During Phil’s rehabilitation [at Lawson Army Hospital in Atlanta], his spirits soared the day he received word of two commendations.[1]

The first was a telegram from the public relations office of the 3rd Infantry Division stating:

Capt. Phillip(sic) B. Larimore, of Memphis, Tenn., has been awarded a second Bronze Star with valor for meritorious achievement in actual combat on 1 February 1945 while fighting with the 3rd Infantry Division near Urschenheim France. is next of kin, Mrs. Ethyl M. Larimore, resides at 565 S. Holmes St., Memphis, Tenn.

UNDATED TELEGRAM, PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE, THIRD INFANTRY DIVISION, WITH THE THIRD INFANTRY DIVISION, SEVENTH ARMY, Germany[2]

The men of Company L had nominated him for this medal after his first night serving as their Company Commander.

A second telegram delivered to his bed later that day said:

Headquarters Thirtieth Infantry, APO #3, U.S. Army

Subject: Announcement of Award of OLC to the Silver Star.

Capt. Philip B. Larimore, Company “L”, 30th Infantry, APO #3.

1. You have been awarded the OLC [Oak Leaf Cluster] to the Silver Star for gallantry action.
2. Please accept my sincere congratulations on your heroic actions. You have upheld the high standard of the 30th Infantry without thought of your own personal safety. It is the work of men like you that makes the United States Army the powerful fighting machine that it is.
3. You will receive your medal at an appropriate ceremony in the near future.

Lionel C. McGarr, Colonel, 30th Infantry, Commanding[3]

Colonel McGarr, who had always liked Phil and treated him like a son, had nominated him the Silver Star for his final fight in Germany.[4]

These awards, along with three Purple Hearts, the European Theater of Operations Campaign Medal with Four Bronze Stars & Arrowhead[5], three Presidential Unit Citations, the French Fourragère and Croix de Guerre with Palm, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and his prized Combat Infantryman Badge, made him one of the most-highly decorated front-line junior Army officers in World War II—and at 20 years of age, one of the very youngest.

However, the award list would increase significantly in 1947, when Phil’s second Silver Star was upgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest valor award (after the Medal of Honor).

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[1] Larimore, At First Light, 276.

[2] The Aduutant General’s Office, Decorations and Awards Branch, Washington, D.C. (the original is in the Philip B. Larimore archives at the LSU Military Museum in Baton Rouge).

[3] Announcement of Award of OLC to the Silver Star. Typed letter with no envelope. Contained in the file for the Army Retiring Board meeting of 15 April 1947 (the original is in the Philip B. Larimore archives at the LSU Military Museum in Baton Rouge).

[4] Larimore, Ibid, 276-277.

[5] A soldier would receive one bronze service star for each campaign in which he took part. In Phil’s case, it was the Italian, Southern France, Northern France, and Central Europe campaigns. The arrowhead signifies that the soldier participated in an invasion in World War II.

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