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Help to Identify a Ribbon


danrcalhoun
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Hello all. I am hoping for some help in identifying a ribbon. I am working on a shadowbox for my grandpa and I have had to replace numerous decorations. I received his DD214 from the national archives and one of the decorations listed is a "USN MEDAL". I am not aware of any decorations with this name. Looking through some old photographs I believe I have identified this decoration as a Navy Expeditionary Medal. It is kind of hard to tell since the photo is in black & white. This photo was taken sometime in the early 1940s if that information helps. The ribbon I am looking at is the one to the left of the American Defense Ribbon and above the Expert Pistol Shot Medal.

 

My biggest concern is putting something in that should not be their...and/or not putting something in that should be.

Dan

 

 

post-153734-0-01307500-1410221705.jpg

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I did not realize the image would be so small...I will repost a larger image in a couple of days when I have access to a computer that converts this a little better than the one I am on now.

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Hello,

 

When did he join the Navy? The Navy Expeditionary Medal was authorized for personnel aboard the Panay in December 1937. I think you to go to 1931 for next expedition which I think was Haiti. What do his records show as far a dates and ships.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

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He enlisted in December 1936. The earliest information I have found as far as ships he served on is the USS Quincy in 1939 and USS Wainright in 1940. So far I have not found anything prior to his service on the Quincy.

 

His name is Samuel Leroy Swysgood, service #2795096

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Here is a larger picture for reference. Again I am looking at the ribbon to the left just above the expert pistol shot medal.

 

If any one has any other suggestions on what the this "USN MEDAL" listed on the DD214 might be I can try to run that down.

Thank You all for your input and suggestions.

post-153734-0-01158700-1410472081.jpg

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Dan,

 

That's a great photo. It looks to me like the ribbon he is wearing is a Navy Expeditionary ribbon. Question is why is he wearing it. It makes no sense that he is wearing something unauthorized on purpose I also don't think he was on the Panay, but that should be easy enough to check out. There were only about 50 sailors on that gunboat. I have a suspicion that prior to the start of WWII some Navy units may have awarded the expeditionary medal either on their own accord or by direction from above. That authorization was later rescinded. I have no proof of this other than knowing the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal was awarded early on in Vietnam and again at the start of Desert Storm. The Armed Forces Expeditionary in both instances were later replaced with a service medal. One other thing, the muster rolls show him on the third USS Quincy CA-71 that is wrong. He served on the second USS Quincy CA-39. I don't know if my ramblings help or not.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

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Dan,

 

That's a great photo. It looks to me like the ribbon he is wearing is a Navy Expeditionary ribbon. Question is why is he wearing it. It makes no sense that he is wearing something unauthorized on purpose I also don't think he was on the Panay, but that should be easy enough to check out. There were only about 50 sailors on that gunboat. I have a suspicion that prior to the start of WWII some Navy units may have awarded the expeditionary medal either on their own accord or by direction from above. That authorization was later rescinded. I have no proof of this other than knowing the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal was awarded early on in Vietnam and again at the start of Desert Storm. The Armed Forces Expeditionary in both instances were later replaced with a service medal. One other thing, the muster rolls show him on the third USS Quincy CA-71 that is wrong. He served on the second USS Quincy CA-39. I don't know if my ramblings help or not.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

 

Thanks, it has been a whole lot of fun looking through these old photographs. Recinding the authorization would make since in a strange kind of way. With all of the campaign medels that were authorized during WWII I think that would be a strong possibility.

 

On a side note I got a package from the Navy today (it took them a solid 4 months) on a request I made for information and replacement medals, they confirmed that they do not see anything on their end that would authorize a Navy Expeditionary medal. The frusterating part is I was very specific in my attached letter regarding the "USN Medal" that is listed on the DD214. I asked if it was not this, what it would possibly be. They either ignored that or "misunderstood" what my question was. They said that the medel in question was the UN Korean Service Medal...that is pretty well documented on the DD214. They did give me a replacement for that which I did not need since I have the original. They also told me that he is authorized the Combat Action Ribbon with a gold star (they sent that to me too). That threw me off a bit so I looked into that and found that it was a retroactive authorization.

