POW Medal & Purple Heart - Named

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This was an interesting pick up.

A named set to 2nd Lt Olin L. Dyer from Lebanon PA. The set included both a Purple Heart and a POW medal as well as his Lt "butter bars", US collar tabs and his service bars.

His campaign bars include. Bar # 1: European/Africa/Middle Eastern Campaign with 4 stars, WW2 Victory Medal, WW2 Occupation Medal. Bar #2: American Campaign Medal, Purple Heart, American Defense Service medal.

Both awards are named and with original box.

The POW award however was only instituted in 1985. So it is a much newer award. It was awarded to any person who was taken prisoner of war and held captive after 5 April 1917, during World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam conflicts and Operation Desert Storm.

These can be found online cheaply. But I have not seen one that is named for sale. So there was a premium I paid, but it is part of the set and I have the history behind it so I was willing to step up.

2nd Lt Olin Dyer fought in North Africa and was taken prisoner at Anzio where he suffered severe wounds on Jan 31st 1944 after his tank was hit. He was sent to Oflag 64 in Poland.

Oflag 64 (Offizierslager) 64 was established by the Germans during World War II in Szubin, Poland (Schubin by the Germans) to detain captured American officers. The first American officers arrived in the camp on June 6, 1943. The initial occupants numbered around 150. By the time the camp was evacuated in January 1945, their ranks had grown to approximately 1,400.

Here is a history of the camp. He can be found in the database

History of Oflag 64