ATTENTION: Medals are anodized. Due to the honor and prestige that this medal symbolizes, we will need to validate that the recipient was awarded the Defense Distinguished Service Medal beforeplacing an order. We use the Department of Defense website, Military Awards For Valor, as our validation tool. If we are unable to validate the recipient through our research, the only other option for the patron is to send us a faxed copy of yourDD214 showing that the medal was awarded. Fax documents to: (866)776-2610 , Attn: Customer Service.