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165th IR, 27th ID KIA grouping including engraved Purple Heart


coolhandluke
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Hello,

 

Looking for assistance in valuing and finding a home for the grouping shown below. The items in the grouping were saved from a garbage bin by a distant relative many years ago. My friend that is in possession of the grouping is looking to find a new home for the items where they will be appreciated and displayed. He also hopes to use the funds to put towards the purchase of a new gravestone for his aunt (who I believe was the late wife or daughter of Mr. Medlen).

 

The items shown in the photos below are included in the grouping. The tube shown in the photo contains award documents including two Purple Heart citations. I have nearly 30 photos and scans of the entire collection uploaded to an Imgur album and can email a link to this album upon request. Mr. Medlen was a recipient of the Silver Star, but it does not appear that it was received by his next of kin. The flag shown in the photos is a 48 star version which looks to be cotton in construction.

 

 

 

 

 

post-105139-0-77061300-1481389692_thumb.jpg

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I failed to state in my first post that there are a handful of photos showing Mr. Medlen in MP attire in the grouping of photos, but I was unable to determine when and where the photos were taken.

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What an excellent grouping I'm going to guess somewhere in the $500 dollar range to to all of the extras with it! Could defiantly go more or less though! Let see what others have to say!

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I was informed that the watch was worn at time of death, but I was honestly sceptical due to the nearly two month period between the date of death and the date of the recovery of his body.

 

Mr. Medlen's death was very tragic indeed. It is extremely depressing to read his letters home to his parents, wife, and infant child and seeing the inscriptions of "daddy" on the reverse side of some of the photos. A very sobering and heartbreaking reminder of what it means to make the ultimate sacrifice.

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This is a really nice PTO group. One thing I'd do is get his IPDF and see if the watch is listed on the items returned to the NOK from the body. It would be worth the time to do so, in my opinion.

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Thank you very much Dave. From what I gather the IPDF can be requested via email. Do you have any idea what the standard wait time is on receiving the contents of the file?

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Collector5516

Very poignant grouping. One question - Were the families of Americans killed in the Pacific Theatre presented with a copy of "28,000 Americans"? I thought those were only given to Americans who fell in Europe.

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Thank you very much Dave. From what I gather the IPDF can be requested via email. Do you have any idea what the standard wait time is on receiving the contents of the file?

 

I believe the IDPFs are being made available at St. Louis in the same way the rest of the personnel records are available. Check With Lori at Redbird Research or Geoff at Golden Arrow. They can pull the records for you, but there will be a cost.

 

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445th Bomb Group

Very poignant grouping. One question - Were the families of Americans killed in the Pacific Theatre presented with a copy of "28,000 Americans"? I thought those were only given to Americans who fell in Europe.

 

I was wondering about that too, I thought the book was only awarded to US servicemen actually stationed in Britain at the time of their death.

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