The Department of Defense has created an Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Those eligible include military veterans who participated in atomic tests and cleanups, and those exposed to ionizing radiation from the bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the department wrote in a press release.
The director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is in charge of the new medal program, according to the release. Those eligible for the medal should be able to receive one by the end of the year, the Pentagon said.
Next-of-kin of deceased veterans should be able to apply for the medal online “in the near-future,” the department wrote in the release.
