TheMariner Posted March 10, 2019 Share #1 Posted March 10, 2019 I recently acquired this set of medals I popped up from a frame shop in Arizona with no history or connection at all with it! Some research yielded that is in fact was the medals of legendary 8 kill Hollo-well (name broken up for privacy as I have no intention of selling for any price). I took a risk and got it a few weeks back! Medals are defiantly his original period issued examples though they were remounted in this frame! The framing job appears to me to have been done in the 1970s! Sadly no the bad part a number of the insignia and one of the medals fell out in shipping, 2 items had already fallen out before I bought it! Now about 6 pieces are out! So the frame has to be opened and the items need to be removed sadly there are about 100 tacks holding it together so I have been slowly taking them out! Now my questions, why does his obituary say he served in Korea but medals done agree with that? Secondly should these medals be reframed in the same frame or do I have a lot of value here and need to preserve them better ? Also any info on him or record of the kills would be appreciate! Hope you guys all enjoy! Being one of only 118 USMC Aces I think i have found a once in the a lifetime set! Additionally - all the insignia that fell out are sterling late 1960s from the end of his career obviously! medals do appear to be mostly ww2 period medals for the ww2 medals! Any questions concerns or info please let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMcollector Posted March 10, 2019 Share #2 Posted March 10, 2019 The LOM, DFC, & AM are all WWII Period Navy examples by the U.S. Mint. Great group! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share #3 Posted March 10, 2019 Update on the frame removal process, the shop that did it loved glue and tacks! We have removed 100 1in tacks from the sides, under that they glued the felt to like strafoam board it is glued solid in the corners so we have yet to get all the way into the insignia! We are still in the process of removal, the document and photo are taped on but they appear salvageable, the image is a 1960s or 70s copy of the original from ww2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 10, 2019 Author Share #4 Posted March 10, 2019 Well we got everything completely removed and figured a few things out! The medals were glued down but we were able to remove the felt and adhesive without damage to the medals! Photos still need to be removed but we will save that for another day! We researched the frame shop who did it and it appears they opened around 1987 so this most likely was some of their early work, so these were framed a good 20 years after he retired! Medals appear to have been remounted either by the veteran or maybe the frame shop it is hard to tell! No engraving which is a bummer but I figured as much! Images to follow! Still looking for more info on him and on why he didn't receive any Korean service medals ? Also a list of kills would be cool but I couldn't find one online! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longbranch Posted March 10, 2019 Share #5 Posted March 10, 2019 Obituaries commonly have errors. In this case he possibly served during the Korean War but never left the US. I've seen similar errors many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longbranch Posted March 10, 2019 Share #6 Posted March 10, 2019 Obituaries commonly have errors. In this case he possibly served during the Korean War but never left the US. I've seen similar errors many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VB21 Posted March 10, 2019 Share #7 Posted March 10, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VB21 Posted March 10, 2019 Share #8 Posted March 10, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VB21 Posted March 10, 2019 Share #9 Posted March 10, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decwriter Posted March 10, 2019 Share #10 Posted March 10, 2019 Great find and very nice grouping to a USMC Ace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barickman Posted March 10, 2019 Share #11 Posted March 10, 2019 Great find and research. What a treasure. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerialbridge Posted March 10, 2019 Share #12 Posted March 10, 2019 Cool that he also flew choppers and apparently his last assignments were at El Toro MCAS near Irvine. Referring to the Marine helo in 1966, "Without it, we wouldn't be doing nearly so well in Vietnam." Died 12/20/81 at 81, buried at Riverside. RIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brig Posted March 10, 2019 Share #13 Posted March 10, 2019 Obituaries commonly have errors. In this case he possibly served during the Korean War but never left the US. I've seen similar errors many times. Agreed. I have a career group to a Marine 1939-67...served overseas in WWII and Vietnam, but was at the Albany Supply Depot during Korea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohn#3RD Posted March 10, 2019 Share #14 Posted March 10, 2019 This Marine Aviator's service is an essential example of the burnout rate that combat operations had and most likely still has on aviators. The photo of his plane with the eight Rising Sun kills also displays 25 bombing missions or close air support mission that this young aviator took part in during his tours of combat in World War Two. Marine doctrine pushed the doctrine of tactical ground support of the ground-pounders. This marine's service is an excellent example of the courage of such fortitude.I appreciate the chance to see the history of such a warrior. