GIKyle Posted January 27, 2015 Share #26 Posted January 27, 2015 Regarding the Purple Heart 'mystery' - here is my hypothesis supported by NARA documents. In the event that the Lt. was married, his Purple Heart would have been sent to his widow. However, I did find documentation that if the parents requested, a duplicate award would be issued to them. This may have occurred, and the widow may have sent her Purple Heart back to his parents in the event she got remarried. Below is the documentation re: issuance of duplicate posthumous awards. Now if he was not married, it is possible that the engraving order for his Purple Heart was duplicated, and two were unknowingly sent to his parents. Given the spike in posthumous awards for Normandy and the subsequent fighting, this is not out of the realm of possibility. With regard to Jon's question about the lack of an oak leaf cluster on the posthumous Purple Heart, I found documentation that the Army did not want to cause confusion by just issuing an oak leaf cluster - especially if the serviceman had not mailed home their first decoration. They decided to just issue a new award regardless of any previous awards. I do not think this policy applied to other awards, which may be why the Bronze Star is missing an OLC - The family was sent the OLC and did not put it on the award, perhaps for fear of ruining it. Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgawne Posted January 29, 2015 Share #27 Posted January 29, 2015 That is great. I never thought of the Army being so understanding as to see a civilian would not know what an OLC was. Thanks for this. And of course it turns out this guy was the previous mentioned person's grandfather's platoon leader. Small world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted January 29, 2015 Share #28 Posted January 29, 2015 Excellent analysis, Kyle. I have owned several multiple PH issues and they all involved remarried wives. Thanks......Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIKyle Posted January 29, 2015 Share #29 Posted January 29, 2015 Thanks Gents- The one thing I have not seen is any letter from the Army to the parents of married soldiers stating that a duplicate Purple Heart could be sent to them if requested. I have a feeling that the procedure was there if necessary, but was not advertised. Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermanus Posted January 31, 2015 Share #30 Posted January 31, 2015 Great deduction Kyle. I again learned something today. Regards Herman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longbranch Posted January 31, 2015 Share #31 Posted January 31, 2015 Amazing and historic Purple Heart grouping. Thanks for posting this up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1SG_1st_Cav Posted January 31, 2015 Share #32 Posted January 31, 2015 That is an awesome piece of WWII History. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KASTAUFFER Posted February 1, 2015 Share #33 Posted February 1, 2015 That PH number is VERY close to some known traceable numbers for North Africa, Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted February 1, 2015 Share #34 Posted February 1, 2015 Very well documented set to the day of days! Thanks for sharing. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCSchultz Posted February 8, 2015 Share #35 Posted February 8, 2015 From the First Infantry Division's Museum's Digitial Archive General Order No. 52 Dated March of 1945 shows that he was awarded the Bronze Star for actions in Normandy 6 June 1944 as a 1st Lt. in H Co., 16th Infantry Regiment, and NOK is listed as his Mother in Lowell, MA. Serial Number 0-1288456. The archive has no other awards listed for him but it has not showed Purple Hearts in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCSchultz Posted February 8, 2015 Share #36 Posted February 8, 2015 From the Lowell Sun May 17th, 1945; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCSchultz Posted February 8, 2015 Share #37 Posted February 8, 2015 Another article after this one mentions that he was wounded in North Africa with the 1st Infantry Division, and that he was the only man from Lowell, MA that was Killed on D-Day. He entered the Service in 1940 as an enlisted man and was promoted to Corp. and then Sgt. followed by attending OCS and getting commissioned all in 1942. No mention of a wife in any of the articles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCSchultz Posted February 9, 2015 Share #38 Posted February 9, 2015 Based on his entering the Service in 1940 from MA as an enlisted man there is only one matching hit from the NARA database and the middle initial matches as well: This shows him as single at enlistment ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 31002111 31002111 NAME SHAUGHNESSY#JOHN#J###### SHAUGHNESSY#JOHN#J###### RESIDENCE: STATE 13 MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENCE: COUNTY 017 MIDDLESEX PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 1306 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 19 19 DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 11 11 DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 40 40 GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT# Private GRADE: CODE 8 Private BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION BI# Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA BRANCH: CODE 00 Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA FIELD USE AS DESIRED # # TERM OF ENLISTMENT 1 One year enlistment LONGEVITY ### ### SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 0 Civil Life NATIVITY 13 MASSACHUSETTS YEAR OF BIRTH 17 17 RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 1 White, citizen EDUCATION 6 2 years of college CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 599 Foremen, n.e.c. MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 7 Selectees (Enlisted Men) CARD NUMBER # # BOX NUMBER 0382 0382 FILM REEL NUMBER 3.103 3.103 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GIKyle Posted February 9, 2015 Share #39 Posted February 9, 2015 Nice detective work, Tom - The IDPF would confirm that he was single, but I suspect that the two Purple Hearts were sent to his mother by mistake. Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebo Posted February 9, 2015 Share #40 Posted February 9, 2015 Very nice grouping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16th Infantry H co Posted March 1, 2015 Share #41 Posted March 1, 2015 Make note he was Battlefield promoted by General Terry Allen in Africa along with John Shelby to Officer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCSchultz Posted March 2, 2015 Share #42 Posted March 2, 2015 Purple Hearts Reunited is the organization whose stated mission is to "return lost or stolen military medals of valor to veterans or their families, in order to honor their sacrifice to the nation." which is a noble effort, but makes the assumption that all medals fall into these two groups. (that being lost or stolen). It fails to note that the vast majority of these medal groupings are sold out of estates or by families to collectors who are the only ones interested in preserving them. It's naive to think that museums aren't included in the mix as the sellers of these medals as many museums "deaccession" items to cover operating expenses or upon their closure. Sorry to say but this is why I have stopped listed named groupings on this forum as it always leads to inquiries about returning them to the families who often were the ones who sold them in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted March 2, 2015 Share #43 Posted March 2, 2015 Purple Hearts Reunited is the organization whose stated mission is to "return lost or stolen military medals of valor to veterans or their families, in order to honor their sacrifice to the nation." which is a noble effort, but makes the assumption that all medals fall into these two groups. (that being lost or stolen). It fails to note that the vast majority of these medal groupings are sold out of estates or by families to collectors who are the only ones interested in preserving them. It's naive to think that museums aren't included in the mix as the sellers of these medals as many museums "deaccession" items to cover operating expenses or upon their closure. Sorry to say but this is why I have stopped listed named groupings on this forum as it always leads to inquiries about returning them to the families who often were the ones who sold them in the first place. You should not be discouraged from sharing your groups here. I have shared quite a few groups and have been contacted several times by family members. I was not threatened in any way by the contacts. As many know here, I do a ton of research on my groups which brings me in direct contact with families. I am a collector like you and I too explain why groups fall out of contact with family members, so you and I are in complete accordance. There have been two times I returned medals back to the families. One was a named BS which was inconsequential that I had from my childhood and another was a really nice documented Purple Heart that I found out was stolen and sold by a druggie grandson. Both situations were my decisions and my decisions only. It never caused me to close up out of fear of losing my items. It is the opposite in many ways. Another contact to a family (which had donated the P-51 pilot's items to a museum back in the 1980's) was painful, but the daughter was extremely generous and gave me his logbooks, wings, photos, etc to complete the group. Yet another contact yielded a ton of information on a British DFC grouping I have and that gave me enough material to complete a 40 page paper including photos with a lot of holes filled in. Trust me, I get a ton of questions when I display my medal groups each year at the collector's day at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover AFB. I have to explain how and why groups leave families. I then point out the 5 groups I have where a family simply doesn't exist. It changes opinions by discussing it. And believe me, I have had quite a few of the the "these belong to the family" comments thrown at me. However, I would never hold back any opportunity to share the stories behind the medals. -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottplen Posted March 2, 2015 Share #44 Posted March 2, 2015 Hold on to this group dont let them bully you . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16th Infantry H co Posted March 4, 2015 Share #45 Posted March 4, 2015 Sometimes families don't even know the medals were sold or that a family member didn't know what to do with them etc, I have seen groupings turn up in old cars at junkyards in a cigar box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16th Infantry H co Posted March 4, 2015 Share #46 Posted March 4, 2015 Like Recent MOH recipient from H co his family members that are still alive don't even have a photo of him and I have a few hundred of many of them men but how to identify him if I only can Identify 30% of the men in the photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16th Infantry H co Posted March 4, 2015 Share #47 Posted March 4, 2015 Also guys the new caretaker has contacted me so all is good. I am getting the scans of everything this is what is most important for me medals are medals the info is priceless for my study. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
16th Infantry H co Posted March 4, 2015 Share #48 Posted March 4, 2015 www.thefightingfirst.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzkrieg gsd Posted March 4, 2015 Share #49 Posted March 4, 2015 Very nice D Day medal group and a awsome piece of history that has to be preserved for all of us. You don't see a lot of D Day KIA PH I don't anyway. Most of you guys know my uncle who is pictured in my avatar who was my grandfathers twin brother was KIA on Omaha on D Day. So these D Day PH are very special to me for that reason so I'm always very excited to see them. My uncles PH is the most prized possession I have not only in my collection but all my worldly possessions. For me it means my family has paid the ultimate price for the honor of being Americans. Hope everyone feels the same way about that as I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pudgy (V) Posted March 5, 2015 Share #50 Posted March 5, 2015 Oh my, what a hero!!!! That is a good point. I wander why there was no OLC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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