10 U.S.C. § 7274
Medal of honor; distinguished-service cross; distinguished-service medal: limitations on award
(a)
No more than one distinguished-service cross or distinguished-service medal may be awarded to a person. However, for each succeeding act that would otherwise justify the award of such a medal or cross, the President may award a suitable bar or other device to be worn as he directs.
(b)
Except as provided in subsection (c), no medal of honor, distinguished-service cross, distinguished-service medal, or device in place thereof, may be awarded to a person unless—
(1)
the award is made within five years after the date of the act justifying the award;
(2)
a statement setting forth the distinguished service and recommending official recognition of it was made within three years after the distinguished service; and
(3)
it appears from records of the Department of the Army that the person is entitled to the award.
(c)
If the Secretary of the Army determines that—
(1)
a statement setting forth the distinguished service and recommending official recognition of it was made and supported by sufficient evidence within three years after the distinguished service; and
(2)
no award was made, because the statement was lost or through inadvertence the recommendation was not acted on;
a medal of honor, distinguished-service cross, distinguished-service medal, or device in place thereof, as the case may be, may be awarded to the person concerned within two years after the date of that determination.
( Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041 , 70A Stat. 216 , § 3744; Pub. L. 86–582, § 1(1) , July 5, 1960 , 74 Stat. 320 ; Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title V , §§ 561(a), 562(a), Dec. 26, 2013 , 127 Stat. 766 ; renumbered § 7274, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 808(b)(11) , Aug. 13, 2018 , 132 Stat. 1838 ; Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title V, § 582(b)(1) , Dec. 20, 2019 , 133 Stat. 1412 .)