Army NCO earns German medal for service honoring his training exchange efforts

A U.S. soldier who relaunched important U.S.-German training exchanges following the COVID-19 pandemic was awarded Germany’s highest noncombat medal. German Army Lt. Col. Thomas Cremer pins the Medal of Honor of the German Armed Forces on U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Thompson during a ceremony in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Sept. 24, 2026. Thompson, chief instructor at the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Grafenwoehr, was honored for relaunching U.S.-German training exchanges after the COVID-19 pandemic. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes) GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — An American soldier who relaunched important U.S.-German training exchanges following the COVID-19 pandemic was awarded Germany’s highest noncombat medal for exemplary service, German army officials said.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Thompson, chief instructor at the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy in Grafenwoehr, received the Medal of Honor of the German Armed Forces on Thursday from German Lt. Col. Thomas Cremer during the academy’s September graduation ceremony. The academy serves Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It is the oldest in the Army and the only one on the Continent. It hosts a number of exchanges throughout the year with the German army’s NCO academy in Delitzsch, about 15 miles north of Leipzig. It is rare for an American soldier to receive the German army’s third-highest medal, said German Capt. Marc Meissner, an operations officer at the Delitzsch