 

Anyhow now I need to see if I can figure out what this listed decoration is. It may not be from that early, I was just focused on that due to the picture. The DD214 was issued in Sept 1956 when he transfered to the fleet reserve. This decoration could have been issued at any time after WWII as well, I just need to figure out what it is and go from their I guess.

 

 

Anyhow now the r

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Here is the DD214. Sorry for the split image, since the available printer/scanner is not working at the moment my limited computer skills have been put to the test trying to get this up :wacko:

 

Anyhow I pointed out the decoration in question. If anyone has any suggestions on what this decoration could possibly be it would be greatly appreciated.

post-153734-0-92656900-1410534734.jpg

post-153734-0-66499200-1410534752.jpg

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Dan,

 

That's a great photo. It looks to me like the ribbon he is wearing is a Navy Expeditionary ribbon. Question is why is he wearing it. It makes no sense that he is wearing something unauthorized on purpose I also don't think he was on the Panay, but that should be easy enough to check out. There were only about 50 sailors on that gunboat. I have a suspicion that prior to the start of WWII some Navy units may have awarded the expeditionary medal either on their own accord or by direction from above. That authorization was later rescinded. I have no proof of this other than knowing the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal was awarded early on in Vietnam and again at the start of Desert Storm. The Armed Forces Expeditionary in both instances were later replaced with a service medal. One other thing, the muster rolls show him on the third USS Quincy CA-71 that is wrong. He served on the second USS Quincy CA-39. I don't know if my ramblings help or not.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

Bruce,

 

I had the same strange wear of the Navy Expeditionary ribbon when researching my grandfather. He passed when I was 2, so could never ask him. The only things we had left from his service were his sewn ribbon bar and his honorable discharge certificate. His ribbon bar had a Navy Expeditionary ribbon, American Campaign Ribbon and EAME ribbon. He served on a destroyer escort doing convoy duty in the Atlantic from 1943 until he was injured at sea in Jan 1945 (lost his leg) and transferred to USNH Philadelphia. He enlisted Dec 1942 and was discharged Nov 1945. So there he was eligible for the Navy Expeditionary medal.

 

Then last year I managed to track down a couple of his shipmates (there sadly only 6 of them left) and we chatted about life on the ship, and they remembered when he was injured and transferred via wire in the North Atlantic to a hospital ship, and I got around to asking them about the Navy Expeditionary Medal. They told me that the CO awarded it to them (without official Navy authorization) for the shore duty they had done while they were in port in Casablanca, Algiers, Tunisia, and Sicily. Obviously -not- what it was intended for at all, but when the CO awards it to you, I guess you wear it!

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Well crap, it just dawned on me what the letter from the Navy Department was talking about...I think the S was just a typo...should read "UN Medal" which would be the UN Medal for Korea :blush: I guess some times you get so wrapped up in something you don't see the obvious answer.

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I was looking at the DD214 and the same thing dawned on me. Must have just been a typo since the US issued KSM was listed but no UN Korea Medal. Besides the retroactive CAR, he's also eligible for the Republic of Korea War Service Medal which was authorized in 1999 for distribution and wear by the US Military.

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When I was talking about the UN Medal being clearly identified on the DD214, I was thinking about the actual order which authorized the UN Medal as well as the Korean Service Medal. The funny thing is I have two seperate orders, one shows 1 star on the Korean Service Medal, the second shows 2 stars on it, but the DD214 does not show any. I figure I will go with the one star since that is what is on the ribbon (one of his original ones) that I have

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I was looking at the DD214 and the same thing dawned on me. Must have just been a typo since the US issued KSM was listed but no UN Korea Medal. Besides the retroactive CAR, he's also eligible for the Republic of Korea War Service Medal which was authorized in 1999 for distribution and wear by the US Military.

 

The Navy was kind enough to send me a ROK WSM with the replacement medals I had requested.

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