As I read it, based on the oldest Army awards regulations I could find, the soldier would have been given credit for the campaign if his unit was given credit for it. That would mean at least 65% of the unit had to participate in the air or on the ground in the geographic area of the combat zone. If 65% of the unit didn't participate, than only those members of the unit who actually were physically present would receive credit for the campaign stars. Here are a couple of lines from the regulations regarding this:

 

"Army units will be deemed to have participated in combat if they actually engaged the enemy in combat, if they were deployed to a designated combat zone, or if they performed duties either on the ground or in the air in any part of the combat zone at any time during the designated period of the respective battle, campaign, or expedition."

 

and

 

"(2) An organization will be granted campaign participation credit if evidence is provided that 65 percent or more of its MTOE strength participated in the campaign.

(3) In the absence of unit movement orders or evidence that 65 percent of its MTOE strength participated, an organization will not be granted campaign participation credit. However, those unit members who did participate in a campaign will be entitled to wear bronze service stars on their campaign medal to denote participation in a campaign"

I once owned a uniform to a troop carrier man with the same job. He was stationed in England, and his discharge authorized the wear on the EAME ribbon with no campaign credits I.E. no stars.

 

Kyle

I sometimes see stars on the American Campaign & American Defense ribbons  I guess the Aleutians in Alaska would apply but how could a uniform have 2 stars?  Also could a vet that trained in the US and fought in the Pacific be entitled to have that ribbon with no stars in his rack? . Richard

The American Campaign ribbon was awarded for pretty much anyone. All you had to do to earn the ribbon was to be in the continental united states between december 7th 1941 and sometime in 1946 I believe. 

The Aleutian Island campaign DID NOT qualify as a battle star on the American Campaign. It counted as a star on the PTO Ribbon. Also, if you were stationed in the Hawaii and that was as far out as you made it, that also qualified for a PTO ribbon. 

 

The only way I know of to earn a star on an American Campaign is to qualify for any of the anti-sub patrols, so this was really limited to just Naval and Army Air Force personnel. 

 

I don't know if you get more than one star if you [participated in more than one anti sub campaign. If it's a naval uniform there is a possibility because I think there were like 8-10 anti sub patrol campaigns for the American Theatre, the Army only awarded one start I'm pretty sure. Two stars on the ribbon seems pretty unusual, but I would be surprised if it's original even if it's wrong. 

 

let me know if you have any other questions.

Hunt

Great information Hunt, good to know. Thanks!

Hunt In your post does any of it apply to WWII American Defense ribbons?  Richard

You could also earn a battle Star for the American Campaign medal for being part of specific convoys.  
 

None of this pertains to the American Defense Service medal.   A star on the ribbon of the ADSM indicated the wearer had earned one of four different clasps.   

The American Defense medal had a “FOREIGN SERVICE” bar.  That bar was worn on the medal ribbon.  If you were stationed outside of the US during the time specified in the medal criteria, then you rated to wear the foreign service bar.  A star worn on the Am Def service ribbon signifies the foreign service bar.  The Navy and Marine Corps wore the letter “A” Device on the service ribbon to denote foreign service.

The American Defense medals. Army medals on the left, Navy, Marine medal on the right. The set of ribbons belonged to a Marine Stationed in Iceland 

Thanks to all for some really good info that would be very hard to find any where else.  Richard