All persons who served in the United States military or federal civilian
service anytime between September 2, 1945, and December 26, 1991, are
eligible to receive a Cold War Recognition Certificate as authorized by the
United States Congress.
The Cold War started in 1945 at the end of World War II and
ended the day the Soviet Union fell in 1991. During that tense 46 year
span, tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel of the Department of
Defense, the intelligence community, the foreign service, and other officers and
employees of the United States manned the watchtowers of freedom.
Never were those watchtowers close to home. Instead, they were
in frigid DEWline radar huts from Alaska, across northern Canada, to Greenland.
They were in the cockpits of U-2 spy-planes flying alone and unprotected over
enemy territory. They were in atomic submarines, B-52 bombers, radio listening
posts and hundreds of other often clandestine, always unfriendly spots around
the world.
Without a doubt, the discipline and dedication of those who kept
the long Cold War watch contributed greatly to preventing a superpower atomic
Armageddon.
In 1998, the United States Congress authorized the
Department of Defense to issue the "Cold War Recognition Certificate"
to all, "Military and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense, personnel
in the intelligence community, members of the foreign service, and other
officers and employees of the United States faithfully performed their duties
during the Cold War."
The certificate reads, "In recognition of your service
during the period of the Cold War (2 September 1945 - 26 December 1991) in
promoting peace and stability for this Nation, the people of this Nation are
forever grateful." (Click
Here to View Sample.)
Congress established the Cold War Recognition Certificate in the
National Defense Authorization Act of 1998. The Act states in part:
The Congress finds the following:
"During the period of the the Cold War, from the end of World War II
until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States and the Soviet
Union engaged in a global military rivalry.
"This rivalry, potentially the most dangerous military confrontation in
the history of mankind, has come to a close without a direct superpower military
conflict.
"Military and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense, personnel
in the intelligence community, members of the foreign service, and other
officers and employees of the United States faithfully performed their duties
during the Cold War.
"Many such personnel performed their duties while isolated from family
and friends and served overseas under frequently arduous conditions in order to
protect the United States and achieve a lasting peace.
"The discipline and dedication of those personnel were fundamental to
the prevention of a superpower military conflict."
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