Combat Infantryman
Expert Infantryman	Combat Medic

Werner von Braun, already something of a celebrity, is photographed looking at a GI's CIB.

The Combat Infantry Badge was adopted November 15, 1943 and was awarded to those officers with a rank of colonel or below and those enlisted men whose conduct in combat was exemplary. The qualification was later altered to having satisfactorily performed duty while part of an active ground combat unit. Later the badge was made retroactive to December 6, 1941 and allowed as a posthumous award. It was worn over the service ribbons above the left breast pocket. The badge was very popular with the front line soldier, who enjoyed the special recognition to the fighting soldier that it conferred. A major proponent of the badge was General Leslie J. McNair, commander of U.S. Army Ground Forces.

The Expert Infantry Badge was adopted November 15, 1943 and was awarded to those completing prescribed infantry proficiency tests. Medical personnel assigned to combat units became a quandary. Some of them were awarded Combat Infantry Badges only to have them revoked because they were noncombatants. Casualty rates among combat medics were extremely high and on April 18, 1945 a Combat Medical Badge was adopted and awarded to medics for exemplary action in combat.