506th PIR D-Day Posthumous Purple Heart to WOJG Andrew F. Hill

[vicjoy1945]

Hey Guys,

 

OK...like many of us, I was watching Band Of Brothers this weekend on the History Channel and also noticed some recent threads that I guess prompted me to pull out this Purple Heart from my collection.

 

WOJR Andrew F. Hill was killed in action on June 6th, 1944...D-Day...during the assault of Brecourt Manor as Maj Dick Winters and his E company troopers were taking out the 105mm guns that overlooked the beaches. During the heat of the battle, he crawled up to Sgt Carlton Lipton inquiring where the 506th regimental CP was located. Sgt Lipton yelled to him "its back that way" and pointed in the appropriate direction. When WOJR Hill raised his head he was struck by a bullet in the forehead killing him instantly. His death is portayed on the Band of Brothers mini-series and he is mention in the book. He's also mentioned in Dick Winter's memoirs in regards to this famous battle.

 

My photography skills may leave you wanting but here's an image of the PH.

 

Thanks

 

Vic

[bobgee]

Great medal, Vic. What exactly does "WOJR" stand for? I assume it's a Warrant Officer rank but what's the "JR" mean? And what unit was he in? HQ 506th?

Bobgee

[vicjoy1945]

bobgee said:

Great medal, Vic. What exactly does "WOJR" stand for? I assume it's a Warrant Officer rank but what's the "JR" mean? And what unit was he in? HQ 506th?

Bobgee

 

Hey Bob !!

 

Thanks !! WOJR stand for Warrant Officer Junior Grade. I believe during the war they had vitually the same authority as a comissioned officer. Warrant Officers in the Air Corp were designated as Flight Officers...at least those that were flying pilots.

 

I believe WOJR Hill was orignally posted with F company and then assigned to the regimental HQ for the combat jump. There were several F Company paratroopers who participated in the assault of Brecourt Manor.

 

BTW - I've tried to research WOJR Hill via St. Louis but they didn't really have much info on him....his file was destroyed in the fire. Perhaps some die-hard paratrooper collectors may be able to add some more info !?!

 

Thanks again !!

 

Vic

[bobgee]

Hey Bob !!

 

Thanks !! WOJR stand for Warrant Officer Junior Grade. I believe during the war they had vitually the same authority as a comissioned officer. Warrant Officers in the Air Corp were designated as Flight Officers...at least those that were flying pilots.

 

I believe WOJR Hill was orignally posted with F company and then assigned to the regimental HQ for the combat jump. There were several F Company paratroopers who participated in the assault of Brecourt Manor.

 

Thanks again !!

 

Vic

Thanks Vic. It's the "R" in "WOJR" that's got me confused. If he was a Warrant Officer, Jr. Grade, why wouldn't his rank be "WOJG"?

Bobgee

[vicjoy1945]

Thanks Vic. It's the "R" in "WOJR" that's got me confused. If he was a Warrant Officer, Jr. Grade, why wouldn't his rank be "WOJG"?

Bobgee

 

Hey Bob !!

 

You're right...officially the rank is WOJG...(like the Navy's LT jg) my mistake !!

 

Vic

[Nic]

Vic,

 

Thanks for posting this. I know you are aware of this, but other collectors may not be, so I figured I would post this. A fake Hill PH was sold on E-Bay back in 2004. Some one got burned pretty badly ($1600) on it when they won the auction. It could be making the rounds out there being sold to unsuspecting collectors. Attached is a photo of the fake. Vic has the original. Nic.

[KurtA]

That's the problem with a named WW2 or later Purple Heart when you have nothing else with it (e.g., ORIGINAL documents, #'d traceable campaign medals, etc). The engraving on Vic's original Purple Heart isn't that good when you really study it. The engraving on the fake is pretty close (and even shows some better formed letters than the original.) Who's to say which is good/bad if both were placed in front of you at a show?

