The Lance P. Sijan USAF Leadership Award was created in 1981 to recognize individuals who have demonstrated the highest qualities of leadership in their jobs and in their lives. It has become one of the U.S. Air Force's most prestigious awards.
Sijan, an Air Force captain and fighter pilot, died while a POW in Vietnam. Prior to his capture, the
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...
graduate and posthumous
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
recipient evaded the
North Vietnamese
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
for six weeks after being shot down in November 1967.
Recipients of the Sijan Award are entitled to wear the
Air Force Recognition Ribbon
The Air and Space Recognition Ribbon (ASRR) is a military award of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force which was first created in October 1980 as the Air Force Recognition Ribbon. The ribbon is intended to recognize those wh ...
.
The award requirements and process is described in Air Force Instruction 36-2805, Special Trophies and Awards.
[http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_a1/publication/afi36-2805/afi36-2805.pdf ]
References
Awards and decorations of the United States Air Force
{{award-stub