Largest Ribbon Rack You've Ever Seen/Owned?

[el taco grande]

What is the largest ribbon rack you've ever seen or owned look like? If possible, I'd like to see any pictures any collectors have of any large "fruit salads."

 

Thanks for the read, and thanks in advance.

[Brig]

largest I've owned...minus about 15 years of this Marine's career...

 

obviously, I've seen guys around base with large stacks, Generals and such. Have two buddies with 16 apiece, who've been in 4 and 8 yrs, respectively. and that's USMC...warlords

 

also, see the pinned topic on this forum on Custom Ribbon Bars for more eye candy

[88thcollector]

Newsweek or Time had an article last week about the huge rack of ribbons worn now and compared them to the WW2 generals'.

 

Steve

[vzemke]

This is the biggest one I currently own. The guy (who remains unknown) was clearly saw some Air Combat with the USMC before later going into the Air Force. Nice hand made custom rack.

Vance

[ItemCo16527]

I was at the Navy recruiting office a few weeks back to meet with my recruiter. On the way in, I saw a Marine Major standing outside the Marine office who had around 20 ribbons including the Silver Star and Bronze Star with Combat "V".

[teufelhunde.ret]

General Puller

[Manchu Warrior]

This uniform belonged to General James Hill and for moment it is on ebay.

[CNY Militaria]

This is probably the largest I own that I can think of.

[Allan H.]

For me, this one is a no brainer- check out the rack on Max.

I believe 4StarChris has one in his Generals thread.

Marlow White's in Leavenworth has a rack for Norman Schwarzkauf that was pretty darned impressive and Ike's ribbon rack in Abeline also ranks up there.

Allan

[disneydave]

My friend Walter Kundis. He served aboard PT boats during WW II, and later transferred to the Air Force where he was involved with the intercontinental ballistic missile program. The first photo was taken at his retirement.

 

[adamoi1984]

This uniform belonged to General James Hill and for moment it is on ebay.

 

 

Something tells me this is a put together piece. There are two Air Medal ribbons on the rack, one of them has five bronze clusters instead of one silver and the other has what looks like six bronze (or maybe its two silver and four bronze, I cant really tell.

[Manchu Warrior]

Something tells me this is a put together piece. There are two Air Medal ribbons on the rack, one of them has five bronze clusters instead of one silver and the other has what looks like six bronze (or maybe its two silver and four bronze, I cant really tell.

The auction ends tonight and it is over $500. There is also a photo of the good Gebneral when he gave or sold the uniform to who I assume is the seller.

ebay Item number: 120441240299

[decwriter]

Regarding Gen Hill's uniform and the Air Medal ribbons, he has an Air Medal with 40 Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC's) and the first ribbon has Silver OLC's. The second Air Medal Ribbon has two Silver OLC's and four Bronze OLC's. According to Air Force regulations back in his day, it is right. Under current regulations or as we like to call them now, Air Force Instructions, you can't have any more than four OLC's on any given ribbon. If you do the math, it all works out with the first Silver OLC for the sixth award, the second for the eleventh award, etc... It ends up being five Silver OLC's on the first ribbon for 26 OLC's and the second ribbon with two Silver OLC's for the 31st and 36th award, plus four Bronze OLC's for numbers 37-40. As a flyer all I can say is it's a lot of combat missions! In today's world 40 OLC's would mean 800 combat missions or a lot of single event Air Medals...

decwriter

[el taco grande]

gentlemen, thank you very much for the responses. if there's anybody else out there who has any ribbon "eye candy," and if you have the time, i'd like to see whats out there.

 

also, is it just me, or is general taylor's ribbon rack very thin height-wise? the ribbons look about half the height of a normal ribbon, in my opinion.

 

thanks, again, guys...keep 'em coming...

[GIl Sanow]

I have a Taylor uniform too -- with a ribbon set similar to the one posted. If you will count the ribbons, then calculate how high the set would be using the standard 3/8" ribbons, you will see why he had his made narrow. They would have barely fit the space allowed otherwise!

 

G

[4STARCHRIS]

 

This is always a interesting topic. The taylor ribbon bar is the one one the uniform of Gen. Taylor that I have in my collection. Having numerous general officer uniform with 20-30+ ribbon, it is hard to pick one over the other. That being said....only one uniform I have seen that has a rack of ribbons unsurpassed is that of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. If I remember correctly, it had almost 40.

4starchris

[4STARCHRIS]

http://www.cprofota.com/macuni1

Hers is a link to the general mac uniform. Check out the whole website as well.

4starchris

[brad k]

s.f.c. arthur wahner, I have been wanting to post this for some time. I think I will put it in the uniform section as well.

[Senator57]

http://www.cprofota.com/macuni1

Hers is a link to the general mac uniform. Check out the whole website as well.

4starchris

 

 

Here's a close-up of Gen MacArthur's ribbon rack. I've only seen a handful of photos with him wearing all his ribbons.

 

-Frank

 

[Manchu Warrior]

This one has 32 ribbons and I am not sure how legit it is.

[ABrangerjoe]

You can't beat Ol' Chesty, but one of the largest ones I've actually seen in person has to be Col. 'Bud" Day, MOH recipient. The largest I own would be my father's. I remember going to several dine-ins with the top brass on the base with my family. I would wear my CAP uniform, my father however had the biggest 'fruit salad' in the room- even more than some 3 or 4 star Air Force generals! My avatar shows my NJROTC ribbons.

[Ricardo]

Ranger legend Colonel Lewis L. Millett - Medal of Honor during the Korean War for leading the last major American bayonet charge:

 

 

 

 

[ABrangerjoe]

We need more people like these in America.

[el taco grande]

Not only do we need more people like these, we need to make sure the ones we do have don't get forgotten. I'm a history teacher, and I cover current events once a week. Whenever we talk about the military, or anything currently happening involving the military, I always mention American Heroes like the above mentioned. I also do a powerpoint about the Medal of Honor, and I make sure some of my students know what all those colored ribbons stand for.

 

It honestly might go in one ear and out the other for most of them, but there are a few who take an interest and want to know more about them...

[gpw_42]

Taco, good on you! My 9th Grade history teacher helped a lot with my collecting interest - he photocopied the pages of his 1950s vintage Officer's Guide with all the different shoulder patches. I still use that, as a reference, 20+ years later. BTW, he was a GREAT teacher.

 

Thrasher