WW1 US Victory medal reference for battle bars issued to the Infantry Divisions of the AEF

[wartimecollectables.com]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:42 PM, mikes militaria said:

                                                               Engineers:

Engineers and the Air Service along with a few other units, such as beast’s Army Ambulance Service soldier, were the first US soldiers involved in the war. The medals I have are Railroad Engineers.

                                        13th Standard Gauge Railroad Engineers.: Defensive Sector.

On 10/22/2021 at 11:42 PM, mikes militaria said:

Excellent thread, and I agree is should be pinned if it hasn't been already!
Question. Can anyone confirm that the 13th RR Eng. only wore the one clasp?

 

 

 

[usmedalman]

On 10/22/2021 at 3:50 PM, mikes militaria said:

Wouldn't any combat division that was on the line also have a defensive sector clasp if some of their time did not fall within a specific battle clasp time frame?

 

[prmccoy]

On 10/22/2021 at 6:33 PM, mikes militaria said:

As the war went on, more US Divisions shipped to France. From this point I’ll show the specific medals and the units entitled to that specific combination of battle bars.

 

    St.Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector. Many AEF units have this combination of battle bars.

 

5th I.D., 35th I.D., 78th I.D., 80th I.D., 82nd I.D., 89th I.D. And 90th I.D. Also pictured is the 56th Engineer Searchlight Regiment. An Anti-Aircraft unit.

 

I have the 85th I.D. In this display. The 85th was a depot Division. It was broken up and most of the soldiers were sent to other divisions that fought in the SM- MA- DS campaigns, except the 339th Regiment, which was sent to Russia. 
The 85th I.D. had it’s HQ in Lorraine France. It is not listed as earning a Defensive-Sector bar so it would probably have a France bar on their medals. This SSI should be in the France bar display, but it’s not.

The United States Army sent me an 89th infantryman's replacement medal recently. They included France on it as well which I assume was for Saint-Blin to Toul. France, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive Sector. I didn't tinker with it at all. This was straight from Fort Knox.

[Hermanus]

5 hours ago, prmccoy said:

The United States Army sent me an 89th infantryman's replacement medal recently. They included France on it as well which I assume was for Saint-Blin to Toul. France, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Defensive Sector. I didn't tinker with it at all. This was straight from Fort Knox.

😃 They forgot the Defence Department rules about the issuance of the clasps.

Oh well, they are about 100 years old. 😂😂🤌

 

Cheers

Herman

[atb]

Plus, I've never found the Awards Branch personnel as knowledgeable as they might be about these things.

[prmccoy]

19 hours ago, Hermanus said:

😃 They forgot the Defence Department rules about the issuance of the clasps.

Oh well, they are about 100 years old. 😂😂🤌

 

Cheers

Herman

Yes, I reckon 100 years ago they didn’t include it. Had to look it up myself, was dumbfounded. 

[prmccoy]

19 hours ago, atb said:

Plus, I've never found the Awards Branch personnel as knowledgeable as they might be about these things.

They seem somewhat knowledgeable but I’m currently dealing with an issue that makes no sense to me, records are gone from the fire, and basically it’s up to me to prove the infantryman earned what it says on his reissued discharge paper. Again, he was discharged 105 years ago so it’s nearly impossible.