Frederick, Robert, MG

The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree to be above those required for all other U.S. combat decorations but not meeting the criteria for the Medal of Honor. The Distinguished Service Cross is equivalent to the Navy Cross (Navy and Marine Corps) and the Air Force Cross (Air Force).

The Distinguished Service Cross was first awarded during World War I. In addition, a number of awards were made for actions before World War One. In many cases, these were to soldiers who had received a Certificate of Merit for gallantry which, at the time, was the only other honor besides the Medal of Honor the Army could award. Others were belated recognition of actions in the Philippines, on the Mexican Border and during the Boxer Rebellion.

This decoration is distinct from the Distinguished Service Medal, which is awarded to persons in recognition of exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in a duty of great responsibility.

A little over fifty soldiers (and one sailor) received two Distinguished Service Crosses in World War Two. The sailor was John D. Bulkeley, who also received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross and was one of the most highly decorated Americans of World War II. Among Army recipients of two Distinguished Service Crosses were Creighton W. Abrams, Jr., later the Chief of Staff of the Army, William O. Darby, one of the fathers of the U.S. Army Rangers, and Robert T. Frederick, commander of the U.S-Canadian 1st Special Service Force. Five men of the 82nd Airborne Division received two Distinguished Service Crosses: James M. Gavin, Arthur F. Gorham, Matthew B. Ridgway, Reuben Henry Tucker III and Benjamin H. Vandervoort.

I loved this movie as a kid, it is fitting to have General Frederick remembered here.

The Devil's Brigade is a 1968 motion picture action drama based on the 1966 book of the same name co-written by American novelist and historian Robert H. Adleman and Col. George Walton, a member of the 1st Special Service Force, a joint American-Canadian commando unit that saw action during World War II in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and later in the European Theater of Operations.


William Holden - Lt. Col./Col. Robert T. Frederick