All service personnel from all combined components of the U.S. Armed Forces had to be prepared at a moment's notice to defend the continent of Europe from an invasion of the former Soviet Union-Warsaw Pact Nations Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS: For over four decades, from the year 1949 on, U.S. and NATO Allied Forces engaged in confrontations and crises from the Blockade of Berlin, to the Hungarian Uprising, to the Construction of the Berlin Wall, to the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, to Skirmishes, Border Disputes, and Stand-offs during Confrontations, to the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Reunification of Germany, and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union-Warsaw Pact nations in 1991; and

WHEREAS: United States and NATO Allied Forces were on average outnumbered more than 2:1 in ground troop strength, armored divisions, aircraft and naval vessels. For Example, in 1956 former Communist service personnel in-theater totaled 600,000 troops, while United States service personnel in-theater reached an apex level of 278,000 troops in 1962; and

WHEREAS: At least 62 U.S. Troops were Killed-in-action along the East and West Front of the Iron Curtain in the 45 years of the Cold War in Europe, while at least 18 U.S. P.O.W./M.I.A.'s have yet to be accounted for in-theater, and an estimated 5,660 uniformed U.S. Military personnel were Killed in training exercises and accidents in Germany alone from 1945-91; and

WHEREAS: The United States Department of Defense has never issued the Armed Forces Service Medal to honor and commemorate the service and sacrifices of United States Military personnel who served in and around the European continent during the above mentioned Cold War period, though the NATO and Allied military objective of peace, freedom and stability for at least 400 million European citizens was achieved; and

WHEREAS: In the Cold War Theater of South Korea, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and the Korea Defense Service Medal, to recognize the service and sacrifices of United States Military personnel serving on the Korean Peninsula Theater from after the Korean War 1954-present; and

WHEREAS: The award of the Korea Defense Service Medal takes into account only the service and sacrifices of U.S. Armed Forces personnel who served in and were deployed within the Korean Theater of Operations during the Cold War, while at the same time it denies and belittles the service and sacrifices of U.S. Armed Forces personnel who served in and were deployed within the European Theater of Operations during the Cold War; and

WHEREAS: The Cold War in Europe, even though undeclared, was a real war, with real human casualties and deaths. Yet there are no pointed recognizable U.S. Military awards for service upon the European continental lands, airspace, and contiguous and surrounding waters, since the end of World War II 1945-present. And the people who support this concept of the issuance of the Europe Defense Service medal will come to realize after four plus decades of service and sacrifice that an honor will come to be bestowed upon them; and

BE IT RESOLVED: That we the undersigned do hereby support the expansion of the U.S. Government and U.S. Department of Defense Awards Policies to establish and award the Europe Defense Service Medal by creating, designing and manufacturing it inexpensively, for former U.S. Military Veterans of the Cold War in Europe; and

BE IT PETITIONED: To the President of the United States of America, that the names and tally of all the undersigned be taken into consideration in the evaluation-reevaluation precesses to allow for the timely granting of the Europe Defense Service Medal to deserving United States Military Veterans of the Cold War in Europe 1945-91, initiated this date 28 July 2005.

Europe Defense Veterans of America
1936 Saranac Avenue, Suite 2-149
Lake Placid, NY 12946