bazelot Posted November 28, 2009 Share #1 Posted November 28, 2009 I just purchased a uniform with wings and ribbons. I am now wondering if the wings and ribbons are WWII. Any idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamski Posted November 28, 2009 Share #2 Posted November 28, 2009 We need to see the back of the wings. -Ski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted November 28, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted November 28, 2009 We need to see the back of the wings. -Ski I will post pics as soon as I get the uniform. How about the ribbons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted November 28, 2009 Share #4 Posted November 28, 2009 I will post pics as soon as I get the uniform. How about the ribbons? Top row L to R: Navy DSM; Purple Heart; Navy/USMC PUC Bottom row L to R: American Defense; Asian-Pacific Theater; American Campaign Navy ribbons should be a little wider than their Army/AF counterparts if set up properly. Difficult to tell from the photo. Quite a high speed top row. Do you have a name? Sabrejet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KurtA Posted November 28, 2009 Share #5 Posted November 28, 2009 The ribbons are bogus add-ons. All you have to look at is the DSM. A LCDR wouldn't have one DSM, let alone two. And ,a second award star should be the large USN gold type for a decoration, not the small bronze campaign medal type. And, as Ian stated, they should probably be the wide type for this period. Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted November 28, 2009 Author Share #6 Posted November 28, 2009 That does not bode well for the rest of the uniform. Are these the wider Navy type ribbons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDK Posted November 28, 2009 Share #7 Posted November 28, 2009 Though the ribbons may be add-ons, that doesn't mean the rest of it isn't OK. Some sellers think that a uniform has to have ribbon bars on it to be saleable. You may end up just fine. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usaf70 Posted December 1, 2009 Share #8 Posted December 1, 2009 The shoulder boards are Commander Rank are they not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted December 1, 2009 The shoulder boards are Commander Rank are they not? Yes they are. I am supposed to get it tomorrow or the day after. I will post better pics once I have it. The weird thing is that it all came from an estate sale and it even came with a 30" naval aviator wooden wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militarymodels Posted December 2, 2009 Share #10 Posted December 2, 2009 a second award star should be the large USN gold type for a decoration, not the small bronze campaign medal type. And, as Ian stated, they should probably be the wide type for this period.Kurt Your statement is not 100% true about the USN/USMC ribbon type, I've acquired many uniforms and ribbons directly from USN vets' estates and they did use the narrow ribbons as well as the regular small campaign stars. I believe they would use what were available depending on their locations in the mid and late war. The wide type USN ribbons were probably due to the contractors in the pre and early war period. This topic was discussed a while ago. Regards, Lonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakkasan187 Posted December 2, 2009 Share #11 Posted December 2, 2009 The ribbons look aweful new to be WW2 era. IMHO Leigh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted December 2, 2009 Share #12 Posted December 2, 2009 Did the Navy not use OLCs on their Purple Hearts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
none Posted December 3, 2009 Share #13 Posted December 3, 2009 Its also not true if it from an estate that its real or old. Many vets years later would put together a set of medals ribbons, etc. Today Vietnam Vets are doing just that as many threw away everything after the war. Just because its form an estate, does not mean a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 3, 2009 Share #14 Posted December 3, 2009 For what it's worth...a personal story about acquiring the original medals and ribbons. My father wrote away for his medals and certificates in 1948, over 3-years after he had earned them and was released from his service with the Eighth. Where he got his ribbons and bars, I couldn't say, but at war's end, the only picture I have from that time, shows him wearing 3 of the 6 ribbons he earned. The 2 of his WWII jackets that I have, bear all 6, including 2 that were awarded post WWII; the croix de guerre and the WWII victory medal. That indicates to me that he continued to work on his uniform jackets to make them right even after he had left the service...in fact, I recall seeing him do just that over the years I was growing up. Twenty-three years later, when my time in service came along, I earned but two medals...1 for showing up for active duty, which was given to me along with other stuff during my check in routines. The second, a theater ribbon, was earned some months later and IIRC one of the other guys in the division threw me a 2-ribbon bar of his that had the right ribbons installed on it. That's the bar I still have and the only one I wore. Dad requested my medals almost 30-years after I left the service as he was putting a family medal display together...this was the first time I had ever