Oak leaf cluster

An Oak leaf cluster is a common device which is placed on military awards and decorations to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the second and subsequent award of the decoration.

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Most military awards use bronze, silver, and gold oak leaf clusters. The higher ranking oak leaf clusters are issued "in lieu" of a lesser number, allowing a large number of award annotations to fit on a single ribbon. For instance, five bronze oak leaf clusters would be denoted by one silver and five silver by one gold.

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The United States military only issues bronze and silver oak leaf clusters. Gold oak leaf clusters were briefly considered as a device for the Air Medal, but this was not adopted by any of the services.

Related Topics:
United States military - Air Medal

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