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The WWII, Korea, Vietnam 3rd Award Combat Infantryman Badge Holders, Photos and Biographies


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5 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

 

According to the above, he had enlisted service from February 13, 1943 to May 31 1945. If he went to OCS, he would have been in an enlisted status at the time and upon graduation received a discharge from his enlisted status and then been commissioned the next day, which would have started a new term of service and which is what the info above suggests. I have seen that with other soldiers. They literally receive a discharge certificate the day before they are commissioned. It would be the equivalent of a DD-214 which did not exist then. Instead, it would have been a WD AGO Form 53-55 (Enlisted Record And Report Of Separation Honorable Discharge)

 

The information above does not indicate the source of the commission, but does show it was a Reserve commission which is consistent with it being from OCS. 

 

Based on the length of his enlisted service (2 years three months) and the fact he received a Purple Heart along with the refernces to his Silver Star and Soldier's Medal with the 511th PIR, my guess would be that he recieved basic and airborne training as an enlisted man, deployed to the Pacific with the 11th Airborne Division and served in combat in the Phillipines in late 1944/possibly early 1945 until he was wounded in combat and sent home to recuperate. Once there, he attended OCS, received his commission, and returned to his old unit - the 11th Airborne Division - on Okinawa before it went to Japan for occupation duty.

 

Note the above info also shows he was Artillery from 11 July 1958 to 24 October 1961, which is consistent with the original photo Patches posted which showed him wearing Artillery branch insignia. 

Good assessment Sean, it is probably this, if he was a battlefield commission, and went home after occupation duty and then went to OCS, we would think the OCS Association would of noted that, and the date would be some time in say early 1946 as the graduation date.

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Here's another triple CIB recipient. Unfortunately he's unidentified. I found the picture on the Old Guard History Facebook page. From what I can tell, this was taken in 1973 during a dedication of a painting of a Medal Of Honor recipient who I assume had served with the Old Guard. Was the Old Guard commander a colonel? 

 

Edit: I found the following information regarding the ceremony: "Dedication ceremony of Spates Hall, Fort Myer, Virginia. The ceremony took place 20 February 1973. Staff Sergeant William R. Spates Jr. was the first Tomb Sentinel to be killed in action on 25 October 1965 in Vietnam."

Triple CIB.Old Guard.Unknown.jpg

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8 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Here's another triple CIB recipient. Unfortunately he's unidentified. I found the picture on the Old Guard History Facebook page. From what I can tell, this was taken in 1973 during a dedication of a painting of a Medal Of Honor recipient who I assume had served with the Old Guard. Was the Old Guard commander a colonel? 

 

Edit: I found the following information regarding the ceremony: "Dedication ceremony of Spates Hall, Fort Myer, Virginia. The ceremony took place 20 February 1973. Staff Sergeant William R. Spates Jr. was the first Tomb Sentinel to be killed in action on 25 October 1965 in Vietnam."

Triple CIB.Old Guard.Unknown.jpg

He's a Full Bird, since he's at the ceremony maybe he was  Spates' C.O. in Vietnam, his Battalion Commander, You Look OK.

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On 6/28/2021 at 4:33 PM, seanmc1114 said:

The Class A uniform of the late SGM Henry S. Furst . A native of Ephrata, PA, Furst joined the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne Division) in World War II, earning the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He rose from Private to Master Sergeant, then was given a battlefield commission as 2nd Lieutenant during the Battle of the Bulge. He reverted to enlisted status after the war, and fought in Korea with the 187th Regimental Combat Team. Returning to Fort Bragg, he became an original member of Special Forces -- a weapons sergeant and Chinese Mandarin linguist. He joined the 14th SFOD in 1956, and served on 1st Group's first missions to Thailand, Taiwan, and South Vietnam. He later served several tours in Vietnam with MACV-SOG. Furst earned the rare distinction of wearing three awards of the Combat Infantryman's Badge. After he passed away, his wife donated his uniform to the Center for Military History. 

Triple CIB.Henry S. Furst.Uniform.jpg

Amazing you posted this. I helped a member of the SFA in Western Washington move some wood, a man named Skip. The man who this uniform belonged to was Skip's first Team Sergeant with 1st SFG on Okinawa and did White Star with him. 

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  • 1 month later...

I was re-reading the infamous topic on Jkash's Infamous Helmet and noticed the subject of the helmet Joseph Shelton or in full Joseph Richards Shelton, Jr. an officer just may be a Three Time Recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge as according to his OBIT was as we know in WWII in the 82nd but also in Korea with the 187th RCT and the Green Berets in Vietnam, he retires in 1965, so plenty of time to get that third CIB.

 

 

Here he is with the 2nd Award, and his 1965 O Registry write up. More info of course needed, but as it stands we have another undocumented 3rd CIB 

joe.PNGjoeshelton1-238x300.jpg.a1936c445821e98916f0ea660f82af67.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/10/2018 at 11:14 PM, patches said:

262. TALLEY, Hugh H.

 

Tally was talked about here along with the Wylie Johnson.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/186816-3rd-award-combat-infantrymans-badge-ceremony-rvn/

 

His Obit, strangely makes no mention of his long Army service.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mtairynews/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=180044626

Not strange,  because it’s the wrong Hugh Talley.  SGM Hugh H Talley (RIP) passed in 1989.   The Thomas Hugh Talley in the Obit would have been around 10 years old on D Day!

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9 hours ago, e19 said:

Not strange,  because it’s the wrong Hugh Talley.  SGM Hugh H Talley (RIP) passed in 1989.   The Thomas Hugh Talley in the Obit would have been around 10 years old on D Day!

