Ready, Aim, Fire ! ! Silver Military Medal

[CoinandRelicMan]

Todays trash:



The WWII US Army rifle proficiency badge, was my good find of today. Think this is a first silver military medal finding for me! Quite a thrill it was and unexpected in the ground. Got a 1946 silver dime also so it was a double good silver day !



Total finds for the day :



Thanks for taking a little trip down nostalgia lane with us ! Hope all your hunts are full of history !

 

[Hendo0601]

Rayrayvegas yours is less ornate because it's a "sharpshooter" badge. In the Army there are 3 types of weapons qualification badges. Marksman is the lowest level of qualification and looks like your badge but without the bullseye in the middle. Sharpshooter is the mid level qualification and the badge is as shown in your post. Expert is the highest level (and hardest to get) and features the wreath around the maltese cross, such as the OP found. All of the qualification badges have loops underneath them to attach devices for different weapons such as rifle, carbine, pistol, machine gun, etc.

 

[Sobo]

Sweet badge, thanks for posting!

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Congrats on a great find, found a silver one awhile back but yours is much more ornate. Nice dig.

Hi rayray , thanks brother, sweet find, thanks for pointing that out !

Nice one found me one to years ago..

Hi park pirate, sweet !

Wow! Now that is a nice find, you don't run across those every day! Congrats on your silver! Nicely done!

Hi Msbeep ! Thanks for them kudos =)

It was very hard to keep it shiny so most of us bought the Stay-Brite kind. Don't have to polish those.

Hi DixieLandMan, thanks for that info, what were the "Stay-Brite" ones made out of ?

Rayrayvegas yours is less ornate because it's a "sharpshooter" badge. In the Army there are 3 types of weapons qualification badges. Marksman is the lowest level of qualification and looks like your badge but without the bullseye in the middle. Sharpshooter is the mid level qualification and the badge is as shown in your post. Expert is the highest level (and hardest to get) and features the wreath around the maltese cross, such as the OP found. All of the qualification badges have loops underneath them to attach devices for different weapons such as rifle, carbine, pistol, machine gun, etc.

Hi Hendo, thanks very much for that information, much appreciated, did not know there are three types !!

Sweet badge, thanks for posting!

Hi Sobo , your welcome ! and thanks =)

 

[rayrayvegas]

Rayrayvegas yours is less ornate because it's a "sharpshooter" badge. In the Army there are 3 types of weapons qualification badges. Marksman is the lowest level of qualification and looks like your badge but without the bullseye in the middle. Sharpshooter is the mid level qualification and the badge is as shown in your post. Expert is the highest level (and hardest to get) and features the wreath around the maltese cross, such as the OP found. All of the qualification badges have loops underneath them to attach devices for different weapons such as rifle, carbine, pistol, machine gun, etc.

Thanks for the info, nice to find out. Also dug a silver badge for a driver or mechanic I think?

 

[Hendo0601]

Yes the other badge you found is known as a "Driver and Mechanic Badge" but more commonly referred to as just a drivers badge. Underneath would have been the bars denoting "Driver" followed by a letter corresponding to the type of vehicle, "Mechanic" meaning the wearer is a mechanic, or "Operator" meaning the wearer is proficient in operating special vehicles. Very cool that you found them next to each other!!!

 

[Davers]

Very Cool WW2 Find.., It should look great on display.

I found some 'Wings' last year and know how it feels to unexpectedly find a piece from that era.
Those Silver Dimes add up as well.

 

[Davers]

Rayrayvegas yours is less ornate because it's a "sharpshooter" badge. In the Army there are 3 types of weapons qualification badges. Marksman is the lowest level of qualification and looks like your badge but without the bullseye in the middle. Sharpshooter is the mid level qualification and the badge is as shown in your post. Expert is the highest level (and hardest to get) and features the wreath around the maltese cross, such as the OP found. All of the qualification badges have loops underneath them to attach devices for different weapons such as rifle, carbine, pistol, machine gun, etc.

Great info, Hendo0601
Always good to learn something new.

I would assume such Badges are made of brass these days.


Davers

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Very Cool WW2 Find.., It should look great on display.

I found some 'Wings' last year and know how it feels to unexpectedly find a piece from that era.
Those Silver Dimes add up as well.

Hi Davers, thanks for the kudos, yeah currently I have it in one of those vinyl coin holders =)
Sweet story on the "Wings" would love to find a set of those sometime ! True on the dimes, just need to find them more often, silver is sparse here ! There have been some real detecting pros in this area over the years have heard some stories on their massive silver pickings!

 

[DixieLandMan]

Hi DixieLandMan, thanks for that info, what were the "Stay-Brite" ones made out of ?


not sure what they are made out of but they are very shiny. I would think some kind of steel with a coating on it.

 

[rayrayvegas]

Thanks for this thread post. I have learned alot. I love posts that are informative and where I learn something new from them.

 

[Hendo0601]

These days they are just made out of cheap cast metal with either a chrome finish or nickel plating. I'm sure if you paid enough money you could still get them in sterling silver, but the "STA-BRITE" ones do what their name says and they rarely need anything other than a quick wipe to get the dust off. All of my awards on my dress uniform are the STA-BRITE versions as they look the best.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Awesome find! My knees buckled when I found my WW2 Silver...congrats to you!

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

These days they are just made out of cheap cast metal with either a chrome finish or nickel plating. I'm sure if you paid enough money you could still get them in sterling silver, but the "STA-BRITE" ones do what their name says and they rarely need anything other than a quick wipe to get the dust off. All of my awards on my dress uniform are the STA-BRITE versions as they look the best.

Hi again Hendo, thanks so much for sharing with us your knowledge ! Guys like you make Tnet a better place =)

Awesome find! My knees buckled when I found my WW2 Silver...congrats to you!
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Hi BigWaveDave =) Thanks man ! Man those wings are beautiful, thanks for sharing that picture !! It was good luck for me that I was on my knee pads just a digging away when the medal showed up in the dirt ! I was like "NOW THATS A FIND !!" and after staring for a while I moved it into my finds holder, then I started looking around because I had verbalized that thought ! Lucky for me no one was nearby lol !!

 

[Garrett424]

Awesome finds.

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Awesome finds.

Agreed !