That was one set of regs, not necessarily the ones across the board. Different services, theaters and commands had their own regs for the medals, especially notable was General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Area Command that handed out Army awards quite liberally, some just on the whim of what MacArthur wanted to award, to all services sometimes even duplicating Navy and Marine decorations in some cases.
This book is an excellent reference for the history of medals and awards for the Navy, Marines and Coasties and it goes over the changing criteria of medals over the years.