What medals is he entitled to?

[NoahC]

My great-grandfather was in the US Navy during WWII. He served on a destroyer and was in 3 invasions in Europe and North Africa including D-Day. A couple years ago, I requested his medals through NARA (which I’ve found hit or miss with other relatives). They sent back the WWII Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal (with the ribbon on backwards as it goes red white blue in the middle), and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal (which he was never in the pacific).

 

NARA is unable to be contacted for matters not relating to military honors at funerals, VA benefits, and the like due to covid. 
 

I’m trying to make this right and frame his correct awards. Can anyone tell me what he’d be entitled to including which devices should be on the medals? (Arrowhead device for EAMC Medal? Campaign stars?)

[NoahC]

For further context, I requested medals for my grandmas brother who was KIA in Korean War. All they sent was a reissued Purple Heart and CIB. No Korean Service medal, no UN Service medal, no national defense service medal, no presidential citation, etc. 

 

no info on what invasions/campaigns he was in so I couldn’t even externally purchase a correct number/type of devices for his medals. 

 

As a hobby, i research relatives military service and frame their medals and insignia as a way to honor them and show other family their achievements

[Blacksmith]

Without a service file, it’s going to be guesswork.  Did you request their personnel files, or just have their medals reissued?

 

With due respect, family oral histories are not always accurate.  I have helped many families assemble their relative’s service history, etc, and they seldom matched what they thought their relative did.  One thought their grandpa was in the Navy, when he was actually a combat Marine.  Another family thought their relative was a Seabee, and he wasn’t.  Campaign stars become “Bronze Stars”, and so forth.

 

My point is this:  It is awesome when a family wants to memorialize their service member’s time in uniform, and they all deserve that it be done accurately.  You could make some educated assumptions without a service file, and probably get some of it right.  But there will most likely be some inaccuracies and omissions too.  My experience with the NARA, MILPERCEN, etc, is that they understand the importance of what they’re doing, and do so conscientiously.  If they issued an A-P Campaign Medal, I would suspect they saw something that justified it.  
 

Good luck. 
 

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Ditto to what Blacksmith wrote. Another thought: many WWII vets filed copies of their discharge papers with their City or County courts. You may want to check the jurisdiction he lived at when initially discharged for those records. 
 

it’s great that you’re doing this for family members. Good luck!

[NoahC]

7 hours ago, NoahC said:

My great-grandfather was in the US Navy during WWII. He served on a destroyer and was in 3 invasions in Europe and North Africa including D-Day. A couple years ago, I requested his medals through NARA (which I’ve found hit or miss with other relatives). They sent back the WWII Victory Medal, the American Campaign Medal (with the ribbon on backwards as it goes red white blue in the middle), and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal (which he was never in the pacific).

 

NARA is unable to be contacted for matters not relating to military honors at funerals, VA benefits, and the like due to covid. 
 

I’m trying to make this right and frame his correct awards. Can anyone tell me what he’d be entitled to including which devices should be on the medals? (Arrowhead device for EAMC Medal? Campaign stars?)

Thanks a lot for your response and that makes sense. I’ve made requests for all paperwork on file and reissued medals. I’ve done requests for 4 relatives. Only 1 of the 4 did they send me both paperwork and medals. So you’re saying the Trude and true method of see what he was entitled to is only through the paperwork?

[NoahC]

1 hour ago, Cobra 6 Actual said:

Ditto to what Blacksmith wrote. Another thought: many WWII vets filed copies of their discharge papers with their City or County courts. You may want to check the jurisdiction he lived at when initially discharged for those records. 
 

it’s great that you’re doing this for family members. Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your response and that’s a great idea!