The Victory Medal was authorised in 1919 to commemorate the victory of the Allied Forces over the Central Powers. Each of the Allied nations issued a 'Victory Medal' to their own nationals with all of these having the figure of Victory on the obverse as a common feature.

Originally known simply as the "Victory Medal", the World War I Victory Medal was awarded to any member of the U.S. military who had served in the armed forces between the following dates, in the following locations:

• 6 April 1917 to 11 November 1918 for any military service.
• 12 November 1918, to 5 August 1919 for service in European Russia
• 23 November 1918, to 1 April 1920 for service with the American Expeditionary Force Siberia

The front of the bronze medal features a winged Victory holding a shield and sword on the front. The back of the bronze medal features "The Great War For Civilization" in all caps curved along the top of the medal. Curved along the bottom of the back of the medal are six stars, three on either side of the center column of seven staffs wrapped in a cord. The top of the staff has a round ball on top and is winged on the side. The staff is on top of a shield that says "U" on the left side of the staff and "S" on the right side of the staff. On left side of the staff it lists one country per line: France, Italy, Serbia, Japan, Montenegro, Russia and Greece. On the right side of the staff the country names read: Great Britain, Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, Rumania (spelled with a U instead of an O as it is spelled in modern times) and China.

Its ribbon has a 'two rainbow' design, with the violet from each rainbow on the outside edges moving through to a central red stripe where both rainbows meet.