Many collectors have bogus named decorations (especially Purple Hearts) and don't know it. And, there's no way to tell for sure when a skillful faker does the engraving. Not every faker produces only junk as seen on Ebay. It's easy to point out the obvious bad ones on Ebay. Not so with the "good" fakes.

WW1 PH's are pretty safe, as it's extremely difficult to find an un-named one of those to mess with. (In all my years of collecitng, I've seen just one.) But a standard WW2 Army or USN/USMC PH? Very easy to find a blank one to fake.

Simple name engraving from just 60 years ago is not a "lost art"....

Kurt

[vicjoy1945]

That's the problem with a named WW2 or later Purple Heart when you have nothing else with it (e.g., ORIGINAL documents, #'d traceable campaign medals, etc). The engraving on Vic's original Purple Heart isn't that good when you really study it. The engraving on the fake is pretty close (and even shows some better formed letters than the original.) Who's to say which is good/bad if both were placed in front of you at a show?

Many collectors have bogus named decorations (especially Purple Hearts) and don't know it. And, there's no way to tell for sure when a skillful faker does the engraving. Not every faker produces only junk as seen on Ebay. It's easy to point out the obvious bad ones on Ebay. Not so with the "good" fakes.

WW1 PH's are pretty safe, as it's extremely difficult to find an un-named one of those to mess with. (In all my years of collecitng, I've seen just one.) But a standard WW2 Army or USN/USMC PH? Very easy to find a blank one to fake.

Simple name engraving from just 60 years ago is not a "lost art"....

Kurt

 

Hi Kurt,

 

Agreed...but I recognize the engraving "hand" on my Purple Heart and have others similar to it. This particular posthumous Purple Heart medal came out of the woodwork years ago...long before the current BOB craze and collecting paratrooper items became so popular. In fact, Andrew Lipps turned this one up locally in his neck of the woods, sold it, and then I bought it from the collector he sold it too. This was before the BoB connection was made.

 

I remember the dubious Purple Heart in question that Nick posted and there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding that one at the time...juries out in my book on that one...I'm not completely sold one way or another. Primarily since I have another posthumous D-Day pair of Purple Hearts to a tanker who was KIA on Omaha beach...both came locally and from different houses. One is hand engraved and the other is script engraved...in fact the hand engraved example is fairly close to this one I posted on this thread.

 

Thanks

 

Vic

[KurtA]

Hi Vic-

Just to be clear. I wasn't questioning your PH. I just wanted to point out that fake engraving of convincing quality is very possible.

Kurt

[vicjoy1945]

Hi Vic-

Just to be clear. I wasn't questioning your PH. I just wanted to point out that fake engraving of convincing quality is very possible.

Kurt

 

 

Hey Kurt,

 

No problemo....I understood your post. Thanks for clarifing though !!

 

I agree regarding some fakes...I have seen some that would fool the best of us collectors at a first glance. Most of these were primarily posthumous Navy awards done about 10-15 years ago. Some of them were incredibly done. The perpetrator was luckily unveiled. However these pieces do pop up every now and then...one was recently on ebay !! Some of these "known" fake groups were featured at the first Chicago OMSA convention years ago.

 

Thanks,

 

Vic

[vicjoy1945]

Hey Guys !!

 

I thought I'd bump this one back up in honor of the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

 

As I mentioned before WOJG Andrew F. Hill parachuted into Normandy with the 506th and was killed during the famous E Company assault of the German guns at Brecourt Manor. This battle and his death were chilling portayed in the mini-series Band of Brothers.

 

I have more D-Day related Purple Hearts and gallantry groupings.

 

Let me know if you'd like to see them !!

 

Thanks again for looking...

 

Vic

[scottplen]

Seen that fake one on ebay a few yrs ago ! not to bad but the LL and faked up ageing i think is noticable ! Thats why i only buy hearts of known PH collectors/dealers I rather pay a bit more then get a deal and have it bogus!!!!

Vic super collection !!! How many hearts do you have hidden away??????? would love to see them all!!!