Seeking Info on a Medal

[Monty]

I posted this once on another forum, but....I have a plaque dedicated to my Dad's military service in WWII. It has several pics and the paperwork he came home with. He was in all the major battles in western Europe including the Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, The Ardannes, etc, and also moved across France, Holland, Belgium, Part of Austria and went into Germany after waiting several days for the Russians to capture Berlin. He was awarded a good conduct medal, an expert marksmanship medal for the M1 Rifle, M1 Carbine, 45 Pistol, and the 50 cal. Browning machine gun. And also a Silver Service Star. He was discharged before he actually physically received any of his medals. I know what all of them are except the Silver Service Star and I can't find any information on it. He should also have been awarded service medals for all the countries he fought in but he didn't. Could anyone in the military give me some information on what the Silver Service Star is? Also who to contact in the Defense Department to find out about his other medals he never received? Thanks in advance. Monty

 

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[River Rat]

Monty, based on your post I believe a few major medals are missing. If you have a copy of his DD214, all should be listed. I've known WWII veterans to receive the Purple Heart/Bronze Star/Silver Star 40+ yrs after the war. Check with the local American Legion, VFW they should point you in the right directions towards getting the service medals your dad had earned.

Service star
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bronze and silver service stars
A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service medals, ribbon awards, and certain military badges. Service stars are different from award stars, which are issued for multiple awards of meritorious and combat decorations.

The United States military issues bronze and silver service stars, with a silver service star issued in lieu of five bronze.

Use as a Campaign star: For instance, six campaigns, served on a campaign medal, would be annotated by one silver and one bronze service star. In some situations (e.g., the Southwest Asia Service Medal, which is a campaign medal/ribbon), each recipient is entitled to at least one campaign star. Thus, a Southwest Asia Service Medal without at least one bronze star would be inappopriate.
Use as a Service star: For instance, three awards of a Sea Service Ribbon would be annotated by the ribbon with two bronze service stars. In some situations, service stars are only issued after the second award of a decoration.

The United States Army also occasionally issues award numerals or oak leaf clusters, instead of service stars, to denote multiple awards of certain ribbon decorations. In addition to award numerals, the United States Army uses the same Gold award star that is worn on many Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard decorations to denote the tenth and final award of the Army Sea Duty Ribbon. Bronze stars are also used to denote combat jumps on the Jump Wings.

Service stars issued for actions in which a United States Navy vessel participated are also placed on campaign streamers, which are affixed to the U.S. Navy flag. The regulations for this originated in 1942, which defined naval campaign areas and designated engagements. Participation in such engagements, by ships and by individuals, was then denoted by service stars. The United States Army followed a very similar practice with ground campaigns and battle engagements.

A common point of confusion is to confuse bronze and silver service stars with the Silver Star and Bronze Star. The main difference between the two is that the Bronze and Silver Star Medals are individual decorations while service stars are worn on awards and are not individual decorations or medals.

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"He should also have been awarded service medals for all the countries he fought in but he didn't."

Based on my knowledge as a former Awards & Decorations Monitor for my squadron, each country did not have a separate ribbon... the chart below is not the one I'm searching for, but will give you some general knowledge.

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/Ribbons/OrderofPrecedence.htm

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/EUROPEAN-AFRICAN-MID EAST1.html This is the campaign ribbon your dad should had received...based on each area he was in during the dates indicated on this chart 5 bronzes would = to the 1 silver star.

Here's who to contact... http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/replacement-medals.html

If I can be of anymore help, just give me a holler. Montana Jim is helpful too, he'll be chiming in soon.

RR

 

[Minstrel]

Monte,
Check this post of mine--maybe will help:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,249497.0.html

Minstrel

 

[Montana Jim]

Monty,

I'll call my Dad who is traveling right now... he went through the process of having ?? get him an answer on his service medals (AF) from the mid 50s.

I'll keep you advised. I remember they sent my dad the ribbons and medals he had comming to him.

In the meantime that link that Minstral posted looks like it'll take care of you.

 

[Monty]

After trying to comprehend all the red tape with the government military offices I finally was referred to the local VFW. It seems that is one of their projects is to assist in rewarding veterans who missed out on so much over the years. I have checked out all the medals and ribbons Dad should have received when he was discharged. It seems that no one was interested in medals and ribbons when the Germans surrendered because the war in the Pacific was still going on and thousands of men were constantly coming and going from the military service. And of course they didn't have computers in those days and it took a huge staff of typists just to get paperwork processed if at all! Anyway, Dad should have received a Good Conduct medal, ribbons and/or medals: The WWII Victory Medal, the National Defense Medal, the Overseas Service Medal with a Silver Service Star (Indicating Dad had fought in 5 major campaigns in the war), The Croix De Guerre French and the Croix De Greurre Belgium, as well as his marksmanship medals for the .45 Auto Pistol, the M1 Rifle, the M1 Carbine and the 50 cal. Browning Machinegun. He was also in the liberation of Holland, but they never issued a medal for that. As it was he never received any of them. Thanks so much for jumping in and helping me out. Monty