The Croix de Guerre may be awarded either as an individual award or as a unit award to those soldiers who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with the enemy. The medal is awarded to those who have been “mentioned in dispatches”, meaning a heroic deed or deeds were performed meriting a citation from an individual’s headquarters unit. The unit award of the Croix de Guerre with palm was issued to military units whose members performed heroic deeds in combat and were subsequently recognized by headquarters


World War II

Unit Awards

102nd Cavalry Group (Mecz)

Headquarters and Headquarters Troop 

Croix de Guerre with Palm
Decision No. 268, 22 July 1946

38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

Headquarters and Headquarters Troop 

Croix de Guerre with Palm
Decision No. 268, 22 July 1946

Troop C

(Attached to 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron)

Croix de Guerre with Palm
Decision No. 267, 22 July 1946

102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

(Attached to 29th Infantry Division : D-Day Landings)

Croix de Guerre with Palm
Decision No. 267, 22 July 1946

117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

Croix de Guerre with Palm
Decision No. 267, 22 July 1946

Individual Awards

102nd Cavalry Group (Mecz)

Headquarters

Colonel Cyrus A. Dolph III w/ Palm

38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

Headquarters

Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. O’Brien, Jr. w/ Palm
Captain William J. Buenzle w/ Palm

Troop A

Second Lieutenant Warren F. McCray w/ Palm (KIA)
Sergeant Fred Briglio w/ Palm

Troop B

Technician Fifth Grade Norman A. Parent w/ Palm

102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

Troop B

Captain Charles H. Peterson w/Palm
Technician Fourth Grade Clarence McNichols w/Palm

Troop C

Sergeant Joseph B. Pratt w/Palm

117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mecz)

Headquarters Troop

Headquarters Troop

Troop A

Second Lieutenant  Roy Mulcahey
Staff Sergeant Rudolph M. Sochor

Troop C

First Lieutenant  Stephen A. Middlebrook
Second Lieutenant Joseph L. Syms

Troop E

Captain Omer F. Brown w/Palm (KIA)

Company F

Captain Paul H. Seidel