seen them. At the same time we discovered that the Vietnam government had awarded a third medal to a number of units who had served during a certain time frame in a certain place and I was due one of them. So in our case, trying to make anything of our medals and ribbons on the basis of age, or size, or whatever else, would be a tricky and ultimately confusing business. Paul S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share #15 Posted December 3, 2009 I got the uniform today. It looks like the wings are WWII. Not so sure about the ribbons as I know nothing about them. They do look old and the white is yellowed by age even though it ios not visible with the flash that whitens everything. The 30" wings are awesome. I included a pic of them with the regular wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share #16 Posted December 3, 2009 Here are the ribbons. The star on the purple heart is bigger than the one next to it. It looks like they the back of the ribbons are brass. Here is what it says: STAZON US.Pat.No 2495577 GEMSCO INC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfrost Posted December 3, 2009 Share #17 Posted December 3, 2009 The wings are WWII-but could have been used up to and post KW vintage. Very nice. Hopefully you can put a name to the uniform. The big wings were very common and sold at all the Navy Exchanges. They are neat as well. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militarymodels Posted December 3, 2009 Share #18 Posted December 3, 2009 The H-H Navy Pilot wings are WW2 era. The ribbons look like they were put together and the clutches are post WW2 for sure, so they were probably put together after after WW2. Lonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted December 3, 2009 Share #19 Posted December 3, 2009 Looks like L.N. Cole to me. And that was a legit question, I have no idea about Navy ribbons. Did they use stars instead of OLCs on Purple Hearts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobrahistorian Posted December 3, 2009 Share #20 Posted December 3, 2009 WHoops, double post. Sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 3, 2009 Share #21 Posted December 3, 2009 This label is from a navy officer's khaki jacket. Same supplier as above...and a long way from the ocean too in whichever direction! Sabrejet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share #22 Posted December 3, 2009 This label is from a navy officer's khaki jacket. Same supplier as above...and a long way from the ocean too in whichever direction! Sabrejet Whoaa.. it's a small world!!! This one is dated December 42. It looks like the wings have been pinned there for a while. The ribbon not so much. I paid $51 for the whole thing so all things considered it was not bad. Even though the ribbons may have been added later would they be WWII vintage? I will bring the jacket to my dry cleaner to have it cleaned. Is is safe for the buttons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfrost Posted December 3, 2009 Share #23 Posted December 3, 2009 Frankly, you can drive yourself crazy worrying about these things--are the ribbons to wide, or to narrow, are the stars wrong, are the in the wrong order or not? The wings by themselves are easily worth $50, and the only person who really needs to be happy with the ribbons are you. I think some of the points made about the potential problems are valid, but they are still mostly just other peoples opinions. If it were me, and I got this from an estate sale, I am not so sure I would worry that much about the ribbons being perfectly "text book" myself. But that is just me and my opinion. Thanks for sharing. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazelot Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share #24 Posted December 3, 2009 Frankly, you can drive yourself crazy worrying about these things--are the ribbons to wide, or to narrow, are the stars wrong, are the in the wrong order or not? The wings by themselves are easily worth $50, and the only person who really needs to be happy with the ribbons are you. I think some of the points made about the potential problems are valid, but they are still mostly just other peoples opinions. If it were me, and I got this from an estate sale, I am not so sure I would worry that much about the ribbons being perfectly "text book" myself. But that is just me and my opinion.Thanks for sharing. Patrick THanks Patrick. I know that ribbons are tricky. You are right, I really like the jacket and once it's dry cleaned it will look really good. Plus I have this 30" wings hanging in my living room now. Wait till the wife comes back tonight and sees them. They may not last long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabrejet Posted December 3, 2009 Share #25 Posted December 3, 2009 With regard to dry cleaning, shouldn't be a problem, though in my experience when I've had WW2 uniforms cleaned I've been required to sign a disclaimer because vintage uniforms have no care labels. I suppose it depends on the policy of the individual cleaning company. As for the medal ribbons, they look fresh so I'd say post WW2, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're "wrong"...most serviceman had more than one set and often they were done retrospectively anyway. Sabrejet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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