Memorandum by Frederick H. Boland for Éamon de Valera (Dublin)

The American Minister has enquired whether there would be any objection to the award of American decorations to three senior officers of the Defence Forces. The officers concerned are Lieut. General McKenna, Colonel Liam Archer and Colonel Delamere.¹

2. Mr. Gray said he had been instructed by Washington to make the enquiry. The purpose of the proposed awards was to mark the American Government's appreciation for the help rendered to American aircraft which crashed or landed here during the war. Mr. Gray said that the award of an American medal was always accompanied by a citation, and he appreciated that the drafting of the citations in the case of the proposed three awards would be a matter of interest to us. He would be prepared to leave the drafting to us, if we wished, but what he himself had in mind was something like 'for services rendered to American aircraft which landed in Ireland in the course of non-operational flights'!
3. Mr. Gray said that American medals were being awarded to high Army officers in other neutral countries for services of a similar character.
4. I told Mr. Gray that there was quite a general feeling here against the acceptance of foreign decorations and that our general practice 'leans against' them. I instanced the fact that the decorations offered in connection with the recent visit of the Swedish training vessels had been declined. I said that I felt sure, however, that the American Government's gesture would be much appreciated, and I undertook to let him have, as soon as possible, the answer to his enquiry.²