Posted: 4/27/2013 8:53:33 PM EDT
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I am building a shadow box for my Grandson of his Great Grandfather's medals and insignia from WWII. He was in the Battle of Luzon with the US Army. The military sent me his medals and ribbons, except for 2 that they said I could get from a civilian vendor. My question is, how do commemorative medals fit into this? Are they accepted as "Official" or are they just feel good awards? Does anyone wear commemorative medals or ribbons on their uniforms? I see that he is eligible for a few of them, but I don't want to include them if they don't mean anything. Thanks and thank you for your service! |
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Quoted: Service ribbons need to be in a specific order. If you go by your local VFW someone there would probably be more than happy to assist you. I found an online website that puts all of the ribbons in order. It was the commemorative ribbons that I wanted to know about including in the ribbon rack. They put the commemorative ribbons in order, but does anyone actually wear them on their uniform? |
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Not sure what you mean by "commemorative". I would think that if they were sent by the VA or army, they would be official awards.
For order of precedence you can go to this site Ribbon Rack Builder There are numerous sites you can do this at, this is just an example. Just click on the appropriate ribbons and it will show you the proper order for display. You may want to order the appropriate sized ribbon rack so that the shadow box will look better. It's a bit difficult to line up ribbons individually. As far as what you can or should put in a shadow box? Anything that you want to put in there that you feel would be honoring him. In addition to the obvious awards, you can put patches and crests from units he was with, news clippings of events he participated in, pictures of him during or even after his service. Really, you're only limited by your imagination, availability of material, and size. It's a memorial to help your son help understand who his GGP was and to honor that memory. Good luck with the project. |
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Quoted: Do you mean unit citations? Those go above the right side pocket. Not sure what a commemorative medal is. When I was directed to a civilian vendor for the medals that the Military no longer provided, I came across the "Commemorative" medals. I don't think they are "Official" medals issued by the Military, but I could be wrong. http://www.medalsofamerica.com/ItemList--Commemorative-Medals--m-599 The medals he is eligible for according to the description are: 1. American Defense Commemorative 2. Cold War Victory Commemorative 3. US Army Commemorative 4. Honorable Service Commemorative 5. US Armed Forces Retired Service Commemorative 6. National Guard and Reserve Commemorative |
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Quoted: Not sure what you mean by "commemorative". I would think that if they were sent by the VA or army, they would be official awards. For order of precedence you can go to this site Ribbon Rack Builder There are numerous sites you can do this at, this is just an example. Just click on the appropriate ribbons and it will show you the proper order for display. You may want to order the appropriate sized ribbon rack so that the shadow box will look better. It's a bit difficult to line up ribbons individually. As far as what you can or should put in a shadow box? Anything that you want to put in there that you feel would be honoring him. In addition to the obvious awards, you can put patches and crests from units he was with, news clippings of events he participated in, pictures of him during or even after his service. Really, you're only limited by your imagination, availability of material, and size. It's a memorial to help your son help understand who his GGP was and to honor that memory. Good luck with the project. Thanks! The "Commemorative" awards were not listed on his DD214 or in the packet that was sent by the Military. |
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Quoted:
The "Commemorative" awards were not listed on his DD214 or in the packet that was sent by the Military. The 214 isn't the end-all of what awards a guy was issued. Mistakes do happen on the 214, which is why they have the 215, for those who bother to utilize it. if he has orders for those medals, he was authorized to have them even if they don't show up on the 214. Then you run into things like the Guard where almost as an afterthought they line you up with ten other guys for some award on a drill weekend just before everyone rushes home after final formation; Good luck getting the documentation; the awards were stacking up in Tops office and he wanted to clear up the backlog. Or you get an award that comes in for some guy who ETS'd six months ago. They don't reach out to the guy to get him the medal he was given, so you once again see a stack of stuff on Tops desk. So eventually they MIGHT bother mailing the medal/ribbon set to the guy if they have a current address.....but no documentation, because by that time the paperwork has been separated from the award. They just know they have a ribbon set with Joes name on it, so lets mail it to him to get it off the desk Joe SHOULD get orders for an award he's given, but with the state awards you're lucky sometimes if you get a badly xeroxed page with your name in a roster of guys who were awarded that medal that day. I'm sure in my pile of ribbons I've got at least a couple of them where that happened and I no longer have documentation in hand to show