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There are two levels of achievement to earn a Bronze Star. One, of course, was for combat "effectiveness" (not necessarily bravery as a Silver Star value). In other words, if the non-coms of a squad got knocked out of action and a private takes command as the sergeant to get his squad and his wounded back efficiently and safely, he would be in line with a bronze star "For Gallantry".
But another level of "efficiency" was created somewhere along the line that deserved the bronze star but not necessarily in combat. It was a tad higher than a meritorious service medal, but not by much. In fact, I think it's title was the bronze star for "Meritorious Service".
Silver Stars "For Valor" are not always awarded posthumosly (Medals of Honor often are though). A silver star was awarded to a person who showed bravery and ingenuity in a combat engagement. For example, a friend of mine who was a small Cuban welder at the shipyard got a Silver Star for combat in WW II. He was with two other soldiers in a Jeep carrying a trailer load of ammo to a semi-surrounded unit. Suddenly the Jeep blew up. When Alpazar woke up, the other two men were dead. He looked up over the hill and saw that it was a German tank that hit the Jeep. And the tank was slowly approaching to finish the job. The Jeep had been loaded with a Bazooka so little "Al" crawled to the Jeep, loaded the Bazooka and took out the tank with one shot. Then he limped back to his outfit to report that the road was now open and they could take another load of supplies in to the stranded outfit.
I asked him what kind of a tank it was. He simply said "German" but big. I quickly drew a picture of a German tank coming over a hill and a GI aiming a 2.35" Bazooka at it. He said "YES. That's the kind of tank it was."
That little guy from Cuba single-handedly took out a Tiger Mk VI. If he was a "regular yankee" he would have probably gotten the Medal of Honor.
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Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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