A military medal can vanish during a move, get stolen, or spend thirty years in a coffee can in the garage until nobody remembers where it went. Some were never issued in the first place, which families tend to discover while sorting through a parent’s things.
If that’s what brought you here, start with this: eligible veterans and qualifying next of kin can request replacement military medals at no cost.
The wait takes patience. The process doesn’t. Here’s who can request medals, which form to use, where to send it, and what happens after you do.
How Do You Get Replacement Military Medals?
The veteran, or the qualifying next of kin of a deceased veteran, requests replacement medals through the National Personnel Records Center, or NPRC. You can start online through eVetRecs or mail in Standard Form 180; either way, the same thing happens behind the scenes. NPRC pulls the veteran’s military record, confirms which awards were earned, and forwards the request to the branch of service, which issues and mails the medals.
There’s no charge to the veteran or qualifying next of kin for the initial replacement set.
Who Can Request Replacement Military Medals?
Replacing your own medals is the simple case. If you earned the award, you can request it. And if you’d rather skip the paperwork, a family member can submit the request for you with your signed authorization.
For the family of a deceased veteran, eligibility depends on the branch.
The Air Force, Space Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard define next of kin as the un-remarried widow or widower, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister. The Army uses its own list: the surviving spouse, eldest child, father or mother, eldest sibling, or eldest grandchild.
Other relatives, historians, and members of the general public generally can’t request government-issued replacement medals, though they can often obtain the military records that document what a veteran earned. If someone in the family qualifies as next of kin, the simplest route is to have that person submit the request.
What About Military Records More Than 62 Years Old?
Military personnel records become archival 62 years after the service member’s separation, and the rules shift at that line.
For archival records, the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps still accept qualifying next-of-kin medal requests at no cost. The Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard don’t. For those branches, families can purchase a copy of the personnel file from the National Archives to confirm the veteran’s awards, then order the medals from a commercial supplier.
In most cases, the free replacement is one set for the veteran or primary next of kin. If you need more than that, the rules vary by branch.
What to Gather Before You Start
You don’t need a complete service record to get started. The more you can provide, though, the easier it is for NPRC to find the right file, especially when the veteran had a common name.
Gather as much of the following as you can:
- Full name used during military service
- Service number and Social Security number
- Branch of service
- Dates of service
- Date and place of birth
- DD-214 or other separation records, if available
- For a deceased veteran, proof of death such as a death certificate, funeral-home letter, or obituary
If the veteran left the Army or Air Force before 1964, it also helps to include the place of discharge, last unit, and place of entry into service. Some personnel records from that era were damaged or destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center, and those extra details give the staff more to work with if they need to rebuild the record from alternate sources.
How to Request Replacement Military Medals Online
You can start a request through the National Archives’ eVetRecs system. It verifies your identity through ID.me, then walks you through the information needed to request records and awards.
Hang on to your request number after you submit. It’s the only way to check the status later.
How to Use SF 180 for Replacement Military Medals
If you’d rather mail or fax the request, use Standard Form 180, Request Pertaining to Military Records.
There’s no checkbox on the form for replacement medals. In Section II, check “Other” and write “Replacement of medals and awards.” If you already know which medals the veteran earned, list them too. And sign and date the form; unsigned requests come straight back.
For most veterans, the completed SF 180 goes to:
National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis, MO 63138
Fax: 314-801-9195
Army Veterans Separated After October 1, 2002
Army veterans who separated after October 1, 2002, send the request to the Army instead of NPRC. Include a copy of the DD-214 and mail it to:
U.S. Army Human Resources Command
Awards and Decorations Branch
AHRC-PDP-A
Dept 480, 1600 Spearhead Division Avenue
Fort Knox, KY 40122-5408
The Army also runs its own Veteran Medals site for these requests.
Coast Guard
Coast Guard Personnel Service Center
4200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 900 (PSC-PSD-MA)
Stop 7200
Arlington, VA 20598-7200
What If the Veteran Is Still Serving or Recently Separated?
For someone still serving or recently separated, the records may not have reached NPRC yet. Start with the unit personnel office, or check milConnect, before sending anything to St. Louis.
How Long Does It Take to Get Replacement Military Medals?
This is the part that requires some patience. NPRC handles thousands of requests a day. Staff review the veteran’s file first to confirm the awards in the official record, then forward the request to the branch of service, which issues and mails the medals. NPRC asks requesters to wait at least 90 days before following up, and medal requests often run longer. Several months is normal, not a sign that something went wrong. You can check the status online with your request number. While you wait, you can also start thinking about where the medal will go when it comes home. Our military medal frames include options for a single medal, medal-and-certificate displays, and other ways to preserve the service story around it.
