When President Franklin Roosevelt established the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal via Executive Order 9265 issued November 6, 1942, he worded the order to make members of the Women's Reserve of the United States Naval Reserve and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps who had served outside the continental United States (this included Alaska) eligible for the award. Today’s regulations regarding the award are blessedly simple: the medal is to be awarded for service within the Asiatic-Pacific Theater between the dates of 7 December 1941 and 2 March 1946. The definition of service is also thankfully straightforward—it includes being on permanent assignment in that theater, on temporary duty or in a passenger status in that theater for 30 consecutive or 60 cumulative days, or having been in active combat with the enemy.
Recipients of the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal are eligible for to wear a bronze star for each designated campaign in which they participated during their service in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, as well as to wear an arrowhead to indicate taking part in a combat parachute jump, combat glider landing, helicopter assault landing, or amphibious assault landing; only one arrowhead is allowed for wear on the ribbon, however. (The Wikipedia entry on this decoration erroneously states that the arrowhead can be worn only for participation in amphibious landings.) A silver service star is worn to represent five bronze stars.
According to The Institute of Heraldry, there are a total of twenty-four campaigns for which bronze service stars are designated. Here again, the Wikipedia entry for the decoration is somewhat confusing: it claims that the last three campaigns—Antisubmarine, Ground Combat, and Air Combat—were generic ones included for Servicemembers who didn’t receive campaign credit but still served on active duty in the theater. But this is not mentioned in the regulations, nor is it referenced on The Institute of Heraldry Web site. What is accurate is that these generic campaigns are not displayed as streamers on the Army flag.
Here are the two dozen designated campaigns listed for the Asiatic-Pacific Theater per The Institute of Heraldry:
- Philippine Island 7 Dec 41 - 10 May 42
- Burma, 1942 7 Dec 41 - 26 May 42
- Central Pacific 7 Dec 41 - 6 Dec 43
- East Indies 1 Jan 42 - 22 Jul 42
- India-Burma 2 Apr 42 - 28 Jan 45
- Air Offensive, Japan 17 Apr 42 - 2 Sep 45
- Aleutian Islands 3 Jun 42 - 24 Aug 43
- China Defensive 4 Jul 42 - 4 May 45
- Papua 23 Jul 42 - 23 Jan 43
- Guadalcanal 7 Aug 42 - 21 Feb 43
- New Guinea 24 Jan 43 - 31 Dec 44
- Northern Solomons 22 Feb 43 - 21 Nov 44
- Eastern Mandates 7 Dec 43 - 14 Jun 44
- Bismarck Archipelago 15 Dec 43 - 27 Nov 44
- Western Pacific 17 Apr 44 - 2 Sep 45
- Leyte 17 Oct 44 - 1 Jul 45
- Luzon 15 Dec 44 - 4 Jul 45
- Central Burma 29 Jan 45 - 15 Jul 45
- Southern Philippines 27 Feb 45 - 4 Jul 45
- Ryukyus 26 Mar 45 - 2 Jul 45
- China Offensive 5 May 45 - 2 Sep 45
- Antisubmarine 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45
- Ground Combat: 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45
- Air Combat: 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45