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Posthumous Silver Star Question


ErwinRommel1940
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ErwinRommel1940

Hello,

 

I have recently acquired two WW2 KIA PH groupings. Both were also awarded a Silver Star, but the Silver Stars that came with the groups were un-named. I assume that the original silver stars would have also been named before being sent the families...?

 

Thanks for the help in advance, I'm a total novice and trying to learn!

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Hi, If the awards were posthumous, they should be named. If he received the medals prior to his death, they most likely would not be. I have a KIA group where the Silver Star is numbered and not named, and the Purple Heart is named.

 

Kurt

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ErwinRommel1940

Hi Kurt,

 

Thanks for the information. One recieved the SS for the action in which he was killed and the other was the for an action the day before he was killed. Not sure if a day would make a difference...?

 

 

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A day would not. The orders usually took a number of weeks to be published, since the recommendations had to go through approval channels. Since he was KIA it would have been noted in the general orders that his award was posthumous.

 

Kyle

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ErwinRommel1940

Hi Kyle,

 

Thanks for the response. This was my understanding, but I was not 100% sure.

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aerialbridge

Herr General (sorry, couldn't resist), my one and only Army KIA PH is the situation you described in your two groups, an unnamed Silver Star awarded for an action that the soldier survived, and an officially engraved (large machine type) Purple Heart when he was later KIA. Here's the timeline for my group:. Sgt James J. Rosloof of Long Island, NY was with Company "K", 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. He was awarded the Silver Star for combat valor, during the First Battle of Cisterna on 31 January 1944, early in the Anzio campaign known as "Operation Shingle". The award was made by Army General Order # 41 of 3rd Infantry HQ dated 23 March 1944. Here he is wearing his field awarded, unnamed Silver Star, BB&B contract, rim # 35035 at “The Pines” (La pineta di Torre Astura) the VI Corps’ reserve and bivouac area on the coast several clicks southeast of Anzio . This picture was taken sometime between 28 March and 13 April 1944 when the 7th IR was off the line and training at The Pines. Sgt Rosloof was killed in action two months to the day after the General Award for his Silver Star, during the Second Battle of Cisterna on the first day of "Operation Buffalo", the "break-out" from the Anzio beach-head on 23 May 1944 when he was hit by a white phosphorus artillery shell while advancing near Ponte Rotto according to an eye witness statement dated 30 June 1944 by Private Michael J. Maszezak of K Company, who was 30 feet from Rosloof. He was officially listed as MIA until 20 July '44 when it was changed to KIA, based on Maszezak’s statement filtering its way up the bureaucratic chain of command to the War Dept. in DC. Rosloof’s parents were notified that their son was KIA, not MIA by telegram a month later on 19 August 1944. However, his remains were not identified by a Graves Company detail until September 1945, when they were recovered from a shell hole and disinterred for a shroud burial at the American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy that month. Nearly three years later, when the Army made the offer, Rosloof’s mother requested that his remains be returned to America. His remains and those of hundreds of other combat casualties were shipped back to the United States on the S.S. Carroll Victory in July 1948. Sgt. Rosloof was repatriated at Long Island National Cemetery on 11 August 1948. He was 20 years and 2 months when he died, tomorrow (4/6/20) would be his 96th birthday.

post-18406-0-72725300-1586121561_thumb.jpg

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ErwinRommel1940

aerialbridge,

 

Very nice! Having a picture of him in the field wearing the star is even better! I originally started collecting 9 years ago with Third Reich medals for that very reason, they were often worn in the field. As with most eveyone else in that field of collecting, I grew tired of sorting through the fakes and decided to move my money elsewhere....so here I am. :)

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ErwinRommel1940

Follow-up question: Would all WW2 posthumous Silver Stars be hand engraved? I did some looking around and saw that stamped/machine engraved (not sure which term is correct) are considered 50s or later...

 

Thanks!

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Brian Dentino

Follow-up question: Would all WW2 posthumous Silver Stars be hand engraved? I did some looking around and saw that stamped/machine engraved (not sure which term is correct) are considered 50s or later...

 

Thanks!

The short answer is MOST SS issued during WWII would have been hand engraved. Most of the time you see the name on the back of the star from left to right on a slight angle up. Can't say that I have seen any small machine engraved SS issued during or just post-WWII but that is not to say that they are not out there. Hope this helps a little bit. Search the forum and you will find lots of threads on engraved valor medals from WWII.

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ErwinRommel1940

Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for the reply. I looked again and found the below thread. I don't think I'm referring to small machine engaved, but rather "stamped." I see this type of naming on SS in several threads and the consensus is that is from the 50s.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/190638-wwii-us-silver-star-medal-named-numbered-and-history/?hl=%2Bnamed+%2Bsilver+%2Bstar

 

My question is, could a posthumous SS from 1945 be named in this style?

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Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for the reply. I looked again and found the below thread. I don't think I'm referring to small machine engaved, but rather "stamped." I see this type of naming on SS in several threads and the consensus is that is from the 50s.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/190638-wwii-us-silver-star-medal-named-numbered-and-history/?hl=%2Bnamed+%2Bsilver+%2Bstar

 

My question is, could a posthumous SS from 1945 be named in this style?

 

 

That's machine engraving that the Army used from the 1950s through the 1970s. That would not be proper for a WW2 time period awarded Silver Star.

 

Off the top of my head, I can't recall ever seeing a machine engraved Silver Star from WW2. I might have forgotten something, but I can't remember one - all have been hand engraved.

 

Dave

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Looking through my photos, I only see three types of engraving on WW2 Silver Stars: two lines, straight, hand engraved; two lines, angled, hand engraved; and two lines, script, hand engraved.

 

Following the script engraving, the Army switched to the standard machine engraving that is common to all awards from the Korean War through the 1970s and even through the 1990s in a few cases.

 

Dave

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ErwinRommel1940

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks for the response. I saw two for sale the other day, but named in the style in the thread I posted. One was for a WW2 KIA and the other guy survived. Im assuming that the KIA would have to be a re-issue. The other one could be the veteran requested it named or a re-issue?

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