Just saw this. My speculation is it very possibly was a Philippine Liberation Medal ribbon missing, and the Army Commendation Ribbon (it did not evolve into a medal until the early 1950s(?), was a late award that did not get added to the ribbons.

To add to what eagle mtn has shared, I found two “Howard S Litz.” One from Tennessee, who did not serve during WWII, based on his Korean War draft card; another, from Napa, CA, who did.   Ancestry and newspapersdotcom   Unfortunately, I can’t tie him to the service number.   If this is him and he stayed with the 612th Ord Bn as the war progressed, then he may be listed on a roster in the publication below. However, I was not able to locate an open access copy to confirm that. A number of copies are for sale at a rather high price. 

Like everyone who is aware of the existence of the General Order of June 10, 1820 that sets down a complicated series of new uniform regulations including four (4) new regulations for navy uniform buttons, I, too, wish that the General Order had included an illustration of each of the buttons, identified as "button No. 1," button No. 2," button No. 3" and button No. 4."  There was no "button No. 5."  The Marine Corps button was later prescribed in 1821 and three Marine buttons were produced during the 1820s with the "No. 5" on the back of the button.  But, alas, this drawing has never surfaced.  No one has yet found the period drawings that correspond with the General Order of 1820.  Someone later added drawing (probably a tracing) along with a type-written explanation for the buttons, but this drawing cannot be considered part of the General Order of 1820, despite it being correct.  It's just a later note included in the records.   This being said, we still have the General Order of June 10, 1820 along with perhaps over a hundred buttons that were prescribed by this order, were produced during the 1820s, and were worn by Navy officers, a good number of them with numbers (No. 1 thru No.5) consistently stamped on the backs.  These two artifacts –– the General Order and the existing buttons –– give us a sort of Rosetta Stone to determine what buttons were worn by which officers of the U.S. Navy during the decade of the 1820s.   The Firm of Lewis & Tomes was in business in England from 1816-1833 and in New York from 1819-1826.  The vast majority of their American buttons listed are for the US Navy.  They produced a series of five (5) buttons with identical backmarks (No. 1 thru No.5), and the only change was the number.  If you are fortunate enough to possess one of each in your collection, you can line them up and understand intuitively that each number corresponds to the numbers on the General Order (except for the later Marine button that was added later).  These five buttons were the official buttons of the United States Navy during the 1820s.  They were the INTENTION of the drafters of the General Order of 1820.  Can I say this any stronger or with any more certainty?   If you don't like Lewis & Tome, then you can do the same with the five (5) buttons of Wise, Bielby, and Hyde, a partnership dating around the mid-1820s that produced ONLY these five (5) "numbered" buttons, no others listed of any kind.  These, too, are in perfect concordance with the General Order.  And then you have William Wallace who produced the same series, most with numbers (I'm unsure about No.2, though Wallace did produce two (2) them without numbers).  And then you have Adam Spies and Joseph Mann who worked together to produce their own series of the No.1 thru No.4, most of them with numbers.  The only difference between in all these five buttons in four production lines is that one of the Marine buttons has 15 stars instead of 13.  This, to me, seems pretty conclusive.  Don't you agree?  The fronts and the backs are consistent.   Then you have other buttons of the period that follow the pattern but without numbers, some of them produced by the same four (4) companies listed above.  Lewis & Tomes, for example, produced a number of buttons with "No. L&T" but no number.  One has "No. L&T" and "No. 4!"  Mann produced numbered "quality marked" buttons without the firm's name.  And then you have a number of buttons apparently produced before 1820, many of them with 16 stars (as opposed to the quasi-official 13 stars) produced by the firms listed above.  And, of course, you have the No. 1 buttons that were probably only produced after 1830 in accordance with the new order prescribing only one button (the No. 1 button) for all officers of the U.S. Navy.  It helps if you have a good selection of these buttons to actually look at as opposed to written words and comments that are outside the General Order and the buttons themselves.   The General Order of 1820 is an important document in the sense that it identifies the navy buttons of 1820, the early navy buttons on the 1830s, and is brings in many buttons with round and spade shields that are often confused with pre-1815 buttons.  We have to remember the Albert knew virtually nothing of the General Order of 1820 in 1976 when his last book was published, and I do not recall ever hearing of this before 2010 when most navy collectors sort of shrugged it off as speculation.  "Nice theory," they said.   Perhaps the missing "original" drawings of 1820 will show up one day.  Perhaps not.  Perhaps never.  You also have to remember that the General Order was given, at the time, to newly commissioned officers in order to get their uniforms correctly made.  They were instructions!  And the proper numbered button could be found on the back of the button.  People in the business knew what this meant.  Today, all we can do is keep a sharp eye out for any unlisted buttons of this period that have not been identified and fold them into the mix.  There are still unknown navy buttons out there.   We know exactly what the numbered buttons of the General Order of June 10, 1820 look like!    

the type of equipment and uniform used varied largely based on where the MP was posted, and what his duties were at the time. this is a common picture of an MP not in a combat role. my stateside uniform was vastly different than what i used as a convoy escort MP in viet nam. the pictures i have of WW2 MPs show a wide variety of gear. when they enter into a combat role, they are given a certain amount of latitude in their choices of equipment.

I have been reconstructing a list of those Americans who received the Order of Prince Danilo I, the Medal for Military Bravery, and Medal for Zeal. General of the Armies John J. Pershing was the only recipient of the Obilitch Medal. As of this post, I have identified ..   Obilitch Medal = 1/1 Order of Danilo I = 110/125 Medal for Military Bravery = 86/94 Medal for Zeal = 3/10   My main focus has been on Danilo and Medal for Military Bravery. I am happy to share my databases with you. Please send me a private message!

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Thanks for that Beast!

Very nice jacket! I think the first name is August (Aug).

The family did not know.

Here is what i was able to find in the national archives in about 15 minutes. I types in his ASN but made sure to use a “zero” instead of an “O” (0270381).    it would appear your man was in the Quartermaster corps and soent some time in Sicily and Italy before returning to the states for a training assignment in May 1944