WWII Veteran's Service Medals awarded by the US ARMY!

[SirCaleb]

Caleb here

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by.. TLDR - Too Long Didn't Read: Check out the following 3 US Army awarded medals. I am curious on where to start my research on the different types of "slot brooches." Do you have any tips or pointers on where you once started? Thanks in advance for taking your personal time to be here today.

Well... as I was sitting here playing the video game, I really got an itch to look at the US Army awarded medals I have... so here we are. Upon further examination... I have found that one of the US Army Good Conduct Medal actually has Mr. Griffith's name engraved on the reverse of the medal. I'm starting to really enjoy looking over these medals in depth.

So here I am today, War Relic Forum Members, I once posted a picture and it had one of the Army Good Conduct Medals present, and a member commented regarding the "slot brooch appearing to be world war II era." Members, what do YOU call this "Slot brooch?" The slot brooch is the "entire device mounted on the gold plate." Is there anything remarkable about this slot brooch that distinguishes it from another era?

If this example of slot brooch I own is WWII Era.. I would be inclined to think the slot brooch on the Purple Heart is also WWII Era...

The Purple Heart is a mystery in itself, I am unsure of it's story entirely. All of Mr. Griffith's paperwork that he had saved state nothing regarding a Purple Heart. I checked for numbers, there aren't any. I think the Purple Heart is beautiful. None of the pictures I can take do justice for how truly nice that purple is inside the obverse of that medal. I am unsure if the actual medal is WWII era. If you want to share with me what you think about it, I would love nothing more than that..

I thought I would share these examples with the wonderful people of this forum. Many of you have helped me in ways you don't even know and for that I truly am grateful for this website. Thanks to anyone who shares any personal thoughts, thanks to anyone for taking the time out of their day to read this message! I am currently in a phase where I think I am going to start focusing on American awards for a good portion of the summer. We will see where we will wind up, but until then... I'm taking it day by day!!

PEACE Caleb


MR. Griffith.


WWII Era Purple Heart? Thanks for any thoughts members

[SirCaleb]

US Medal Brooch pin types

[MAP]

Nice awards btw.

It is a very complicated question with lots of "buts" and exceptions. I'm still dipping my toe in the morass...and still have a long way to go before I can give detailed advice (Brig and Smitty have been a great help as I come up to speed). But like with any area of collecting, you need to spend some time learning the variations.

Here is a very good link I found just last week.

MEDAL BROOCH GUIDE - Welcome to MedalMulisha.com, add us to your favorite social media

You also need to remember that during WW2, hundreds of thousands of awards were made. At the end of the war, they didn't throw them out just because they had the "older" type of brooch. These WW2 awards were issued until they ran out of stock (I "assume" in most cases). One member here mentioned to me that he knew someone that was relatively recently awarded a DSC (I think that is what it was) and it was a full wrap example!

The changing over of different types of brooches is basically ease of manufacture.

[SirCaleb]

Fantastic MAP. Thanks for sharing your two cents. I’m going to check out your link after while! I actually read something last night along the lines of... during WWI they made a bunch of medals.... not all of the “gallantry” awards were awarded... so they were issued during WWII.

Never once did I think about making the manufacturers life easy. That only makes sense MAP. I’m looking forward to checking out that link, thanks again!

Regards Caleb

[MAP]

If you want to learn about US awards , the book to get is "Call of Duty". Everything you ever wanted to know and more.

https://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Mil.../dp/0912138548

[Rakkasan187]

Caleb,

Map pretty much covered everything.. Both medals look fine and are common from the WW2 era.. As MAP mentioned though surplus medals that were minted in WW2 have been awarded through Korea and Vietnam as well as more recent conflicts like Desert Shield and Storm in the 1990's.. Keep in mind that during WW2 it was anticipated that the Japanese Islands were going to have to be invaded by the Allies and casualties were expected to be over 1 million US/Allies.. The Government anticipated a long drawn out war and mass produced Purple Heart Medals as well as some of the other valor decorations (Bronze Star)… So again not uncommon to see WW2 era manufactured slot brooch medals being awarded today..

A suggestion prior to jumping in.. Study and learn about these decorations and purchase reference books,, Call of Duty is one of the best as well as looking into OMSA (Orders and Medals Society of America). You will be able to study and see how many of the medals were made, the true definitions of slot, brooch, wrap brooch and all the other terminology. It will be well worth the time and money, because even with US medals these can be altered and ribbons and brooches can be replaced to fool and deceive..

Not to knock what can be found on the internet.. There is an abundance of information but being old school I will take a book over the internet in most cases... And if one is serious about a particular area of collecting, be it medals, patches, helmets, whatever,, it is best to have several reference books at your convenience to cross reference, confirm and validate what the authors state in their works...

A day doesn't go by that I don't use a reference book to assist a member with a question...

Here is the link to OMSA..

Orders & Medals Society of America

Smitty

[SirCaleb]

Smitty!!

Words can’t thank you enough. I’m not a big book reader, never have been... but that doesn’t mean we can’t change as humans. I really do like the idea of having multiple books to cross reference, I hope to get a few in the mail soon. On my phone right now but will soon be at the computer to add