Hello,

 

I wanted to share a PH that has the stamped engraving, used at the end of the war. I have no doubt about the engraving.

 

I wanted to ask if I can get some help in trying to find out who this awarded to? 

 

It was sold as being awarded to a James W. Swartz that died while in a Japanese POW camp in 1942. However I was told this is likely a WIA award to someone else. So my question is if that is possible to find out.

 

/Kristoffer

Maybe this guy. POW in Germany 

 

 

Name:

James W

Exact

Swartz

ExactRace:

White

Residence Place:

Pennsylvania, USA

Report Date:

6 Aug 1944

Latest Report Date:

14 Jul 1945

Grade:

Private First Class

Grade Notes:

Second Lieutenant or Nurse or Dietitian or Physical therapy aide or Private First Class or Ensign or Second Class, Seaman

Arm or Service:

Infantry

Arm or Service Code:

Infantry

Organization Type:

Branch Immaterial/Infantry Division Band/Dental Corps/Medical Department

Parent Unit Type:

Group/Regiment/Commands/System

Area Served:

European Theatre: France

Detaining Country:

Germany

Camp:

Stalag 7B Memmingen Bavaria 48-10

Status:

Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated

Report Source:

Individual has been reported through sources considered official.

Thanks Trevor,

That is another possibility.

 

I am not sure what the best way is to go at this.

Perhaps look through all KIA/POW records in the war and have a look at the Hospital records?

 

Could it still be awarded for the James Swartz that died in the Japanese POW camp? Since this type was only used a short while in 1945 could it be that the award was not given untill the authorities could have verified that he had actually died back in 1942?

 

Kristoffer

Small impressed naming was awarded to both POWs and KIAs during WWII. I have both in my collection. Nice example!

 

 

W 

I would tend to think that if the medal was awarded to the soldier who died as a POW held by the Japanese, that his family would have been awarded a hand engraved Purple Heart and it would have been sent to the family soon after the death was confirmed.

 

I tend to believe that the medal was actually awarded to PFC James W. Swartz who was taken prisoner in August 1944 while serving in the 28th Division's 112th Infantry Regiment. Seeing as the POW record lists Swartz as being from Pennsylvania, it aligns nicely with service in the Pennsylvania National Guard Division.

 

Allan

On 10/9/2024 at 4:09 PM, Wharfmaster said:

Small impressed naming was awarded to both POWs and KIAs during WWII. I have both in my collection. Nice example!

 

 

W 

Okay so then this medal was likely awarded to the guy that was taken prisoner in August 1944.

 

Could it also be a WIA award having been stamped at the discharge center? 

 

/Kristoffer

23 hours ago, Allan H. said:

I would tend to think that if the medal was awarded to the soldier who died as a POW held by the Japanese, that his family would have been awarded a hand engraved Purple Heart and it would have been sent to the family soon after the death was confirmed.

 

I tend to believe that the medal was actually awarded to PFC James W. Swartz who was taken prisoner in August 1944 while serving in the 28th Division's 112th Infantry Regiment. Seeing as the POW record lists Swartz as being from Pennsylvania, it aligns nicely with service in the Pennsylvania National Guard Division.

 

Allan

Yes I would think so aswell. It should have been hand engraved that early in the war.

 

Yes, if it's not a WIA award it's probably this guy. Thanks for the help.

 

Kristoffer

 

My small impressed Purple Hearts are both for Europe. The KIA is Air Corps and the WIA/POW is Tank Destroyer.

 

 

Another Swede,

 

W

The best way to figure this out is to pull the IDPFs of both men to see when the Purple Hearts were received by their families. 

For my money, since this stamped style was used by the government from August to November 1945, I'd say it's for the POW instead of the KIA. But could the government have issued a second KIA PH to the Japanese POW? Sure...it's possible.🤷‍♂️

I have seen stamped PHs to Pacific POWs who were KIA in shipping boxes from the PQMD. I’ve owned them. They were Hellship casualties however. 

 

The issue with this one is that the name is fairly common and there are multiple possible recipients with that name.

 

Kurt

 

 

4 men with that name enlisted in WWII

 

 

52 minutes ago, KASTAUFFER said:

The issue with this one is that the name is fairly common and there are multiple possible recipients with that name.

 

I agree with Kurt regarding multiple names.

 

Without doing a deeper dive, we don't know that the ETO POW was wounded.  

 

We also don't know if one of the other men with that name were wounded.

 

The Pacific MIA, possible POW, is still a possibility.  I quickly looked into him, and there are multiple dates of death and conflicting information.  His date of death is listed as September 23, 1942, but I also saw he was still MIA.  I also saw a mention in a wartime publication that he was a POW on 5/18/43 and died on 7/2/43.  However, I think there is a chance that information is incorrect.  I also saw that his death was noted as died non battle in a 1946 publication.  

 

I agree with Dave that you need to get his IDPF to understand the conclusion the Army arrived at.  The conflicts noted above fit with the Hellship casualties Kurt mentioned.  It took time after the end of the war to sort out what happened to these guys.

 

And even with that, it may turn out this Purple Heart could be from any of the guys with the same name that were killed or wounded.

Here are a few articles to throw in the mix reference the PI POW.

The first article mentions WIA, second mentions died due to disease and notice his grave stone doesn’t reflect a PH. On one of the Find a Grave entries it mentions he Died Non Battle. 

Here’s the reference for DNB.

 

The US Army on May 6, 1943 declared all POW’s, who had not been reported alive by the Japanese as dead. Most of these soldiers were those who died in Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan in the weeks and months following the Death March. Purple hearts were then issued in 1943 and they were all hand engraved. Later when records were recovered after the war, they discovered that some of the missing POW‘s had died of disease and the US Army actually retroactively changed their status to “died non-battle” and took away the award of the purple heart .  
 

Knowing all of this, I would say this Purple Heart did not belong to the Pacific POW.

I appreciate the input from all of you. So most likely this PH did not belong to the POW in the Pacific as I first thought it did.

 

I did find a news article mentioning the James Swartz that was taken prisoner in Europe and he seems like a better candidate for this medal given this particular engraving style. However as several of you mentioned it will need some research to be able to verify if even possible this was his medal or if it belonged to someone else. 

 

Kristoffer