Yes that was a major blunder on my part, seen only Hugh Talley, did not note his date of birth nor that his full name was Thomas Hugh Talley, and that as we see went by Hugh Talley dropping the Thomas. Good catch e19.

 

Found this on him.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39689565/hugh-howard-talley

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  • 2 months later...
On 7/9/2016 at 6:54 PM, patches said:

Found a photo of Delacruz in a Monterey Newspaper article from 2 years ago, with his 3rd Award CIB in Cloth, Delacruz was at this time stationed at Fort Ord California, in a 6th Army Troop Unit, date not mentioned, but what was mentioned is he was in the Philippines, and was a POW, and Death Mach Survivor, but no unit mentioned, like was he in the 31st U.S. Infantry or one of the Philippine Scout Regiments? it doesn't say, also no mention of Korean War unit, or Vietnam unit, but we do see a 1st Infantry Division Combat Patch, but what Battalion?

Command Sergeant Major Vic Delacruz.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I ran across this picture onlione, but the site where it is located won't open, so I have no idea who it is.

 

EDIT: John R. Cleland, already posted.

Triple CIB.Unknown.jpg

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On 11/29/2021 at 10:30 PM, patches said:

Found a photo of Delacruz in a Monterey Newspaper article from 2 years ago, with his 3rd Award CIB in Cloth, Delacruz was at this time stationed at Fort Ord California, in a 6th Army Troop Unit, date not mentioned, but what was mentioned is he was in the Philippines, and was a POW, and Death Mach Survivor, but no unit mentioned, like was he in the 31st U.S. Infantry or one of the Philippine Scout Regiments? it doesn't say, also no mention of Korean War unit, or Vietnam unit, but we do see a 1st Infantry Division Combat Patch, but what Battalion?

Command Sergeant Major Vic Delacruz.jpg

Seen he is Filipino.

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On 11/25/2017 at 9:15 PM, patches said:

188. NAMETH, Thomas S.

 

All I could find unfortunelety.

 

 

24 Oct 1924

 

23 Nov 1993

 

 

 

Thomas S Nameth is buried in the Florida National Cemetery at the location .... VIETNAM WAR,KOREAN WAR,WORLD WAR II ...

3984528_136516099709.jpg

DED76756-AD54-440A-AEB2-1393334CEAB4.jpeg

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25 minutes ago, e19 said:

Above photo is SGM Tom Nameth in 1966 - 7th SFG

Thanks for this important addition, we gather he goes to Vietnam shortly after, as he has CIB Number Two at this time.

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On 11/24/2021 at 9:44 PM, patches said:

Comny with CIB Number 2 in 1962 as C.O. of the 1st Battle Group 1st Infantry Fort Myer Virginia

03-12-conmy-born-3.jpg

Whoops, make that 3rd Infantry, I said 1st Infantry.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/17/2017 at 9:54 PM, patches said:

186. MOWERY, Lawrence L.

 

post-34986-0-23915600-1510973372_thumb.jpg

Mowery in WWII. As we see he was in the 507th Parachute Infantry.

 

2nd Lt Mowery listed in this roster.

 

http://www.usairborne.be/Roster/ROSTER-507PIR.pdf

 

 

post-34986-0-00990800-1510972843_thumb.jpg

Mowery as CoS 101st Abn Div in Vietnam, he was also at one time the 3rd Bde CO.

 

This shows a list of his awards, but no unit listed for Korea.

 

https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=SBVTimeLine&type=Person&ID=91131

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47402230

Two more photos of Col. Mowery, the first one clearly showing his third award of the CIB and the second showing him in Vietnam with Major General Melvin Zais, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division.

Triple CIB.Mowery.Lawrence.1.jpg

Triple CIB.Mowery.Lawrence.2.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/3/2016 at 8:44 PM, patches said:

119. HICKEY, Lawrence T.

 

A few items on Hickey, Lawrence T.

 

A little bit on his WWII Service.

 

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.onetz.de/deutschland-und-die-welt-r/lokales/us-armee-widmet-truppenkantine-im-lager-grafenwoehr-oberstabsfeldwebel-lawrence-t-hickey-mentor-der-jungen-soldaten-d1298375.html&prev=search

 

 

In Vietnam he was the CSM of the 3rd Battalion 22nd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division 1968-69.

 

He also was the first Enlisted Commandant of the 7th Army Europe NCO Acadimy in 1972

 

https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=AssignmentExt&ID=214707

Found a Photo of Lawrence T. Hickey. Plus those links are dead, so here's a newer one at least.

https://ncohistory.com/7th-army-nco-academy-history/?sfw=pass1642564005

 

Command Sgt. Maj. Lawrence T. Hickey,.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/28/2017 at 12:32 AM, patches said:

239. SHUFFSTALL, Donald C.

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/floridatoday/obituary.aspx?pid=169208976

 

One of Shuffstall's many assignments in his long career was being the CO of the 1st Battalion 16th Infantry 1st Infantry Division 1968-69, probably served a bit of staff duty after that in the 3rd brigade of the Big Red One. Still no info on WWII or Korea units.

 

http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=141420

 

His shirt when Stuffstall was at Fort Benning Infantry Center.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/uploads//monthly_12_2017/post-34986-0-02699600-1514428431.jpg

Here's a photo of Shuffstall as a colonel from the Army War College's 1971 yearbook. 

Triple CIB.Shuffstall.Donald.jpg

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11 hours ago, seanmc1114 said:

Here's a photo of Shuffstall as a colonel from the Army War College's 1971 yearbook. 

Triple CIB.Shuffstall.Donald.jpg

Thanks again Sean, another valuable update.

 

Seen that Forum Link to Shuffstall's Shirt is Dead now, can't see it or raise it up.

 

 

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