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Custom Ribbon Bars--Any era!


CNY Militaria
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  • 2 weeks later...
ItemCo16527

My latest custom group, still sewn to the uniform. These belonged to Lt. Col. Ernest Stees, U.S. Army Signal Corps.

The ribbons are sewn to a piece of Army green material, and then sewn to the uniform.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
ItemCo16527

My latest one, still attached to the uniform. This one belonged to Major Stanford S. Speaks, who served in both WWI and WWII. He was served with the 37th, 3rd, and 33rd Divisions in WWI earning the "Defensive Sector" clasp, and with the 3rd Army in WWII. I'm in the process of researching him right now, and he comes from quite an interesting family.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

My latest set: Served in WWII with the Navy, and in Korea with the Army. This is a really great combo of ribbons, and I could not pass it up.

 

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Salvage Sailor

From a grouping I recently sold - LIEUTENANT COLONEL ARTHUR S. (SHEL) FRENCH, USAAF/USAF

 

These items belonged to Shel French, who flew B-17 flying fortresses out of Bury St. Edmunds, England during World War II. He was a pilot in the 8th Airforce, 94th Bomb Group, 410th Squadron credited with 34 Combat Missions over Europe. He retired from the USAF Air Weather Service in 1966.

 

The custom embroidered ribbons awarded to Lt Col. French include:

 

The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), Air Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters, American Campaign Medal, European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign medal with one silver star & one bronze star, WWII Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Air Force Longevity service award (one with two oak leafs & one with three oak leafs), and the Armed Forces Reserve medal. He must have been subsequently awarded the Air Force Commendation medal which was not issued until 1958, so I surmise that these 'ribbon racks' were made prior to this award.

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Salvage Sailor

Photo - The crew of 'Million Dollar Baby', with Arthur French standing center in sheepskin flight jacket. A/C 42-97268 GL-Z 'Million Dollar Baby', 94th Bomb Group, 410th Squadron

 

The following is his obituray from the USAF Air Weather Association - Departures

 

Arthur S.French (Shel), LtCol USAF, Ret. passed away at Merritt Island, Florida on May 14, 2003 at age 84. He retired from the Air Weather Service in 1966 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fl. after 24 years of service in the United States Air Force.

 

Shel was born at Hasbrouck Hts., New Jersey where he attend schools and spent summers at his parents summer camp on Lake George, Ticonderoga, N.Y. There he assisted in swimming, canoeing and horseback riding. He attended Rutgers University and graduated from Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, earning his B.S. degree in Chemistry.

 

In 1943 he joined the US Army Air Corps, attending flight schools at Orangeburg, S.C. and Dyersburg, Tenn. where he earned his wings. Advanced training was at Pyote, Texas in B-17s.

 

Stationed with the 8th Air Force, 94th Bomb Group at Bury St. Edmunds, England during WW11, he flew 34 combat missions over Germany in his B-17 Bomber the "Million Dollar Baby".

 

After the war he returned to home at Clearwater, Florida where he taught science at Clearwater High School. At Clearwater he met and married his wife Pat and re-entered the Army Air Corps, attending weather schools at Chanute Field, Ill. and Keesler Field, Biloxi, Ms., and became part of the Air Weather Service. Together they finished his Air force career in meteorology, having been stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines in the late '40s and Fuchu Air Station, Japan in the early '60s. His stateside assignments were Andrews AFB, Va. where their daughter was born, MacDill AFB, Fl. where their son was born, Wright Patterson AFB, Oh., Patrick AFB, Fl. and Tyndall AFB, Fl.

 

Highlights of his Air Weather Service assignments were Operation Hardtack at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands in 1957 with underwater testing of the nuclear bomb and accompanying President Dwight Eisenhower and his staff as meteorologist on the President's Goodwill Tour of South America. in 1960.

 

Following retirement from the Air Force in 1966, Shel returned to school teaching and taught at Hollywood Hills High School in Hollywood, Fl., Florida Air Academy at Plantation, Fl., and Crystal River High School at Crystal River, Fl. where he taught science, physics and ground school aviation classes. He retired from teaching in 1981.

 

Shel was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and Quiet Birdmen Society, Ocala, Fl. Chapter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just added another Vietnam-era group to the collection. The only flaw is that the bronze "1" fell off the Air Medal ribbon at some point.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Been meaning post this one for a while now. From the front side, it appears to be a typical, not unusual theater made U.S. ribbon bar. No big deal I guess. But...

 

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When this ribbon bar is flipped over to the rear, one sees that the cloth strip used to back and bind the entire ribbon bar together, is actually the ribbon from a lapel pin / lapel button sized ribbon for the German / Nazi War Merit Cross!

 

I have to laugh every time I look at this one, thinking that somewhere, some German tailor who made this bar was probably laughing all the way to the bank, with the knowledge that some American GI was walking around with a Nazi ribbon secretly on his uniform! I doubt the GI's NCO's and Officers would have appreciated that fact :lol:

 

MW

 

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In country made Viet-Nam war ribbon rack. Typical coarse weave ribbons with off color silk screening. Brass, not bronze campaign stars on VN service ribbon. 69-70 scroll on VN Campaign ribbon. The Bronze Star and ARCOM Vietnamese copies stand out as unusual, but not being a collector of these oddities I just may not have noticed how many are on the market. These were given to me decades ago by a good friend who was in the 101st Airborne, Viet-Nam 1969-1970.

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  • 1 month later...
CNY Militaria
Just arrived today. Ribbon group with matching mini-medals :)

 

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Very nice, I wondered who won that as I was watching it myself! Good pickup.

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