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Army Commendation Medal Question - WWII Marine


Brian R
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Hi Guys - It's the holidays and I saw family I have not seen in two years. With that, I saw my uncle who gave me the rest of my grandafther's medals (pretty stoked) - he was an engineer in the 1st Marine Divisison and was sent to Okinawa. According to his service record, he "Engaged the enemy at Okinawa as part of the 1st Separate Engineer Battalion from April 13 through June, 21 1945". He also went on to occupation duty in Japan and China.

 

Please see the pics below that show a Vietnam era Commedation Medal along with his mini bar. As you can see, the full size is an Army version, but his mini has the correct Marine version. Does anyone have a guess why his is the Army version? Was it some kind of replacement? Any other guesses? This is all very helpful - I'm a sucker for WWI and WWI in Europe, but have only limited knowledge about the Pacific theatre.

 

Thanks!

Brian

 

 

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CavalryCombatant

Could it have belonged to another family member and just gotten mixed in?  I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will probably step in but that’d be my guess.

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Thanks for the reply. It’s unnamed but no one else in this part of the family was in the service apart from a Vietnam era National Guardsman and I know that’s not him. 

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I have a USMC medal group in my collection that contains the Army Commendation Medal, awarded by the Army. The recipient received it for training Army soldiers in amphibious ops.

 

I wouldn't assume the group is wrong.

 

 

W

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The medal looks to be a later strike, and the case of issue is Vietnam/post-Vietnam era. Check the reverse of the brooch for a makers mark; may help to pin down when the medal was manufactured.

 

My best guess is he picked up or was given a "replacement" medal later on in life, and the wrong medal was selected/provided. 

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Regardless of the reason, it's great that you are now the caretaker of his medals! Probably beats out any Christmas present you'll receive this year!

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Just now, MasonK said:

Regardless of the reason, it's great that you are now the caretaker of his medals! Probably beats out any Christmas present you'll receive this year!

 

You are damn right!

 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. He left the Marines in 1946 and its def. a Vietnam era award so I would guess its a replacemnet or that is just what he got in the first place. I don't actually know when he was awarded the medal (his USMCGCM is stamped and dated 1946). He took his service pretty seriously and was certainly the type of guy to get a replacement if he needed one. It's nice to see the right one on the mini bar - and there are actually two bars (I didn't picture one - and they are both correct.

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  • 7 months later...
Fromthepastcollections

To also help shed some light, Marines and Sailors are eligible to receive and wear the Army Commendation Medal so it is absolutely possible your grandfather could have gotten one. And as previously noted the one pictured is a later production likely Vietnam era or after. If you're able to, request his file from the archives and on his DD-214 his awards will be listed there to confirm what he rated.

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