Temple Gold Medal medal recipient. A silver medal would have been awarded to William B. T. Trego for "The March to Valley Forge", but he refused to accept it. Trego argued that if only one Temple medal was awarded it should be a gold, not a silver (which implied second place). Trego sued PAFA to be named the gold medal winner and claim the cash prize. After losing in a Philadelphia court, he took his appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which concurred with the lower court's ruling that PAFA's art jury had the right to issue awards as it saw fit. After
Medal for Merit the joint declaration of the United Nations and of other friendly foreign nations", the medal has not been awarded since 1952. The first medals were awarded to John C. Garand and Albert Hoyt Taylor on March 28, 1944. The Medal for Merit is currently listed as seventh in order of precedence of U.S. civilian decorations, below the Silver Lifesaving Medal and above the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. Civilians of foreign nations could receive the award for the performance of an exceptionally meritorious or courageous act or acts in furtherance of the war efforts of the Allies against the Axis