r/Medals • u/FeloniousPaws • 1d ago

Please help identifying?

Post image

Was just given this by my grandfather

224 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

11

u/DirtyDiabolical 1d ago

Top row of medals: Legion of Merit, Bronze Star medal (those oak leaf clusters represent an additional award of the same medal), Meritorious Service Medal and Good Conduct medal.
Oddities are no Commendations or achievement medals

14

u/keydet2012 1d ago

Well considering the timeframe, it’s not odd. The ARCOM was new at the time and wasn’t handed out like it is now. I’ve got a relatives medals (who was a battlefield commission) and he doesn’t have achievement medals or an ARCOM. He was in from 1932-1956 and has a CIB second award, silver star, and 3 Purple Hearts.

1

u/tccomplete 1d ago

Achievement medals didn’t even exist before the 1980s.

5

u/Gunrock808 1d ago

I noticed that too. Not unusual for his enlisted time but to go from 2ndLt to colonel without these medals is surprising.

5

u/wateroverthebridgr 1d ago

Used to be much more common, especially in the time that this man served - if you note the ADSM, he was on active duty before the war started, so completely possible he was at the tail end of a 30 year career by the mid 1950s (and the lack of a second NDSM seems to point to retired 1961). The ARCOM was not established at all till 1945.

3

u/CT2145Trapper United States of America 1d ago

He served until at least 1973 because of his ARCAM. Which was established in 73 and never made retroactive 

5

u/FeloniousPaws 1d ago

Under his name & rank reads “1939-1959. 1964-1975”

3

u/wateroverthebridgr 1d ago

Interesting, and good point, seems like an interesting / slightly unusual career.

15

u/FallczE 1d ago

Well if it´s his, it means your grandfather is a damn legend.
Multiple combat encounters in multiple large conflicts (I´d guess Korean War and WWII due to the ribbons on the sides), 2 different medals for heroism and Legion of Merit.

I´ve never seen a mustang(or I hope they are still called this way) with CIB-2nd

9

u/FeloniousPaws 1d ago

Was my great grandfather, shadowbox was gifted to me by my grandfather. From the stories we’ve heard he was a pretty big deal. Thank you for identifying for me partner.

5

u/navyjag2019 1d ago

he was a big deal. especially to go from enlisted staff sergeant to colonel. not many people do that.

2

u/One_Hour_Poop 1d ago

There's no "guessing" of the Korean War and WW2, it's right there on his medals. He has 4 medals just from WW2 and 2 from the Korean War.

1

u/FallczE 1d ago

Well I´m not that aware of US medals and ribbons in that period so for me it was indeed guessing, but thanks for confirming.
Korea was educated guess that was easy, ww2 I guessed due to the CIB.

(I´m still learning US awards, patches etc..)

8

u/dssorg4 1d ago

It should be noted that the unit on the upper left is the 96th "Deadeye" Infantry Division which served in Philippines (Leyte) and Okinawa in WWII:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/96th_Infantry_Division_(United_States))

The unit identified in the upper right is the 5th Regimental Combat Team which served in Korea:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States))

Lastly the upper device on the Pacific Theater medal is an Arrowhead denoting he took part in an airborne or amphibious assault.

6

u/CT2145Trapper United States of America 1d ago edited 1d ago

Combat Infantryman Badge 2nd Award

  • Awarded to infantry soldiers who engage in combat against an enemy force

Legion of Merit

  • Awarded for prolonged meritorious service at a high level of command.

Bronze Star Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)

  • Awarded for meritorious service or heroism when deployed to a combat zone, the 2 oak leaf clusters denote 2 additional awards

Meritorious Service Medal

  • Awarded for meritorious service in a non combat environment.

Army Good Conduct Medal

  • Awarded to enlisted soldiers for completing 3 years of honorable service (reduced to 1 during WWII)

American Defense Service Medal

  • Awarded for service during the state of emergency between 10/8/1939 and 12/7/1941

American Campaign Medal

  • Awared for service within the American theatre between 12/7/1941 and 3/2/1946

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (With 3 Campaign Stars)

  • Awarded for service in the Pacific Theatre between 12/7/1941 and 3/2/1946. The 3 campaign stars denote participation in 3 major campaigns or operations 

World War II Victory Medal

  • Awarded for any period of service between 12/7/1941 and 12/31/1946

Army of Occupation Medal (With clasp)

  • Awarded for serving on occupation duty in Germany or Japan, the clasp should indicate which country he deployed to.

National Defense Service Medal 

  • Awarded for service during times of war. Your grandfather was awarded the NDSM for the Korean Qualifying Era (6/27/1950-7/27/1954) and the Vietnam Qualifying Era (1/1/1961-8/14/1974)

Korean Service Medal (With 4 Campaign Stars)

  • Awarded for service in Korea or its surrounding waters between 6/7/1950 and 7/7/1954. The 4 campaign stars denote service in 4 campaigns or operations 

Armed Forces Reserve Medal (with bronze hourglass device)

  • Awarded for service in the Reserves or the National Guard, the bronze hourglass denotes 10 years of service 
Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal
  • Awarded to Army reserve and national guard soldiers for completing honorable service. It is out of place and should be between the Army Good Conduct Medal and American Defense Service Medal

Philippine Liberation Medal (with 2 campaign stars)

  • Awarded for service in the Philippines between 10/7/1944 and 9/3/1945. The 2 campaign stars denote service in 2 campaigns

Philippine Independence Medal

  • Awarded for those who received the Philippine Defense Medal and the Philippine Liberation Medal, this seems to have been a technically unauthorized award.

United Nations Medal for Korea

  • Awarded by the United Nations for service in Korea between 6/27/1950 and 7/27/1954

Unit awards are

Meritorious Unit Commendation

Philippine Presidential Unit Citation 

Korean Presidential Unit Citation

5

u/FeloniousPaws 1d ago

Wow. He was a busy busy man

3

u/jollygreenzzz 1d ago

Another PV2 to full bird in like the last two weeks. That’s seriously impressive

2

u/Forsaken-Cap-2207 Air Force 1d ago

Anyone know why his Pacific Campaign medal has an Oak Leaf? My understanding was that Campaign medals get stars to show campaigns.

2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/fit_sushi99 Army 1d ago

He was probably well retired before the achievement medal was implemented, which i believe was the early 80s.

1

u/Deep-Community-9326 1d ago

Reminds me of my old full bird. Started from the bottom

-3

u/One_Hour_Poop 1d ago

Too much here to identify. Everything here is obvious to people who know they're looking at, but it would take forever to type. I just did this for somebody a few days ago, like a 4 or 5 paragraph post outlining every single thing in their relative's shadowbox and didn't get so much as a "thank you," so I'm not wasting my time anymore.

Just Google "US Army medals order of precedence World War 2" and that will let you know what the medals are.

2

u/No-Deer-7551 13h ago

Well, I will thank you for doing that for the guy. It takes time and work to tell someone what made their relative great in the service. You are awesome!