Mystery Ribbon Bar

[Ian B]

Good day from Canada,

 

I have this ribbon bar that I believe to be American.  It came with the effects of a Canadian Forces veteran.  I am making a display shadow box for his widow that will include his CF medal group and other Canadian badges.  His widow has told me that he received this US grouping while working with US Forces overseas. 

 

Could someone please ID all ribbons?  As you can see by the attached picture, I also have the medal for the centre ribbon on the botom bar, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Service medal.  Do all the ribbons have medals to go with them?  My knowledge of American decorations is very limited, however I seem to recall that not all awards have a medal, that some are just the ribbon by itself.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

As much information as possible please.  Date of issue, qualification requirements, issued to foreign nationals working with US forces, and so on.  Thank you for any information you folks can provide.

 

Regards,

 

Ian B 

 

 

[FriarChuck]

From left to right your veteran’s ribbon bar includes the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Armed Forces Expeditionary Service Medal, and the Navy/Marine Corps Sea Service Ribbon. Only the Achievement Medal and AFESM have associated medals. 
 

The achievement medal is the only personal decoration in the rack, the rest are either unit awards (awarded to a whole unit for a certain period of time) or service awards (campaign medals, and deployment or length of service type ribbons). 
 

Very interesting group. My understanding that service ribbons and campaign medals are usually not awarded to foreigners but I don’t know what period he was serving with the US or what regulations were around at the time. Being mostly Navy awards he most likely deployed on board a Navy Vessel in support of some US operation. You can find a list of approved operations for the AFESM online. The unit also seemingly supported the Air Force but that is the odd ribbon in the bunch.

 

What Canadian branch was he in, when did he serve and what Canadian decorations or medals did he have. That might help decipher what he earned these for.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Friar

[Brig]

The Marine Corps (and I assume Navy) will award unit citations to foreigners who are attached to US units that also receive the citation, such as in an LNO billet. They are few and far between, and generally listed BY NAME in the awarding documentation as "Additional Personnel". Depending on when he would have earned these, the documentation might be available online. The Marine Corps publishes unit awards via MARADMIN. Not sure how the Navy and Air Force do it.

 

The Achievement Medal can also be awarded to foreigners, even when not attached to an American unit. In the past, units I have been with have awarded achievement medals to foreigners twice...once to an Afghan soldier for actions in combat that are credited with saving US service members' lives, and the second to a Royal Marine Commando who served as the chief instructor for two months training us in cold-weather warfare north of the arctic circle.

 

The sea service deployment ribbon is not something awarded to foreigners, but that doesn't mean that he didn't go ahead and buy it anyway because he figured he met the criteria. He might have just thought it amusing. My guess is he served in a joint billet somewhere to have unit citations from two different services.

[Ian B]

Good day gents,

 

Thank you both for replying to me.  The information you have provided is much appreciated.  The information that I have is that he served on a USN Ship based out of Hawaii, during ops for either the Iraq war or Afghanistan.

 

For Friar:  The service member was in the CF Signals Branch (now reverted to Royal Canadian Corps of Signals), acheiving the rank of Warrant Officer (one rank above Sergeant in the CF, not to be confused with the US WO's falling between Enlisted and Officers).  His medal group includes the following Canadian awards:

 

          South West Asia Service Medal

          Gulf and Kuwait '90-'91

          General Campain Star w/ ISAF bar

          Special Service Medal w/ Alert bart

          Canadian Forces Decoration     

 

I am not sure of his dates of service, I will have to confirm with his widow.  Also, I will try to find out more on his service through Canadian archives.

 

For Brig:  thanks for the info on where to look for USMC admin pages.  As for his sea service, as I said, I believe he was ship-borne, so he may have been awarded.  I guess it would depend how much of a stickler his supervisor was in following eligibility criteria.

 

Anyway, thanks again for your assistance.  I'll do some further research and post any information I can gather.

 

Regards,

 

Ian B 

 

[Dave]

Might it be that he traded this ribbon bar with someone he served with? It seems very much like a set of ribbons earned by a US Navy Sailor, and not one representing awards earned by a foreign service member while serving with the US military. 

[Ian B]

Yes, I suppose that could be a possibility.  But why would a sailor give tht away?  Unless extras and spares can be had from a base PX.

 

As I said, more research is required.  But in the end, all I'm doing is making a shadow box to display his Canadian medals and military effects.  Just trying to ID the ribbons on this bar.  If he earned them, they'll go in.  If not, it'll be up to his widow.

 

Ian B