US Army Ribbon and Medal Identification

[John Sabato]

Okay you WW2 experts... I need some help identifying the ribbons that appear in a black and white photo of my late father-in-law in his uniform.

Here is the crop of the ribbons and medals



I know that the upper right ribbon is the Good Conduct Medal, but the other three are so far a mystery...

Another mystery is the marksmanship medal. The main medal is the Army Expert Marksmanship Badge, but it has attached to it some kind of addition that I have not seen before... the bar seems to read "?????? Marksman" and dangling from it is a cross with a target that I have never seen before... Can any of you guys give me some insight as to what these ribbons and the medal are?

I want to create a memorial display for my wife about her father, and want to obtain the appropriate ribbons and medals to put in the display case with the flag that covered his casket...

Thanks in advance.

regards,

John

[Edward Tinker]

Hard in black and white John, and I am no expert, this might help...


http://www.usamilitarymedals.com/arm...b313ef2b5ead1f


Top left looks like American Defense Medal Ribbon

bottom left looks like the armed-forces-expeditionary-medal-ribbon and the right one as the American-campaign-medal-ribbon

All would make sense if he was in WW2

[John D.]

Hi John!

I'm not sure if this helps - but I hope so? When I saw your post, I thought I may have recognized some of the bars - so I took a quick shot below from my collection (I have 3 or 4 rolls of these..?), so the colors can be considered? I think you have a few that are similiar? Like - your bottom right - in my pic - the larger band BLUE-WHITE-BLACK-RED-WHITE-BLUE..? Also - your bottom row LEFT - looks like my smaller (as yours) YELLOW-WHITE-RED-WHITE-YELLOW??

I'm not sure what they mean - but thought maybe, my color shots might help? Hope it does!!

John

[Ron Smith]

John,

I think that is a Distinguished Marksmanship Medal. My Dad had one like that and he was designated to be one of the two company snipers. He qualified expert with M-1, 1903 Spfd and light machine gun.

Ron

[wlyon]

John Without color these are very difficult. You should be able to contact the military and get a copy of the medals he won. I know you can obtain records of military personnel , especially relatives of a deceased person. You need a copy of Standard Form 180, Request Pertaining to Military Records. Good luck. Bill

[the gunman]

Does anyone what site to go into to get a copy of these records.

[trigger643]

Army Good Conduct Medal -- Upper Right. American Defense Service Medal, Upper left, American Defense Medal -- Lower left , Asiatic -Campaign Medal Lower Right. Expert Marksman with special award Lowest Right.

And I am correct only 45% of the time unless my wife is in the room, then my ability to be accurate drops to 20%. The American Defense Medal is obvious, but why the American Defense Service medal? I'm probably mis-identifying that one.

[RichSr]

trigger643, Looks like a good call to me, I can't say I'd be very good at identifying ribbons without the colors. The American Defense Medal was awarded to soldiers serving prior to the outbreak of WW II What you refer to as the American Defense Service Medal could well be the American Campaign Medal. Coupled with your identification of the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal would indicate service in both theaters. The following link is an excellent resource for info as clicking on the names brings up a complete description and criteria for the medal

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Aw...Precedence.htm

[wlyon]

If you want to request the military records, you can go to http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/for...256CB10043FB7B and download a copy of the Standard Form 180 which you use for that purpose. It also lists the repositories for military records, so if you live close by you could probably go to one of them as well.

[trigger643]

I was just guessing, based on a suppliment in reader's digest circa 1942, which is in color, and my piles of old photos.... excellent links Rich and wlyon

[tudorbug]

John:

This is old business for me, as I have been successful on obtaining the issue of two Bronze Star Medals to World War II era soldiers who were issued the Combat Infantryman Badge (or Combat Medic Badge) and were thus elibible for award of that medal.

As noted by "wlyon" about, the key document is the SF 180 but not for those who are next of kin of the service member in question. I recommend however that you look at the information on this site:

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/mil...-180.html#ways

which is the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. They have custody of the records of service members who service after certain early 20th Century dates.

Since you are next of kin, you can use the on-line option at this site:

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/

A four step process leading to a form to print,date, sign and mail within 20 days of entering the on-line data.

That said, I have found that the time needed for a reply is measured in months and longer. Each of the Bronze Star Medal issues took a year to 13 months, long enough to worry about the longevity of the veterans who were to receive them.

Then there is always the caveat of the 1973 fire that destroyed about 17 million of the records of our nation's service members who served between 1912 and 1964 with exact dates depending on service. My effort to have the Bronze Star Medal issued to my wife's father, a WW II recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge, ended unsuccessfully because his records had been destroyed.

Let me know if I can be of any further help.

Very kindly, David

[John Sabato]

Based on color banding scheme and his eligibility based on his service with the 45th Division I have identified the ribbon on the lower right as the American Campaign Medal (established 1942) for service of at least 30 days in the European theater of operations. The ribbon above it, as I have stated before was the Good Conduct Medal... Now I have to spend some time studying the two ribbons on the left before I place my order for the ribbons for display.

If anyone knows where I can find a better photo or information on this marksmanship award, please send me the link...

Thanks to all who have helped so far. It is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, my father-in-laws records are among those destroyed in the 1973 fire at the records center... just like my own father's records... So this speculation is very important to completion of my tribute to my wife's father. Please provide additional help in this information quest if you can.