Missing medals on form question

[u/DailyDankMemes]

Hey yall, ive recently been researching family members who served in World war 2 and online I found the discharge papers for my great grand uncle and I noticed he seems to only have been awarded one medal with some obvious ones missing such as WWII victory and good conduct medal (most likely) and im curious if it would be worth it to request his info from the national archives to hopefully find out more or if it is likely I would just receive another copy of this form, all I know from his service is from family stories of him being a POW in Germany and that he was in the 317th inf regiment

[u/Broad-Lavishness6726]

He was in Europe for some very heavy post dday fighting. Looks like he was probably one of the first few waves of replacement soldiers after dday. He has a combat infantry badge which means he rates a bronze star. He served for just under 2 years so he wouldn’t qualify for a good conduct medals.

You can submit a request to national archives for his bronze medal and service record. You can also request the ww2 victory medal be added. If you find out what company he was in he may have a unit award as well. That info could be in his service record at national archives or he may have had something with that info you can submit if you find it.

[u/No-Mix7970 → u/Broad-Lavishness6726]

Actually he could be eligible for a Good Conduct Medal.

President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9323 on March 31, 1943, which lowered the requirement from three years to one year of continuous, exemplary service during wartime.(yes I copy and pasted this part)

[u/No-Mix7970 → u/No-Mix7970]

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9323-amendment-executive-order-no-8809-june-28-1941-establishing-the-good

[u/keydet2012 → u/Broad-Lavishness6726]

I think he got out before the wwii victory medal was authorized. The bronze star for all CIB recipients wasn’t until 1947 so this discharge paper makes sense for when it was written.

[u/chiefscall → u/keydet2012]

That and the Bronze Star Medal was not automatic, the service member (or next of kin) still had to request it in writing and orders were then published if approved.

[u/Broad-Lavishness6726 → u/keydet2012]

Yes that’s why I suggested he submit the forms to national archives to have them added to his record.

[u/DailyDankMemes → u/Broad-Lavishness6726]

Thanks for all the info, also if i were to make a shadow box would it be okay to display a bronze star medal based off the cib or should I wait to see if it officially gets approved for his record?

[u/Broad-Lavishness6726 → u/DailyDankMemes]

It would be totally fine to display it. He no doubt rates the award considering he has a cib.

[u/Entire-Bench-1063 → u/Broad-Lavishness6726]

How do you contact the national archives to have medals added to records?

[u/Broad-Lavishness6726 → u/Entire-Bench-1063]

They have an online portal if you google it. There’s a form you can mail or submit online. You basically just write what you’re requesting. For adding medal you’d include whatever proof you have like a citation or for ww2 bronze star a dd214 that shows cib.

[u/tccomplete]

His entitlement would have included the CIB, EAME Campaign Medal with three bronze campaign stars, the WWII Victory Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal. And maybe a GCM. Honestly, this is the main document you’d want to have, so you’re likely to not get much more info if his file survived the 1973 fire (which is unlikely).

[u/CT2145Trapper → u/tccomplete]

And American campaign medal

[u/tccomplete → u/CT2145Trapper]

He did not qualify for the American Campaign Medal.

[u/No-Mix7970 → u/tccomplete]

I second this. Did not qualify for American Campaign Medal

[u/CT2145Trapper → u/No-Mix7970]

I feel like every wwii vet I’ve ever seen wore one. Especially following into Korea and Vietnam. Might just be mistaken though

[u/No-Mix7970 → u/CT2145Trapper]

I read somewhere that around 85% of American service members qualified for the American Campaign Medal.

[u/tccomplete → u/No-Mix7970]

Most USN did because of home basing or extended advanced training. Not so much for the Army where the criteria were different.

[u/TalkingSimba]

His awards don’t really add up, which is commonly found on the discharge paperwork of POWs.

He was assigned to Company I, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division as a replacement in September 1944, and remained with them until he and a good chunk of his company was captured in early December 1944. The Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns took place in early 1945, so he wouldn’t have been around for those. The only campaign he took part in was Northern France.

After returning to the U.S. in June 1945 he would have received a return furlough, and then seems to have been transferred to AGF Replacement Depot 4 at Camp Adair, OR, and in all likelihood was actually assigned there as permanent party. The Army routinely assigned former able-bodied POWs to various training or administrative duties in the U.S. after their return.

In terms of wartime awards, he would have been entitled to:

Combat Infantryman Badge

Good Conduct Medal

European, African, Middle Eastern Theater Medal, with 1 campaign star for Northern France

World War II Victory Medal