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJohn#3RD Posted March 10, 2019 Share #15 Posted March 10, 2019 I recently acquired this set of medals I popped up from a frame shop in Arizona with no history or connection at all with it! Some research yielded that is in fact was the medals of legendary 8 kill Hollo-well (name broken up for privacy as I have no intention of selling for any price). I took a risk and got it a few weeks back! Medals are defiantly his original period issued examples though they were remounted in this frame! The framing job appears to me to have been done in the 1970s! Sadly no the bad part a number of the insignia and one of the medals fell out in shipping, 2 items had already fallen out before I bought it! Now about 6 pieces are out! So the frame has to be opened and the items need to be removed sadly there are about 100 tacks holding it together so I have been slowly taking them out! Now my questions, why does his obituary say he served in Korea but medals done agree with that? Secondly should these medals be reframed in the same frame or do I have a lot of value here and need to preserve them better ? Also any info on him or record of the kills would be appreciate! Hope you guys all enjoy! Being one of only 118 USMC Aces I think i have found a once in the a lifetime set! Additionally - all the insignia that fell out are sterling late 1960s from the end of his career obviously! medals do appear to be mostly ww2 period medals for the ww2 medals! Any questions concerns or info please let me know! s-l1600-1222_50.jpgs-l1600-1223_50.jpgs-l1600-1225_1_50.jpg Is it possible to post a picture of the group w/o the prices and the wings laying in the corner in their correct location? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brig Posted March 10, 2019 Share #16 Posted March 10, 2019 Marine doctrine pushed the doctrine of tactical ground support of the ground-pounders. As well it should Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #17 Posted March 18, 2019 Sorry it took me so long to post here the final images of the removed items it has been an insanely busy week! Here is what we got, I decide putting it back together would be more trouble then what its worth, some of the items were glued on, also I feel the backing isn't archival and might have started greening the medals over time! I also removed the images and the little document though they have some tape residue on the back! So heres what we got Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #18 Posted March 18, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #19 Posted March 18, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #20 Posted March 18, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #21 Posted March 18, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #22 Posted March 18, 2019 If someone could turn those images for me to be the proper way I would appreciate it! The mounting to me appears to be either done when they were framed or at the least after his career was over, the red material is tape and pins are close to the center of the bar which I found odd and they appear to be almost like cut down tacks and not actual pin, not positive on that! Overall everything cleaned up pretty nice! I was wonder what you feel a value on the set would be just for my records? I feel this is a pretty historic set yet all of the insignia being from late in his career, the medals not being engraved and the fact they appear to be post war mounted would all affect the value in my mind! Curious to hear everyones thoughts Also of note, his grave stone lists Korean War service which I find odd if he was state side! He died in 2001 - Also noticed someone posted the link to this thread on findagrave "so maybe the family can get the medals back", I had purposely left the name out of the post for privacy reason! thanks to whoever decided to do that , best if you ask first before posting places! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMariner Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share #23 Posted March 18, 2019 Is it possible to post a picture of the group w/o the prices and the wings laying in the corner in their correct location? Thanks Isn't possible to show them in the display sadly, it was a very pain staking process to remove all of the backing without causing damage, took about 3 hours or more one night! When it was put together it clearly wasn't meant to be opened, but sadly they did a poor job mounting certain things so it was the only option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longbranch Posted March 18, 2019 Share #24 Posted March 18, 2019 Also of note, his grave stone lists Korean War service which I find odd if he was state side! He died in 2001 Also not too unusual. I've seen many instances where gravestones say "Vietnam" or " Korea" for personnel that never went overseas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadet Posted March 18, 2019 Share #25 Posted March 18, 2019 I wouldn't assume those mounts are home made or done by the framer. Military uniform stores use a variety of techniques to mount medals, depending on which one you use. Some better than others. I had a set mounted at the uniform store in Newport RI and they used black electrical tape on the back...I kid you not. The uniform store at Little Creek VA hand sews them and does a beautiful job. Those actually look exactly like my Father in Law's mounted medals, red backing and all. He was also a 30 year career Marine and had his done at Parris Island SC when he retired in the early 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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