What If a Medal Is Missing From the Veteran’s Record?
The military can only issue awards that appear in the veteran’s official service record. If you believe a medal was earned but never recorded, a replacement request won’t fix that on its own. Correcting the record is a separate process that runs through the branch of service or its board for correction of military records.
If you have a DD-214, start there. Block 13 lists the decorations, medals, badges, citations, and campaign awards credited to the veteran.
Can You Buy Replacement Military Medals?
For most awards, yes. Official-pattern replacement medals are sold by commercial manufacturers, and families sometimes go that route when a retirement, memorial service, or family gathering is coming up faster than the paperwork.
Federal law targets fraudulent claims about military awards for personal gain, and it also restricts buying and selling them (18 U.S.C. § 704). Army regulations (32 CFR 507.8 and 507.13) allow hallmarked decorations and service medals made by certified manufacturers to be sold, never the Medal of Honor. It doesn’t stop a veteran or family from buying a replacement to preserve and display a genuine record of service.
The Medal of Honor is the exception. It can’t legally be sold, so a lost Medal of Honor, ribbon, or rosette has to be replaced through the issuing military service. For everything else, a purchased replacement can hold the spot on the wall while the official request is processed.
How to Display the Medal Once It Arrives
Once the medal is back where it belongs, the next question is what to do with it.
Some families frame one medal on its own. A military medal frame gives the replacement a permanent place instead of letting it end up back in a drawer or box years from now.
If you also have the award certificate, the two belong together. A Purple Heart Certificate and Commemorative Medal Frame, for example, puts the medal and the story behind it in one display.
Create a Military Gallery Wall
A military collection is usually bigger than the medals. Somewhere in the same boxes there’s often an honorable discharge certificate, award certificates, service and unit photographs, ribbons, patches, citations, and paperwork from every stage of the veteran’s career.
Rather than leaving those pieces split across boxes, folders, and drawers, bring several of them together on one wall. Think of it less as displaying a collection and more as putting the veteran’s service story on the wall: the medal they earned, the certificate that explains why, the discharge document that marked the end of service, and a photograph of the person behind all of it.
The frames don’t need to be identical. Coordinating frame finishes and mat colors creates a collected look while letting each piece stand on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions About Replacement Military Medals
Does It Cost Anything to Replace Military Medals?
For the veteran or qualifying next of kin, the first replacement set is free. Fees can come into play when ordering copies of archival personnel records, the ones more than 62 years old.
Can a Grandchild Request a Grandfather’s Military Medals?
It depends on the branch. The Army’s next-of-kin definition includes the eldest grandchild, so a grandchild may qualify when no closer next of kin survives. The other branches don’t extend next-of-kin status to grandchildren for medal requests, so a qualifying family member would need to submit the request.
My Father Served in Korea. Were His Records Destroyed in the 1973 Fire?
Possibly, but don’t assume the record is gone. Some Army and Air Force personnel records were damaged or destroyed in the fire, and NPRC can often reconstruct award information from alternate military records. The more detail you include about the veteran’s service, the more the staff has to work with.
How Do I Get Honorable Discharge Papers?
If the original honorable discharge papers are lost, request a copy of the veteran’s military personnel records through the National Archives using eVetRecs or Standard Form 180.
If you still have the certificate itself, it’s worth more on the wall than in a file box. Our honorable discharge certificate frames are built specifically for these documents.
What Order Should Military Medals Be Displayed In?
Military decorations follow an established order of precedence. Before you build a display, read our guide to arranging Army medals in order of precedence so every award lands where it belongs.
If you’re sorting through a parent’s or grandparent’s military keepsakes, our guide to what to do with inherited military medals can also help you decide what to keep, display, or pass along to other family members.
Preserve the Story Behind the Medal
Getting a lost military medal replaced brings a piece of the veteran’s story back to the family. When it arrives, give it a place where it can be seen instead of sending it straight back into a drawer or storage box.
A single medal can anchor a military medal frame on its own, or share a display with the award certificate, discharge document, service photograph, or ribbons that went with the uniform. A larger collection can grow into a gallery wall that covers the whole career.
At militaryframes.com by Church Hill Classics, we handcraft military medal frames, certificate frames, and honorable discharge frames in Monroe, Connecticut.
One medal or a gallery wall that brings years of service together, the goal is the same: give the honors and the story behind them a place where they can be seen and remembered.
Frame the Valor. Honor the Legacy.™
