Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor

Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor
1919–1942 Navy "Tiffany Cross" pattern
Type	Medal (Decoration)
Awarded for	Gallantry and intrepidity in actual conflict at the risk of one's life above and beyond the call of duty
Description	Modified cross pattée
Presented by	the President of the United States in the name of Congress
Eligibility	US Navy and Marine Corps personnel, 1917–1942
Motto	VALOUR
Status	Obsolete 7 August 1942
Established	4 February 1919 (retroactive to 6 April 1917)
First awarded	15 October 1917, World War I
Last awarded	8 January 1928, Nicaragua
Total	22
Total awarded posthumously	5
Total recipients	22
Details of the Tiffany Cross
Precedence
Equivalent	Medal of Honor
Next (lower)	Navy Distinguished Service Medal[1]

The Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor arose immediately after World War I, as the US Navy decided to recognize via the Medal of Honor two manners of heroism, one in combat and one in the line of a sailor's profession. The original upside-down star was designated as the non-combat version and a new pattern of the medal pendant, in cross form, was designed by the Tiffany Company in 1919. It was to be presented to a sailor or Marine who "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, distinguish[es] himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty and without detriment to his mission."^[2] This pendant became the Tiffany Cross.