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Unusual Marine NCO Ribbon Group


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I just received this group the other day. It's a great group of ribbons to a Marine NCO who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. He earned multiple Air Medals, an Army Distinguished Unit Citation, and six Good Conduct Medals.

 

The seller only had a picture of the ribbons themselves, not of the back side of the group. I was surprised to see how the ribbons were mounted. It appears each ribbon is attached to a light blue plastic mounting bar, which is then affixed to the brass back plate. In over 30 years of collecting, I have never seen something like this before. I'm guessing it is foreign-made, but don't have a clue as to where. Has anyone else seen something like this, or have another example of this in their collection?

Air Medal (1).JPG

Air Medal (2).JPG

Air Medal (3).JPG

Air Medal (4).JPG

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I have seen this style ribbon bar before but not on a large rack like the one you have, what is interesting to me is that the PUC is Army and not USN or USMC.

 

Robin-

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Maybe he was WW2 Army and got Air Medal and PUC then finished his career in Koran and Vietnam in Marines??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I know the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing earned an Army DUC in Korea, and a couple Marine units earned the Army PUC in Vietnam, but I haven't had the chance to try to find out which Marine units got a DUC for WWII. I'm pretty certain there were a handful, but no idea which ones yet.

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You have a great ribbon bar, I love the backing.   I don’t think it is all that unusual for a long serving Marine who served in three wars to have a ribbon combination like this.  Marines were awarded the Army DUC for their defense of the Philippine Islands at the beginning of WWII.  Marine Night Fighter Squadron 541 was award the Army DUC in WWII.  Marine Observation Squadron Six was awarded the Army Distinguished Unit Citation in Korea.   Additionally, Companies B and C, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division were awarded the Army DUC in Korea in 1953.  I know there where other Marine units awarded the Army Distinguished Unit Citation in Vietnam, but I don’t have that information in front of me.  I would bet this Marine was a tanker assigned to 1st Tanks.   I base this on the absence of any Navy Presidential Unit Citations.  Just my thoughts.

 

Semper Fi,

Bruce Linz

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I have a very similar one but without the backing which I suspect was custom added by the recipient for rigidity. My PUC frames have exactly the same wear and finish. I’ll also echo Bruce, not unusual this combination for this breadth of service. It’s a beautiful set! Based on the ribbons and their construction I’m not convinced it’s foreign made though, nor am I convinced mine is either. However I’m wrong more than right on a lot of things. 

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I have a ribbon rack somewhere in my collection that is from around the same time period and has the same style brass plate backing. I also wondered about this plate and manner of mounting. The ribbon mounts snap into the holes drilled into the plate, and this required some skill and effort to make. I believe the mount could have been professionally done (maybe overseas) as compared to a one-off mount handmade by the veteran.

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Thank you for the input, guys! I should have specified the mounting method was the unusual bit, not the ribbons themselves. I shouldn't post when I'm feeling under the weather lol

 

I thought the mounting might be Filipino only because I'd swear I've seen pictures of individual ribbons manufactured there with brass backings, but not entire racks. I could be very wrong, though!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Regarding the Army PUC...  I know of a USMC veteran that received two... one for service in Korea (Platoon Commander C Company 1st Tank Battalion) and the other for Vietnam (CO Third Battalion, Ninth Marines).  

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