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WWI Victory ribbon with lots of stars


Bob Hudson
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Today I bought a uniform, Purple Heart medal, ribbons and assorted insignia from the daughter of a Marine who was wounded in Korea.

 

Among the item though, was this WWI Victory Ribbon, which I know for sure was not his. What I wondered about though, was all the stars on it: what do they signify? Based on what his daughter told me, none of his stuff was ever played with by his children, so I assume this is not something done by a bored child.

 

wwivicribbon.jpg

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The stars represent the number of battle clasps the recipient was entitled to wear on his WWI Victory Medal. Since no infantry division qualified for more than six, medals/ribbons with 7+ were usually earned by members of the Transportation Corps.

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All,

 

My grandfather was a roving surgeon during the war (chest cracker) and had 7 or 8 clasps on his VM. He ended up attached to the 3rd Division, but circulated throughout the AEF. Also did work on French, British, and Belgian troops. Tried to get back in for WW2, but he'd been pretty badly gassed, and they wouldn't take him, so he did surgery on GI's here in the states. I have his tunic, painted helmet, French, and Belgain awards. The VM disappeared somewhere along the line, and my idiot cousin threw away his paperwork. If I get a chance, I'll post what I have of his.

 

What is stated above is correct. There were some Engineer units, telegraph and signal units, and other specialized units that qualified for some unique clasp combinations, but, they were the exception rather than the rule.

 

John

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Here is a document for a Sergeant in the Reserve Mallet. The document authorizes 8 battle clasp. The "defence sector" clasp is not listed because it had not been approved yet, so it is reasonable to assume that by the time he received his victory medal it had nine bars.

post-5997-1263686517.jpg

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Reserve Mallet is what I was thinking as well. Here is one that we had a few years ago; nice ID'd set from Michigan.

 

V33761-5.jpg

 

Also his uniform and painted helmet. Kind of sorry I sold this set.. I don't collect that unit, but it was just too cool!

 

V33761-1.jpg

V33761-2.jpg

V33761-8.jpg

 

 

And here is a bit from the description about another set with 9 bars:

" Conventional collector wisdom has been that the most clasps possible on a legitimate Victory Medal were the six earned by the 6th Engineer Regiment of 3rd Division, otherwise five is the accepted normal maximum number of bars. I would still believe that myself, if not for having the recent good fortune to make the acquaintance of a descendant of Reserve Mallet Corporal Alan Cunningham. We had purchased Corporal Cunningham's uniform at an auction in Ohio, and were later contacted by a member of the family who had loaned the uniform to a local museum decades ago where it 'disappeared'. A happy reunion was arranged. In the course of our conversation, though, Cpl. Cunningham's descendant revealed that the family still had his nine bar Victory Medal, with the issue box stamped with the matching campaign bars. We now know that men of the Reserve Mallet were officially eligible for the most campaign bars of any troops of the AEF!"

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Here's a 6-star WWI Victory Medal ribbon, with an interesting history, recently posted on the Forum (link here).

 

post-1963-1263521377.jpg

 

Thanks for resurfacing that one, Wailuna. Below is yet another WW-I Victory with more than 6 stars. The ribbons are attached to (then) Captain George Kenney's early 1920s uniform.

 

I believe it was you who responded to someone's question about the extra-wide ribbons on this one as well.

 

post-1107-1263741691.jpg

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Croix de Guerre

Here is an example of a Reserve Mallet 10 BAR Victory Medal. It belonged to Fred Kurth formally an American Field Service volunteer camion driver with TMU 537; later a Sgt. on the HQ staff of the Reserve Mallet.

post-3356-1263783282.jpg

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Croix de Guerre
Here is an example of a Reserve Mallet 10 BAR Victory Medal. It belonged to Fred Kurth formally an American Field Service volunteer camion driver with TMU 537; later a Sgt. on the HQ staff of the Reserve Mallet.

 

Some of the medals that came with Fred's group.

post-3356-1263783670.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Citation for bravery stars were also worn on the Victory Medal ribbon. These silver stars evolved into the Silver Star medal in 1932. Two of the stars on the ribbon shown (as well as in other photos in this thread) could be citation stars rather than ones representing clasps worn on the medal suspension. Note that they have a different style than the others and may just be tarnished. I'd say two citations for bravery and five clasps.

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