Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster awarded to Lt. Col. Colin L. Powell

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

One (1) Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster awarded to General Colin L. Powell. It is designed in the shape of the five-armed "Maltese Asterisk" with five distinctive "arrowhead" shaped arms and ten pointed crosses with gold balls at the end of each point. Surrounding each of the five points is a gold design of swords and a green border. At the center of the medallion is a blue circle with thirteen stars. On the reverse of the medallion on the outer scroll is the engraved inscription “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and in the center circle, “ANNUIT COEPTIS MDCCLXXXII”. This translates to "He [God] Has Favored Our Undertakings". The medal is suspended from a double-sided silk crimson and white silk ribbon with a bronze oak leaf cluster attached.

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