that I was awarded them, and I'm sure nothing ever made it to IPERMS...... |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Do you mean unit citations? Those go above the right side pocket. Not sure what a commemorative medal is. When I was directed to a civilian vendor for the medals that the Military no longer provided, I came across the "Commemorative" medals. I don't think they are "Official" medals issued by the Military, but I could be wrong. http://www.medalsofamerica.com/ItemList--Commemorative-Medals--m-599 The medals he is eligible for according to the description are: 1. American Defense Commemorative 2. Cold War Victory Commemorative 3. US Army Commemorative 4. Honorable Service Commemorative 5. US Armed Forces Retired Service Commemorative 6. National Guard and Reserve Commemorative Now I see what you mean by "Commemorative". Those are not official medals/ribbons would not typically be worn on a military uniform. If I were doing your project, I would not include them in the shadow box. That said, it's a personal family project. There would be no harm including them. You're doing a great thing. |
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Delta,
I don't think those medals are official DOD decorations. I know there is an American Defense Service Medal, but never heard of an American Defense Commemorative medal. There is no cold war medal authorized for wear on a uniform either. IMO, if your grandfather had them and valued them, maybe hang them below is "official" rack. If it's just something you dug up in your research, I'd not worry about it. Of course, I believe in liberty... so build the shadow box that makes you happy and your grandfather would be proud of. I wouldn't criticize a family's attempt to memorialize a loved one. -K9 |
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Like the poster above said, and the website states,
"Each commemorative medal is made for an appropriate campaign, service or historical event, so you can show your pride and support" Not official issue or award, just a item developed by the company to sell. Kinda like a commemorative AR-15 or coin". If you are looking to display just his government awards then don't buy them. Somewhere down the road, somebody will think they are real awards if they are included with his others. Totally up to you what you buy and display SGM Mark PIerce (RET) |
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Those are not worn on the uniform. A couple of them look like the original service medal, but they are not.
Back in the early 90's they were handing out Cold War certificates to everyone who served during a certain timeframe. It was a nice to have, but it really didn't mean anything officially. I think those medals are in that category. |
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Thanks for the information and clarification everyone. I think I'll leave out the commemorative stuff as I haven't bought those yet. I still have to buy the Philippine Liberation Medal (They provided the ribbon and said I would have to purchase the medal from a civilian vendor) and the Republic of the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation. Now I need to buy a Master Sergeant rank patch and insignia, a marksman medal for the carbine, collar insignia, and his unit patches. I'm actually having fun putting this together and finding out about his history. Thanks again everyone.. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the information and clarification everyone. I think I'll leave out the commemorative stuff as I haven't bought those yet. I still have to buy the Philippine Liberation Medal (They provided the ribbon and said I would have to purchase the medal from a civilian vendor) and the Republic of the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation. Now I need to buy a Master Sergeant rank patch and insignia, a marksman medal for the carbine, collar insignia, and his unit patches. I'm actually having fun putting this together and finding out about his history. Thanks again everyone.. Make sure you do some research on the MSG rank, as I don't think they were the green and gold. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Thanks for the information and clarification everyone. I think I'll leave out the commemorative stuff as I haven't bought those yet. I still have to buy the Philippine Liberation Medal (They provided the ribbon and said I would have to purchase the medal from a civilian vendor) and the Republic of the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation. Now I need to buy a Master Sergeant rank patch and insignia, a marksman medal for the carbine, collar insignia, and his unit patches. I'm actually having fun putting this together and finding out about his history. Thanks again everyone.. Make sure you do some research on the MSG rank, as I don't think they were the green and gold. You are right... The WW2 are different. Thanks |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Do you mean unit citations? Those go above the right side pocket. Not sure what a commemorative medal is. When I was directed to a civilian vendor for the medals that the Military no longer provided, I came across the "Commemorative" medals. I don't think they are "Official" medals issued by the Military, but I could be wrong. http://www.medalsofamerica.com/ItemList--Commemorative-Medals--m-599 The medals he is eligible for according to the description are: 1. American Defense Commemorative 2. Cold War Victory Commemorative 3. US Army Commemorative 4. Honorable Service Commemorative 5. US Armed Forces Retired Service Commemorative 6. National Guard and Reserve Commemorative Those aren't real medals. Leave those out. |
