Third Infantry Division's World War I Citations with Index
The first 45 pages of this work is an informal index of the men cited for a Silver Citation Star, by the 3rd Infantry Division during World War I. In 1932, the Silver Star Medal replaced the Silver Citation Star. It is important to remember that not every citation issued during World War I, warranted the Silver Star Medal. Therefore, it is important to read each citation to see if it meets the “Gallantry in Action” requirement.
The second portion of this work contains the text of the citations. The text is reprinted from Third Division Citation. Anderbach on the Rhine: Carl Reinartz, 1919. This book is rather difficult to locate, but it contains a wealth of useful information. The print quality of this section is not the greatest because the original book was printed on paper that had a high acid content. After eighty plus years the pages are heavily foxed and I have done my best to clean up the pages. The original work was not indexed, my index is informal as it does not state page numbers. The original work listed recipients in alphabetical order by unit and then by rank. It is not difficult to locate an individual once you know which unit they served in and their rank. The index provides this information.
Some sections of the original book contain citations for the French Croix de Guerre. I don’t feel that the original work contains all the Croix de Guerre awarded to members of the 3rd Infantry Division during WWI. There is a possibility that some of the Silver Citation Stars listed in the original work were superceded by awards of the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross or a Silver Citation Star issued by a higher headquarters. I checked a few Distinguished Service Cross recipients from the 3rd Division and it does not appear that the original work listed citations that were superceded, but it is still a possibility, especially when considering late awards issued in the 1920’s & 1930’s. Since Oak Leaf Clusters were not used to denote additional citation stars until the creation of the Silver Star Medal in 1932, the original work does not mention them. I have noted when I believe that the citation recipient may be entitled to an Oak Leaf Cluster. This normally occurred when they were mentioned in the text more then once. It was common to list several names together if they had the same citation text. Because of this it is important to locate each occurrence and compare the text if the acts were committed during different time frames and all other requirements were meet then it is likely that the recipient is entitled to an Oak Leaf Cluster if he applied for the Silver Star Medal.
The original work is not a complete accounting of all the Silver Citation Stars awarded to members of the 3rd Infantry Division during World War I. It is important to remember that citation for “gallantry in action” issued by brigade commanders also meet the requirements for Silver Citation Stars and later the Silver Star Medal. The original work does not list all the citations issued by the 3rd Division’s Brigade commanders.
Every effort has been made to minimize errors and misspelled names. An error may be attributable to the source document, or may have occurred while transcribing the names/units. Some of the original documents are of very poor print quality, making them difficult to decipher.
Silver Citations Stars / Silver Star Medals
2,361
French Croix De Guerre 27
Total Awards 2,388
This book has 209 pages
ISBN 978-1-932891-43-0
ISBN 1-932891-43-9
Library of Congress
Control Number Pending