Oak leaf cluster
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An oak leaf cluster or oakleaves is a common device which is placed on U.S. military awards and decorations (and those of some other nations) to denote those who have received more than one bestowal of a particular decoration. The number of oak leaf clusters typically indicates the number of subsequent awards of the decoration.
Most military awards use bronze, silver, and gold oak leaf clusters. The higher ranking oak leaf clusters are issued in lieu of a greater number of lower ranking clusters, allowing a large number of award annotations to fit on a single ribbon. For instance, five bronze oak leaf clusters would be denoted by one silver and five silver by one gold.
The United States military issues only bronze and silver oak leaf clusters. Gold oak leaf clusters were briefly considered as a device for the Air Medal, but this was not adopted by any of the services.
In Commonwealth countries a bronze oak leaf signifies a Mention in Despatches, and is worn as an award in its own right, rather than to signify multiple instances of another decoration. The Commonwealth equivalent of US oakleaves is a bar to the medal.
In the Second World War, the Knight's Cross of the German Iron Cross could be awarded with the additional distinction of Oak Leaves (mit Eichenlaub). Of the 7,313 awards of the Knight's Cross, only 883 received Oak Leaves.
