Editing Silver Star (section)

==History==
The Silver Star Medal (SSM)<ref name=DoD1348.33v3/> is the successor award to the [[Citation Star]] which was established by an [[Act of Congress]] on 9 July 1918, during [[World War I]]. On 19 July 1932, the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] approved the conversion of the Citation Star to the SSM with the original Citation Star incorporated into the center of the medal.

Authorization for the Silver Star Medal was placed into law by an Act of Congress for the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] on 7 August 1942, and an Act of Congress for the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] on 15 December 1942. The current statutory authorization for the medal is [[Title 10 of the United States Code]], {{UnitedStatesCode|10|7276}} for the U.S. Army, {{UnitedStatesCode|10|8294}} for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and {{UnitedStatesCode|10|9276}} for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

The U.S. Army awards the medal as the "Silver Star". The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard award the medal as the "Silver Star Medal".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afpc.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/421936/silver-star-medal/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217201926/http://www.afpc.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/421936/silver-star-medal/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 December 2017 |title=Fact Sheet: Silver Star Medal |date=3 August 2010 |website=U.S. Air Force}}</ref> Since 21 December 2016, the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) refers to the decoration as the "Silver Star Medal".<ref name=DoD1348.33v3/>