17th ABN Officer's medals - Silver Star (Dead Man's Ridge), PH (Varsity), and more

[USMarineCorps]

Hi all,

 

Having seen all the great historical items other forum members have found over the years, I have always wanted to find a WW2 Airborne grouping "out of the woodwork" myself.

I recently came across this medal group, and finally had the opportunity to accomplish this goal of mine. I am very excited to share these medals with you and uncover the stories behind the soldier.

 

I haven't done much research on it yet, but from what I found online, he was with E Co, 2nd Bn, 193rd GIR during the Battle of the Bulge as a 1st LT (O-1313571).

His Silver Star and Purple Heart are privately (but beautifully) engraved with the dates and locations of each award. Note how both Bastogne and Wesel have been misspelled.

It appears he received his Silver Star during the "Battle of Dad man's Ridge" near Bastogne, which resulted in the loss of more than 3,000 US soldiers.

His Purple Heart, on the other hand, was awarded for wounds received during Operation Varsity, the largest and last airborne combat jump in the ETO.

After the war, he remained in the US Army and served in Korea as well as SE Asia as an advisor before finally retiring in 1968 at an LTC.

 

One more cool detail is the post-war Assmann made 502nd PIR. Not sure what the connection is though, but it was in the frame with the other insignia and medals.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Fred

 

[dhcoleterracina]

Looks like a nice group of official and privately engraved medals. Interesting that he didn't engrave his name on some, just the date and place. Well done. 

[USMarineCorps]

6 minutes ago, dhcoleterracina said:

Looks like a nice group of official and privately engraved medals. Interesting that he didn't engrave his name on some, just the date and place. Well done. 

I was wondering the same thing. Perhaps these were field awards and he just didn't bother getting them engraved by the government? I actually like the date and location better than the name as it preserves the story behind the awards. On a side note, the PH is numbered and seems to be a painted Rex Products one.

[Brian Dentino]

I really like these.  Very unique and show as you stated where and when these medals were earned.  Very cool set for sure.  Would love to have something like this in my collection as well.  Thanks for showing these special and unique medals to us here.  

[cagedfalcon]

Great group, thanks for sharing 

[Basic Rifleman]

Amazing. I'm just echoing the above, but absolutely love the engravings.... 

[Shawn]

Very nice grouping. I wonder if he transferred from the 502nd into the 17th Division. I notice on the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon there are four campaign stars. I could be wrong, but I think the 17th earned three. Could it be that he earned the other with the 502nd in France?

[USMarineCorps]

Thanks to everyone who has shared their input so far! I am honored to be the caretaker of these items.

[USMarineCorps]

32 minutes ago, Shawn said:

Very nice grouping. I wonder if he transferred from the 502nd into the 17th Division. I notice on the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon there are four campaign stars. I could be wrong, but I think the 17th earned three. Could it be that he earned the other with the 502nd in France?

There are actually only 3 campaign stars on the EAME ribbon. The fourth is a bronze arrowhead for Operation Varsity. I do realize that the quality of the pictures could have been better, so my apologies for that.

[Shawn]

USMarineCorps, 

 

Just circling back to see if you learned anymore about LTC Christiansen's connection with the 502nd. I served in that regiment three times during my career, so I'm always interested in these things. I saw that he entered service in 1942. When the 17th Airborne was organized in 1943, it's was built around a cadre that came from the 101st. It's possible a young Lieutenant Christiansen was part of that cadre. 

 

Best,

Shawn

[KASTAUFFER]

I like the combination of engraving styles!

 

Kurt

[Shawn]

For what it's worth, I did find this on him in the National Guard Registry (1953):

 

 

[USMarineCorps]

19 hours ago, Shawn said:

USMarineCorps, 

 

Just circling back to see if you learned anymore about LTC Christiansen's connection with the 502nd. I served in that regiment three times during my career, so I'm always interested in these things. I saw that he entered service in 1942. When the 17th Airborne was organized in 1943, it's was built around a cadre that came from the 101st. It's possible a young Lieutenant Christiansen was part of that cadre. 

 

Best,

Shawn

 

Here's the only reference I found them in the Airborne rosters that are available (dated January 1944). I have not yet figured out how he is connected to the 502nd, but your suggestion certainly seems plausible.

[USMarineCorps]

Note sure if anyone here has access to the 17th Airborne's GO's, but it would be interesting to know which actions resulted in the award of the Silver Star on January 7th.

 

[Shawn]

Here's an extract from a detailed account of the events for the 17th Airborne on January 7, 1945 that mentions Christiansen twice (the translation is a bit off):

 

"Lieutenant Joseph B Smith from Company F volunteered to legged behind and fight to protect the withdrawal of his buddies. Under a heavy fire Smith lost five men, including his radio operator, which obliged him to assume himself the radio operations. The company withdrew initially to the south but Lieutenant Colonel Balish ordered to turn to southeast. Without knowing it, they avoided the direct shoot of a little enemy group entrenched in the southwest part of the wood. However the German soldiers opened fire. Private Bailey of the communication section with another Private of the anti-tank Company turned the enemy and opened fire with a bazooka destroying a machine gun. German survivors escaped.

Smith and his men finally managed to leave the woods following Company D at approximately hundred and eighty-five meters. In his withdrawal he crossed the road of Lieutenant Arne C Christiansen from Company E who commanded a group of a few men of his company who couldn’t follow their unit during the withdrawal. They assumed so the protection of Company F... It was approximately 16h45 when Lieutenant Christiansen leaved the woods with his men who carried the wounded friends. They were the last men to leave the position when the night started to fall on the battlefield."

 

I found that on this site (click here).

 

 

[USMarineCorps]

Great! Thank you so much for sharing this.