Recipients of the Silver Star

Richard Edward Cavazos (January 31, 1929 – October 29, 2017) was a United States Army 4-star general. He was a Korean War recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross as a first lieutenant and advanced in rank to become the United States Army's first Hispanic four-star general. During the Vietnam War, as a lieutenant colonel, Cavazos was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross. In 1976, Cavazos became the first Mexican-American to reach the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. Cavazos served for 33 years, with his final command as head of the United States Army Forces Command. On May 25, 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that Fort Hood be renamed to Fort Cavazos, in recognition of Gen. Cavazos' military service. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the renaming on October 6, 2022. The re-designation as Fort Cavazos occurred on May 9, 2023.

Martin Perry Knowlton (July 30, 1920 – March 12, 2009) was the American co-founder of Elderhostel, a non-profit organization established in 1975 that allows senior citizens to travel and take educational programs in the United States and around the world.

Marius Eriksen (8 December 1922 – 6 July 2009) was a Norwegian skier, fighter pilot, model and actor.
Eriksen was born on 8 September 1922 in Kristiania (now Oslo) in Norway. His father, also called Marius Eriksen, was a gymnast who competed for Norway at the 1912 Summer Olympics. His mother was Birgit Eriksen. During his early years, Eriksen (junior) gained some success at slalom skiing and ski jumping. Eriksen's younger brother, Stein Eriksen, went on to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing.
Following the outbreak of World War II, Eriksen fled Norway, leaving on 5 November 1940 via Ålesund. After arriving in Scotland, he made his way to Canada, where he underwent flying training at Little Norway, the Norwegian Army Air Service flight training school.
On his return to the United Kingdom, Eriksen served with No. 331 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF and then No. 332 (Norwegian) Squadron RAF as a fighter pilot flying Spitfires. He achieved nine kills, making him one of Norway's aces, before he was shot down off the coast of the Netherlands attempting a head-on attack against a Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Eriksen survived and after being captured on 2 May 1943, he was held as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III in Poland until 1945. He began his service with the RAF as a Sergeant, but was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. In recognition of his wartime service, Eriksen was awarded the War Cross with Sword, St. Olav's Medal With Oak Branch, Haakon VIIs 70th Anniversary Medal, the Norwegian War Medal, the Norwegian Defence Medal, the British Distinguished Flying Medal, and the American Silver Star.
After the war, Eriksen became the Norwegian champion in alpine skiing in both 1947 and 1948. He also competed in two events at the 1948 Winter Olympics.In 1953, his mother, who was a keen knitter, designed a variation of the Setesdal traditions in Norway. sweater. Another variation of Setesdals patterns, designed by Unn Søiland, later became Norway's most popular knitting pattern, known as The Marius pattern, the pattern that Marius Eriksen is wearing in the film Troll i ord. The picture of Marius Eriksen from the film was later used as the front cover of the knitting pattern that later became the most popular knitting pattern in Norway.After the war, Eriksen pursued a film career in the 1950s. He appeared in two films in 1954, debuting in Troll i ord (Watch What You Say) before going on to Kasserer Jensen (a comedy in which he was a journalist with the Norwegian daily Dagbladet). In 1957 he starred as Lieutenant Colonel Eriksen in Slalåm under himmelen (Slalom beneath the Sky), a war film.
Eriksen's autobiography Marius: skiløper - jageress - krigsfange (Marius: skier - fighter ace - prisoner of war) was published in Norway in 2002.
He had five children with Bente Ording Eriksen, including Beate Eriksen (born 1960), who became an actress and film director.

Brigadier General Antonio Rodríguez Balinas (February 28, 1928 – September 21, 2011) was the first commander of the Office of the First U.S. Army Deputy Command.

Philippe Ragueneau (19 November 1917 – 22 October 2003) was a French journalist and writer. He was born in Orléans (Loiret) and died in Gordes (Vaucluse). Ragueneau was a resistance and then military fighter during World War II, and friend of the General Charles de Gaulle.After the war, Reguneneau became a journalist and a political ally of de Gaulle, joining his cabinet in 1958. In the 1970s, he was a television writer and producer.

Jacques Andrieux (15 August 1917 – 21 January 2005) was a French fighter ace of the Second World War credited with 6 aerial victories.

Felix Laurence Sparks (August 2, 1917 – September 25, 2007) was an American attorney, government official, and military officer from Colorado. A veteran of World War II, he attained the rank of brigadier general in the Colorado Army National Guard and received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. Sparks also served as District Attorney of Colorado's 7th Judicial District, an Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and the longtime director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
A native of San Antonio, Sparks was raised and educated in Arizona and served as an enlisted soldier in the United States Army from 1936 to 1938. He then attended the University of Arizona, where he maintained his military interest by taking part in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and several Citizens' Military Training Camps while also serving in the Army Reserve. In 1939, he was called to active duty for World War II, and in 1940 he received his commission as a second lieutenant. Assigned to the 45th Infantry Division, Sparks served with the division's 157th Infantry Regiment throughout the war, from its arrival in North Africa through combat in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. Near the end of the war, Sparks was commander of the 157th Infantry's 3rd Battalion, which he led during its participation in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. For his wartime service, Sparks was twice awarded both the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, as well as the French Croix de Guerre.
After the war, Sparks graduated from the University of Colorado Law School, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Delta, Colorado. A leader of the local Democratic Party, Sparks served a term as District Attorney of Colorado's 7th Judicial District (1949–1953), and briefly filled a vacancy as an Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court (1956). In 1957, Sparks was appointed attorney for the Colorado Water Conservation Board. In 1958, he became the board's director, and he served in this position until retiring in 1979.
In addition to pursuing careers in law and government, Sparks continued to serve in the military. Assigned as executive officer of the 157th Regimental Combat Team (RCT), a unit of the Colorado Army National Guard, Sparks subsequently commanded the RCT's 1st Battalion. He commanded the 169th Field Artillery Group as a colonel in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including recall to active duty for several months during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. Sparks was promoted to brigadier general in 1968 and assigned as the Colorado National Guard's assistant adjutant general for army and commander of the Colorado Army National Guard. Sparks served in the National Guard until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1977.
Sparks died in Lakewood, Colorado, on September 25, 2007. He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Alden Partridge Colvocoresses (September 23, 1918 – March 27, 2007) helped to develop the Space-oblique Mercator projection with John P. Snyder and John Junkins, and developed the first satellite map of the United States in 1974.

Eugene Parks "Dennis" Wilkinson (August 10, 1918 – July 11, 2013) was a United States Navy officer. He was selected for three historic command assignments. The first, in 1954, was as the first commanding officer of USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. The second was as the first commanding officer of USS Long Beach, America's first nuclear surface ship. The third was in 1980 when he was chosen as the first President and CEO of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) from which he retired in 1984.

Lieutenant General Richard Joe Seitz (February 18, 1918 – June 8, 2013) was a United States Army officer and paratrooper who, during a 35-year career, commanded the 2nd Battalion, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, the 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps.