The medal is bronze measuring 1.25 inches across. On the obverse, are the abutments of the Remagen Bridge with the words ARMY OF OCCUPATION inscribed above. On the reverse, is Mount Fuji with a low hanging cloud over two Japanese junks above a wave and the inscribed date 1945. A bronze clasp 0.125 inches wide and 1.5 inches in length with the word GERMANY or JAPAN is worn on the suspension ribbon of the medal to indicate service in Europe or the Far East. The ribbon is 1.375 inches wide with two thin white stripes at the edges and two thicker stripes in the middle, the first being black and the second in scarlet. A myth was that if a soldier served in Germany the ribbon's black band was worn to his right and if in Japan the red was to his right. The only approved display was for the black band to be to the wearer's right.