The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat.

[5] The Silver Star Medal is awarded for singular acts of valor or heroism over a brief period, such as one or two days of a battle.

Donald H. Russell, a civilian Vought F4U Corsair technical support engineer attached to a Marine Corps fighter wing, received the SSM for his actions aboard USS Franklin after the carrier was attacked by a Japanese dive bomber in March 1945.

Ambassador in Moscow W. Averell Harriman and a military attaché presented the SSM to Soviet Red Army artillery officer Alexei Voloshin, who was the first to cross the Dnieper with his battery[15][page needed] and was one of four junior Red Army officers who received the award.

[16] Three Army nurses that served in World War I were cited in 1919 and 1920 with Citation Stars for gallantry in attending to the wounded while under artillery fire in July 1918.

[24] The next known servicewomen to receive the Silver Star were Army National Guard Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester in 2005, for gallantry during an insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq[19] and Army Specialist Monica Lin Brown in March 2008, for extraordinary heroism as a combat medic in the War in Afghanistan.

[19] On November 12, 2024, Capt Lacie “Sonic” Hester, 494th Fighter Squadron, became the first woman airman awarded the Silver Star for her role in the shootdown of more than 80 Iranian drones launched at Israeli cities.