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Honoring the Dead - Idenitification of Military Medals and Ribbons
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A Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
A Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
Last week, my wife's grandfather passed away and in our duties for the funeral we need to be able to identify his military medals and ribbons. Any and all advice on the breakdown of these would be very helpful to us.
As a frame of reference, he served in WW2 at Pearl Harbor, North Africa, Italy and in Germany in the Army as a soldier and mechanic.
The family thanks all of you in advance for any assistance you can provide.
As a frame of reference, he served in WW2 at Pearl Harbor, North Africa, Italy and in Germany in the Army as a soldier and mechanic.
The family thanks all of you in advance for any assistance you can provide.
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maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
So his rank is in the upper-left, the gold oak leaves, would make him either a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy or a Major in the Army. Since you said he was a soldier, then he was a Major.
The U.S. pin in the top-right is standard issue to all officers. (Today, the enlisted members have a circle around the insignia but I'm not sure how it was back then...)
Onto the ribbons. The upper-left most (red/white stripes) is the Army Good Conduct Medal. I thought it was just issued to enlisted personnel.
Top-right is the American Defense Service Medal with service star. That means he was involved in at at least one significant campaign.
Middle-left is the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal for his service in Pearl Harbor. Again with the campaigns.
Middle-center is the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three service stars, denoting his service across the Atlantic.
Middle-right is the American Campaign Medal.
The botton-left ribbon is interesting. That's got to be the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with hourglass. He must have been in the Reserves or Guard for a while after the war ended. Perhaps that's where he earned a commission and ended his career at the rank of Major. That way, he could have been an enlisted soldier/mechanic in the war.
Botton-center is the Army of Occupation Medal.
Finally, the bottom-right is the World War II Victory Medal.
Unfortunately, I am not familiar with his badges and other insignia at the bottom.
(Edit: grammar)
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
We knew he was honorably discharged in his 60s and that one of those was his reserve ribbon. This is exactly what we need. Anyone know about the badges?
Also:
The two gold ones on the left and right appear to be Civil Affair Corps branch insignia
The two green shields appear to be distinctive unit insignia for the US Armor Center at Fort Knox Armor Unit
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here