Mentioned in Dispatches
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Mentioned in Dispatches (MID) is a military award for gallantry or otherwise commendable service. The award is relatively common, does not confer a medal and is relatively low in the order of precedence.
A dispatch is an official report from a senior commander, usually of an army, to his superiors, detailing the conduct of military operations. In the British military, this report is published in the London Gazette. If a subordinate officer or soldier performs a noteworthy action included in the report, he/she is said to have been "mentioned in dispatches".
In the nations of the British Commonwealth, soldiers who are mentioned in dispatches receive a certificate and are entitled to wear a bronze oak leaf on the ribbon of the service medal issued to soldiers who served in a conflict. If no campaign medal is awarded, the oak leaf is worn on the collar of dress uniform.
Soldiers can be mentioned multiple times but, other than receiving a certificate for each mention, they wear no visible sign. The Australian general H.G. Bennett was mentioned in dispatches a total of eight times during the First World War. The British World War I Victoria Cross winner John Vereker, later to become Field Marshall Gort, was mentioned in dispatches nine times.
During the American Civil War, the Confederate Army offered no awards or medals. However, General Lee would sometimes mention individual soldiers and units in his dispatches, and this was considered to be the highest honor among Confederate soldiers.
In the French military, mentions in Dispatches - or more precisely, mention in Orders (citation dans les ordres) - are made by senior commanders, from the position of regimental CO to General-in-Chief, in the Orders they give to their unit, recognizing the gallantry of an action performed some time before. The mentions are awarded for gallantry to any member of the french military or its allies and are, depending on the degree, roughly the equivalent for US Bronze Star Medal and Silver Star Medal or UK Military Cross and Military Medal.
Mentions made during World War I, World War II or colonial were accompanied with awards of a Croix de guerre or a Croix de la valeur militaire, with attachments on the ribbon depending on the mention's degree : a bronze star for a mention in Brigade dispatches, a silver one for Division, a gilt one for Army Corps and a bronze palm for Army. Nowadays, a mention with award of the Croix de la valeur militaire (Croix de guerre is no longer awarded) is rare, and most mentions are awarded with a gold Médaille de la Défense nationale and the same attachments as the Croix de guerre.
A unit can be mentioned in Dispatches. Its flag is then decorated with the corresponding Croix. After two mentions, the men of the unit are entitled to wear a fourragère.