Tennessee Fallen Heroes Medal

Section 58-3-113 creates the Tennessee Fallen Heroes Medal, awarded solely by the Governor or the Governor's designee to the immediate survivor of the recipient. It may be awarded to an individual serving on active duty who was killed in action while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States, while engaged in military support operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party, or while serving in a combat zone designated by presidential order. A second clause reaches a death that is not a battlefield death. The medal may also be awarded to an individual serving on active duty killed in an attack that specifically targets military service members, or that is carried out by an individual inspired or directed by a foreign terrorist organization. That clause has its own history in this state: the 2015 attack on the recruiting center and the Navy Operational Support Center in Chattanooga killed five service members on American soil, and a death of that kind sits outside every traditional killed-in-action definition. Eligibility is not limited to Tennesseans in the narrow sense. It runs to active duty military who are legal residents of this state or who are stationed in this state. A member assigned to Fort Campbell, Naval Support Activity Mid-South or Arnold Air Force Base whose home of record is elsewhere is within the section. The medal goes to the immediate survivor rather than to the estate, and the application is made to the Department of Veterans Services. Two other state observances sit alongside it. Where a Tennessee resident service member dies from a combat-related cause, the Governor proclaims a statewide day of mourning and the state flag flies at half-staff over the capitol; this covers Tennessee National Guard and reserve members whose units were called to active duty outside the United States during hostilities. And the Department of Veterans Services provides an Honor and Remember flag to the families of fallen service members. Tennessee also criminalises false representation of military service, which is the provision that protects the meaning of all of this.