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Ref Thread: American Defense Medal


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stratasfan
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BACKGROUND

The American Defense Service Medal (ADSM) was established per Executive Order 8808, dated June 28, 1941, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and announced in War Department Bulletin 17. The criteria was announced in Department of the Army Circular 44 in Feb. 13, 1942.

 

CRITERIA

The American Defense Service Medal will be awarded to all persons who served on active duty at any time between Sept. 8, 1939 and Dec. 7, 1941, if the active duty order specified service for a 12-month period or longer. A Foreign Service Clasp is attached to the ribbon and medal if the same requirements are met and the service was performed outside the continental United States (CONUS).

 

MEDAL DESCRIPTION

The medal is 1.25 inches in diameter, bearing in front an armed figure symbolic of defense under the inscription American Defense. The ribbon is basically yellow, with blue, white, and red stripes right to left and left to right symmetrically near the edges.

 

AUTHORIZED DEVICES

Service Star - Worn in lieu of clasps when wearing the American Defense Service Medal as a ribbon on a military uniform

 

Concerning Naval Service Awards:

 

(1) The American Defense Service Medal will be awarded to all persons in the naval service who served on active duty at any time between 8 September 1939 and 7 December 1941, both dates inclusive. 

(2) Naval Reserve personnel on training duty under orders must have served at least 10 days in such duty. Person ordered to active duty for physical examination and subsequently disqualified are not entitled to this award. Reserve officers ordered to ships of the fleet for training duty (cruise) and officers serving on board ships for temporary additional duty from shore stations are not considered "regularly attached" and are not entitled to the fleet clasp. 

(3) A service clasp, "Fleet" or "Base," is authorized to be worn on the ribbon of the medal by each person who performed duties as set forth below. No person is entitled to more than one such clasp. 

(a) Fleet or sea. -- For service on the high seas while regularly attached to any vessel or aircraft squadron of the Atlantic, Pacific or Asiatic Fleet; to include vessels of the Naval Transportation Service and vessels operating directly under the Chief of Naval Operations. [Note: The "Sea" clasp was issued to Coast Guard personnel under similar qualifications as the Navy's "Fleet" clasp.] 

(b) Base. -- For service on shore at bases and naval stations outside the continental limits of the United States. (Duty in Alaska is considered outside the continental limits of the United States.) 

(4) A bronze star, three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, will be worn on the service ribbon in lieu of any clasp authorized. 

(5) Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel, who served on the following vessels operating in actual or potential belligerent contact with the Axis forces in the Atlantic Ocean between the dates set below the ship in the table below are authorized to wear upon the American Defense Service Medal service ribbon, a bronze letter "A" in lieu of the bronze star. Such letter shall be one-fourth inch in height and shall be worn centered on the ribbon. When the "A" is worn, no star shall be worn upon the ribbon (Executive Order No. 8808 of 28 June 1941; Navy Department General Order No. 172 of 20 April 1942). 

 

Source: 1948, 1953 U.S. Navy Awards Manual

 

 

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The fleet bar would be worn on the full size medal for any one on regular duty aboard a ship of either fleet, Atlantic or Pacific prior to WW2. A star would be worn on the ribbon bar or an A could be used for Atlantic fleet service prior to the war. I believe the eligibility dates for the medal were service between Sept. 8, 1939 and Dec.7, 1941.

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  • 1 year later...

I am waiting for the great North East blizzard to start so I had some time to post some more comparison shots of original 1945 made medals to recently made restrikes or reissue medals. The modern made medals in this post are official Government issue reissue medals. They should not be considered fakes or reproductions, these medals are made under government contract as replacement medals for issue to qualifying veterans. So, yes they are real US WWII medals, they are just not WWII vintage. If you want to collect original WWII vintage campaign medals you should be able to tell the difference, hopefully these comparison photos with the old and new medals side by side might help.

 

As I said these modern restrikes are ok and some look pretty good. They are very good for use in shadow boxes or displays where you may not want 1940s originals exposed to velcro, sunlight, handling or possible theft. But sometimes either intentionally or just from a lack of knowledge these restrikes are passed off as "real WWII medals". I have seen lots of the recent made restrikes at antique stores and flea markets being sold as originals.

 

This is an American Defense Service Medal made in 1998. It has a crimped brooch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

post-2843-0-01393700-1422309764.jpg

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Side by side comparison. The original 1945 medal is on the left. The 1998 medal is on the right. When you look at the medals side by side it's pretty easy to see the differences. The modern medals lack the crisp detail of the originals. The modern medals also have that black wash and gilt tone.

post-2843-0-12443100-1422310050.jpg

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You can see the lack of detail on the restrike. The lettering looks flattened out and there is almost no detail on the face, armor, helmet and oak leaves.

post-2843-0-21346100-1422310419.jpg

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The ribbon on the older ribbon is softer and much more flexible than on the modern medals. Also on the modern medal the red, white & blue stripes are a bit wider and lighter than on the originals.

post-2843-0-16761800-1422310653.jpg

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  • 8 months later...
Shakethetrees

I'm going through some ADSM's trying to match makers to some empty boxes I recently acquired.

 

Does anyone have any info on the manufacturer of the wire ring type? I think it's Medallic Arts, but I can't find my notes!

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Shakethetrees

The Army issues were mostly by Auld, who used a thigh blue box.

 

Navy, USMC and USCG were predominately issued US Mint in a simple white box.

 

The Medallic Arts Company used a thinner blue box.

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  • 9 months later...
  • 3 years later...
dan_the_hun84

So with the American Defense Service medal- criteria states for "active duty" between Sept 8, 1939 and Dec 7 1941- does "active duty" include National Guardsmen?

 

I have a great-uncle who enlisted in the Colo ANG in 1940- he was older (29 in 1940) and eventually entered federal service in 1943- going overseas in 1944- he had a NG "20" prefix serial number

 

Would he have been qualified for the medal?

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The medal was awarded to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who were called to Federal Service during the period between the German invasion of Poland and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Many of the National Guard divisions were federalized and called to active duty during the "limited emergency" decreed by President Roosevelt. In order to give you a solid answer, we would need to know what National Guard unit he was with and whether they were called up.

 

One good thing about National Guard units is that they normally have records at the state level. You'll have to search to find out where those records might be. You can also send a FOIA request to ST Louis to see what records they might have.

 

Allan

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  • 1 year later...
Chainreaction

Thank you very much for this really informating thread. This helped me alot to identify my American Defense Medal.

 

I have identified my medal as a 1945/46 Rex Products one.

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