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PT BOAT SQUADRON COMMANDER - PEARL HARBOR + MIDWAY - Clinton McKeller, Jr.


KASTAUFFER
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KASTAUFFER

I had been looking for a nice Navy bar mounted LOM group for a while and this group has filled that void in my collection!

 

It is also the first PT boat related group I have ever owned.

 

He graduated from the USNA in 1936 and served in the Asiatic Fleet for a few years before the war earning a China Service medal while on the USS Augusta. It is a ring top US Mint contract medal.

 

When the war began on December 7, 1941 he was stationed at Pearl Harbor with PT Squadron 1. Right after the attack, he and a few of his boats moved to Midway Island and were there for the battle in June 1942. He later became the skipper of MTB RON 27 earning a Bronze Star. Staff duty followed, earning a Legion of Merit.

 

He retired from the Navy as a Captain.

 

 

The LOM and Bronze Star are both USN US Mint contract medals. The addition of the ring top China is what really makes this group special.

 

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TheMariner

WOW, that is an excellent navy officer set, i have been looking for a nice PT medal grouping for years but they just never seem to come up for sale! Congrats on an excellent score!

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Pretty nice sir.

 

I read the Navy's PT boat operations history for WW2 and was pretty impressed when I read about their nightly slug fests in and around New Guinea, the Solomons, etc, against Japanese barges, subs, and small shipping, they saw some hard fighting there, your man clearly was part of that as his a Bronze Star citation indicates.

 

Great find.

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Kurt Barickman

Great group Kurt! Agreed, nice PT ​items rare hard to find! Always wanted to find one myself.

 

The Other Kurt

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Great group Kurt. PT Boat group are very hard to find. One of my favorite movies is They were Expendable. What makes the movie so good is that it was made during the war with US Navy boats and equipment.

Dick

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Rakkasan187

Kurt,

 

Great grouping.

 

I can only echo what others have said about PT boat groups. They are hard to find. I am lucky to have a few PT groups in my collection..

 

Congrats..

 

Leigh

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Kurt;

 

Regarding our discussion about the V device on the LOM and the BSM, note the hand written note on each award card that says "- V - jvc" on both cards.

 

Also note on the Transcript of Naval Service, the hand written note at the bottom left that says '4/53 Medal Ck LOM "V" BSM "V"'.

 

Both of those hand written notes would seem to indicate that the LOM and the BSM have had the V device added subsequent to the initial award.

 

I am going to take a guess and say that the initial preparation of the Transcript of Naval Service did not include the V devices for the LOM and BSM, and that a 'Medal Ck on 4/53" added the V device to both awards. That would be the hand written note on the transcript.

 

I would say "good as gold" at this point.

 

As we all know, the V device was not available for Navy awards until 1946. The Secretary of the Navy authorized the "V" (Combat "V") for the Bronze Star Medal and the Legion of Merit on February 13, 1946.

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