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Show Us Your Combat Infantryman Badge Certificates


seanmc1114
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I guess this could technically fit in the Ephemera forum, but I thought it would be neat to start a topic showing certificates presented with the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge, sort of a companion topic to the pinned one on variations of the CIB. From what I can tell, there was no official Army level document for this badge like the certificates presented with decorations. Instead, I think it was left to the discretion of local commanders what, if any, document to present with the CIB.

 

To start things off, here is the certificate presented to my father while assigned to the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry 3rd Brigade 82nd Airborne Division in Vietnam. I have no idea if these were printed in Vietnam or procured somewhere in the states and shipped over. The black and white copy of his certificate displays the wording where it can be read but did not pick up the background image of the infantryman, so I've also attached a lower resolution color scan of another one for comparison.

 

Let's see some in your collections if you have them.

 

 

 

post-1761-0-88232700-1382568914.jpg

post-1761-0-40141300-1382568923.jpg

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I have one for a Soldier who was in the One-o-worst Wanna be Airborne Division during Desert Storm dated 1991. It is from the subordinate infantry unit. I'll scan it an get a pic posted.

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Great topic!

 

Qualification badges are announced on permanent orders with no official certificate/form produced by the Department of the Army. So all CIB certificates will be local unit produced pieces.

 

My unit did not do one, we deployed with about 85% first timers and came home 100% with combat badges. So you could imagine how many certificates that would have been.

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  • 1 year later...

I thought I would bump this topic by posting a better scanned image of the first certificate I posted. ANy more out there?

post-1761-0-05220900-1425422553.jpg

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Yes, very nice. I never saw any CIB specific issued after Grenada. We got a copy of the orders with everyone's name on it.

 

They did pass out a 'certificate of service' like this tiny pic, its all I have.

 

Alan

post-2741-0-68650900-1428512357.jpg

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Here is a card issued by the 76th Infantry Division showing the award of the Expert Infantryman Badge.

post-1761-0-93153900-1435587610.jpg

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10 hours ago, BILL THE PATCH said:

Here's one for the fortieth div0cf59da9666d6269159f273906deb501.jpg

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
 

Thanks for your contribution. I believe that is the same one I posted earlier, but your image is much larger and clearer.

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17 minutes ago, BILL THE PATCH said:

Oops sorry about that

Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
 

No problem. Your image is much clearer than the one I posted. 

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  • 8 months later...

I just ran across this CIB certificate for the 1st Battalion 327th Infantry issued in 1969. It's almost identical to the first one I posted that my father received from the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry. The only differences are the division patch and regimental insignia. I'm guessing these were either printed in Vietnam or possibly Japan.

CIB.1st Battalion 327th Infantry.1969.jpg

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8 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

I just ran across this CIB certificate for the 1st Battalion 327th Infantry issued in 1969. It's almost identical to the first one I posted that my father received from the 1st Battalion 505th Infantry. The only differences are the division patch and regimental insignia. I'm guessing these were either printed in Vietnam or possibly Japan.

CIB.1st Battalion 327th Infantry.1969.jpg

I would say this 1/327th certificate is one made in the 1965-68 period, earlish probably these made in the U.S., why? Because it still has the battalion as (Airborne) with the Parachute Badge on it  By the mid late 1968 period these battalions of the 101 were no longer Airborne, but officially titled Airmobile, The early ones being left over and continued to be used.

 

The 505 ones are the same, the 3rd Bde 82nd of course of Jump Status. maybe they were left overs too, from the DOM REP????

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13 hours ago, patches said:

I would say this 1/327th certificate is one made in the 1965-68 period, earlish probably these made in the U.S., why? Because it still has the battalion as (Airborne) with the Parachute Badge on it  By the mid late 1968 period these battalions of the 101 were no longer Airborne, but officially titled Airmobile, The early ones being left over and continued to be used.

 

The 505 ones are the same, the 3rd Bde 82nd of course of Jump Status. maybe they were left overs too, from the DOM REP????

The 1/505th certificate could not be from the Dominican Republic because it specifically mentions the Republic of South Vietnam. They may have been acquired earlier in the 82nd Airborne's Vietnam deployment. The earliest orders for the Combat Infantryman Badge I have seen issued by the 82nd are from the middle of April 1968 and those were for the soldiers who deployed wih the 3rd Brigade in February 1968. My father's orders for the CIB from August 1968 for which he was issued the 1/505th certificate I posted mostly contained the names of soldiers who were assigned to the 82nd from May through July 1968 when the 3rd Brigade had a huge influx of new personnel replacing the soldiers who deployed with the brigade and were mostly returned to the CONUS by August 1968. However, for some reason my father's orders contained the award to at least a couple of guys in his platoon who had deployed in February 1968 and served in combat since the earliest days. For whatever reason, they did not received their CIB's with the first group in April 1968.   

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