Oil Can

[johnsonbrewer]

I'm not much for self-aggrandizement (I actually studied and practiced Buddhism, Weezer ). I started this thread to park TL;DR posts. I'm something of a loquacious soul, and my multi-paragraph posts aren't always well received in other threads.

To be candid, I'm no OMG. Still, here it is, my VN journal of sorts.

JQH would be proud...

 

[Tin Man]

@hmanvolfan, I’m listening to Falling In And Out of Love/Amie right now.

 

[Tin Man]

I was moving my father’s uniforms from closet to closet last night and took a picture of the ribbons on one of his Eisenhower jackets. At the top, the DFC. Below that, the Air Medal and the WW II Victory Ribbon. Below these, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon with 4 Oak Leaves, one that I cannot identify, and the Army Good Conduct Ribbon. @malinoisvol, can you help me identify the middle ribbon on the bottom row?

 

[Tin Man]

View attachment 350233
I was moving my father’s uniforms from closet to closet last night and took a picture of the ribbons on one of his Eisenhower jackets. At the top, the DFC. Below that, the Air Medal and the WW II Victory Ribbon. Below these, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon with 4 Oak Leaves, one that I cannot identify, and the Army Good Conduct Ribbon. @malinoisvol, can you help me identify the middle ribbon on the bottom row?

Could it be a yellowed out American Campaign Ribbon?

 

[malinoisvol]

View attachment 350233
I was moving my father’s uniforms from closet to closet last night and took a picture of the ribbons on one of his Eisenhower jackets. At the top, the DFC. Below that, the Air Medal and the WW II Victory Ribbon. Below these, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon with 4 Oak Leaves, one that I cannot identify, and the Army Good Conduct Ribbon. @malinoisvol, can you help me identify the middle ribbon on the bottom row?

Tin, for the life of me, I can not identify that medal. The closest I've seen is an Expeditionary Medal. Let's call in the expert and see if he has the answer.
@OneManGang

 

[3rdDegreeVol]

Could it be a yellowed out American Campaign Ribbon?

It fits the pattern of the American Campaign ribbon. If it is, the order of ribbons on the bottom row is backwards. It should be in order of precedence (left to right), the Army Good Conduct, the American Campaign, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign. Do you have another set to compare it with?

 

[Tin Man]

It fits the pattern of the American Campaign ribbon. If it is, the order of ribbons on the bottom row is backwards. It should be in order of precedence (left to right), the Army Good Conduct, the American Campaign, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign. Do you have another set to compare it with?

No. Thanks.

 

[Tin Man]

This I do know, the four stars are congruous with his service in the theatre with the 15th Army Air Force. I’ve seen the record for his DFC. I only have partial info on his record as these were kept in St. Louis at the time a flood damaged records for the 15th (this the USAF told me when they provided what was available).

 

[Tin Man]

I can tell you that it was a 2+ year adventure attempting to obtain his records. I ceased when the museum for the 15th referred me back to the office that had provided what I’ve been able to obtain. My correspondence with his surviving crew ended with the death of Frank Proccopio in 2016, the last survivor. Frank was a treasure, providing numerous stories of their service and identifying pictures.

 

[Plano Vol]

Below are my Dad's missions. I was fortunate that he kept most of his records, passes, ID cards, uniforms etc. He also had a silver dollar that was his good luck charm. It's worn almost completely smooth. The kids will have a huge fight over that one day

 

[Plano Vol]

 

[Plano Vol]

 

[Plano Vol]

Tin Man give Angel a listen (from the same album)

 

[Tin Man]

Tin Man give Angel a listen (from the same album)

I appreciate the entire record.

 

[OneManGang]

Tin, for the life of me, I can not identify that medal. The closest I've seen is an Expeditionary Medal. Let's call in the expert and see if he has the answer.
@OneManGang

OK, for my money that is the American Campaign ribbon. Since AAF flight crew generally spent over a year training in the US before deploying that would likely have been the first ribbon he received, which would account for the discoloration/weathering.

