Distinguished Service Order

Instituted on 6 September 1886, the DSO was established for rewarding individual instances of meritorious or distinguished service in war. This is a military order for officers only, and while normally given for service under fire or under conditions equivalent to service in actual combat with the enemy, it was awarded between 1914 and 1916 under circumstances which could not be regarded as under fire. After 1 January 1917, commanders in the field were instructed to recommend this award only for those serving under fire. Recipients also had to be recognized with a Mentioned-in-Dispatches. The order is generally given to officers in command above the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, although the honour was (is) sometimes been awarded to especially valorous junior officers. In such instances it usually awarded for a high degree of gallantry just short of deserving the Victoria Cross. Recipients were entitled to the post-nominal letters DSO.