Attorney Sherb Sentell III practices law in the northwest Louisiana town of Minden and is a partner in the Sentell Law Firm, LLC. The firm provides clients a broad range of civil and business legal services. A Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Sherb Sentell III served in both Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has been awarded the Army Meritorious Service Medal four times, as well as two Bronze Stars.
The Bronze Star Medal, generally known simply as the Bronze Star, is awarded by all the military services of the United States for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in a combat zone. The medal was first authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 after the idea of a medal for ground combat troops equivalent to the Air Medal gained popularity in the years following Pearl Harbor.
The problem, as General George C. Marshall and others saw it, was that while the Air Medal, created in 1942, was intended to recognize meritorious achievement while in flight, the lack of an equivalent medal for the ground troops, especially the infantry, who “lead miserable lives of extreme discomfort and are the ones who must close in personal combat with the enemy.”
President Roosevelt’s greatest concern was that ground troops would be awarded the medal simply for having served adequately in combat and had the good fortune not to be wounded. Nevertheless, he authorized the medal, retroactive to December 7, 1941, for meritorious service in combat. Nearly 400,000 Bronze Stars were awarded during World War II, including to every soldier who earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge or Combat Medic Badge. To differentiate those awards of the Bronze Star for individual acts of heroism or valor in combat, the medal is awarded with a ”V” device, a bronze letter V pinned to the medal’s suspension ribbon or service ribbon.
The Bronze Star Medal, generally known simply as the Bronze Star, is awarded by all the military services of the United States for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in a combat zone. The medal was first authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 after the idea of a medal for ground combat troops equivalent to the Air Medal gained popularity in the years following Pearl Harbor.
The problem, as General George C. Marshall and others saw it, was that while the Air Medal, created in 1942, was intended to recognize meritorious achievement while in flight, the lack of an equivalent medal for the ground troops, especially the infantry, who “lead miserable lives of extreme discomfort and are the ones who must close in personal combat with the enemy.”
President Roosevelt’s greatest concern was that ground troops would be awarded the medal simply for having served adequately in combat and had the good fortune not to be wounded. Nevertheless, he authorized the medal, retroactive to December 7, 1941, for meritorious service in combat. Nearly 400,000 Bronze Stars were awarded during World War II, including to every soldier who earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge or Combat Medic Badge. To differentiate those awards of the Bronze Star for individual acts of heroism or valor in combat, the medal is awarded with a ”V” device, a bronze letter V pinned to the medal’s suspension ribbon or service ribbon.