I found a link to this:



This set belongs to Gerard Caporaso, who was an 8th AF top turret gunner.

Methinks the Order of precedence changed after the war which would explain the GC medal being at the end.



Here is a pic of the Old Boy with his display.

From the caption he also wrote his memoirs.

URL: Safeguard Military Medals | Flip-Pal mobile scanner

Hope this helps.

 

[malinoisvol]

OK, for my money that is the American Campaign ribbon. Since AAF flight crew generally spent over a year training in the US before deploying that would likely have been the first ribbon he received, which would account for the discoloration/weathering.

I found a link to this:

View attachment 350372

This set belongs to Gerard Caporaso, who was an 8th AF top turret gunner.

Methinks the Order of precedence changed after the war which would explain the GC medal being at the end.

View attachment 350374

Here is a pic of the Old Boy with his display.

From the caption he also wrote his memoirs.

URL: Safeguard Military Medals | Flip-Pal mobile scanner

Hope this helps.

Second from left, bottom row?

 

[malinoisvol]

OK, for my money that is the American Campaign ribbon. Since AAF flight crew generally spent over a year training in the US before deploying that would likely have been the first ribbon he received, which would account for the discoloration/weathering.

I found a link to this:

View attachment 350372

This set belongs to Gerard Caporaso, who was an 8th AF top turret gunner.

Methinks the Order of precedence changed after the war which would explain the GC medal being at the end.

View attachment 350374

Here is a pic of the Old Boy with his display.

From the caption he also wrote his memoirs.

URL: Safeguard Military Medals | Flip-Pal mobile scanner

Hope this helps.

Thank you for responding, OMG. It's good to know what these medals indicate, for the family and the passersby.

 

[OneManGang]

Yeah, exact same spot as Tin's Dad's.

 

[3rdDegreeVol]

OK, for my money that is the American Campaign ribbon. Since AAF flight crew generally spent over a year training in the US before deploying that would likely have been the first ribbon he received, which would account for the discoloration/weathering.

I found a link to this:

View attachment 350372

This set belongs to Gerard Caporaso, who was an 8th AF top turret gunner.

Methinks the Order of precedence changed after the war which would explain the GC medal being at the end.

View attachment 350374

Here is a pic of the Old Boy with his display.

From the caption he also wrote his memoirs.

URL: Safeguard Military Medals | Flip-Pal mobile scanner

Hope this helps.

That's really interesting. It got me curious about when the change in the order of precedence occurred. I dug through the old Army Regulations, in this case AR 600-40. Fortunately the 90th ID preservation group has a nice page with both of the wartime versions of the regulation including changes. Here's the snip from the Aug 41 version with the appropriate change in red (dated Jul 43). Originally the Good Conduct medal was worn on the (wearer's) left of the service medals. In change 24 (red text) it moves prior to the service medals. My thought is that precedence in the picture is correct for when Tin's father was awarded the Good Conduct Medal and then the order of precedence for it was changed in 1943. The change in precedence may have been the result of E.O. 9323, 31 Mar 43 changing the service time requirement from 3 years down to 1 year post 7 Dec 41.

 

[Tin Man]

Thanks, OMG!

 

[OneManGang]

Yeah, that makes sense. I noticed the change on post-war racks and assumed it was done then. I'd bet it was also a way for guys to say, "I was in early." In his book WWII (required in Chuck Johnson's World War II class along with Thin Red Line, BTW) James Jones makes a similar conclusion when discussing a drawing by Howard Brodie showing a shirtless GI with bluebirds tattooed on his chest. Jones had seen similar tattoos on guys who'd been stationed in Hawaii pre-Pearl Harbor.

(US Army)

 

[Tin Man]

Apparently, my father was awarded the Air Medal twice. There is a bronze oak leaf cluster which became unattached to his ribbon.

 

[Tin Man]

 

[Tin Man]

@malinoisvol
Once, you asked me to post a pic of my father’s DFC. Here it is in good company.

 

[Tin Man]

Moving my father’s stuff, I came across this.

@malinoisvol @OneManGang
Do you recognize the ones we haven’t already discussed?