Purple Heart WW2 cased

[Greenhorn]

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As you know, this is a Purple Heart an my example is in good condition and it's in a minty case. They came together and the award is engraved by the military as they were for KIA soldiers. Surviving recipients were awarded with ungraved Purple Hearts. As I stated on a different thread, the name will be covered. He was a Lt. as shown and he was KIA in Japan 1945. Enjoy the pics.

Greenhorn

[Greenhorn]

Ladies & gents

Sorry for the crooked pics, I thought I fixed them.

Green

[Eric Zentner]

Looks great the named ones are harder to find by the day.

Eric

[cricketchris1944]

The name ones are very collectable.
Nice set.
Chris

[Soviet]

Very nice! I recently bought one in a coffin box, no S/N or name, for $35!! It came with a lapel pin(?) also.

[Franz1944]

KIA in Japan?

[Soviet]

KIA in Japan?

What's so hard to believe about that?

[Soviet]

Can you take a pic of the S/N, if you're not busy? Thanks.

[Greenhorn]

Franz1944

Yes, Iwo Jima to be exact.

Green

[Greenhorn]

Thanks, Soviet

There is no serial number. Read the below that I clipped from a page when doing my research.

Green

Because of the number of wounded and killed during the war, the way the Purple Heart was manufactured and distributed also changed. After the initial 600,000 medals were constructed after 1932, the Purple Heart was no longer serial numbered along a side rim. The purple center of the medals changed from a painted and/or enamel center to a plastic center during this period as well. As the various services ordered Purple Heart medals to be manufactured by separate contracts, in many cases the construction methods used to manufacture the Purple Heart is different between medals awarded by the Army and those awarded by the Navy and Marine Corps, especially before 1944-1945.

The practice of engraving the Purple Hearts also changed during this period. The government stopped automatically engraving the name of the person on the reverse of the Purple Heart for those wounded in action. Only those people who were killed in action had their medals engraved before being sent to the next-of-kin. As with difference in the manufacturing of the medal among the services, the style of engraving varied between the Army and that of the Navy and Marine Corps. The Army engraved the name of the person only on the reverse of the medal, while the Navy/Marine Corps engraved the person's name, rank and branch of service, often in elaborate styles. One can spend a lot of time just researching the artistic qualities used in the medals manufacturing and engraving during World War II.

It should be noted that in preparation for the Invasion of Japan in 1945-1946 and the horrific number of casualties the U.S. expected to suffer that the government placed an large order for the manufacture of new Purple Heart medals. The order was so large, that when the invasion was called off because of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb and the surrender of Japan, that the United States did not need to exhaust this supply of medals until the end of the Vietnam War almost 30 years later.