Posted on 01/13/2015 5:49:21 AM PST by Lmo56
I need a little help from knowledgeable FR posters.
My wife recently came across her father's WWII medals. They were in poor shape. He was a member of Company C, 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Division and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. His company was known as the "Sharpshooters of Munshausen."
Anyway, my wife wants to get replacements and we came across a loose clasp that simply said, "1000." Her father was awarded the CIB and also the sharpshooter medal. I am assuming that "1000" means he qualified at 1000 yards.
Am I correct?
Charlie-110? THAT was a unit that took it in the shorts and said “what else you got?”
I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard of the “1000” award. It might have been a range award, back in the day.
Yeah - my wife’s father was one of the few that survived the delaying action until 3rd Army could arrive from the south.
He was never the same after he came back from the war.
There's a lot of history out there if you and your wife are interested.
But - I don't know about the clasp. The only one that's on my grandfather's is for "Submachine Gun".
http://www.military-graphics.com/
This is a web site that sells military decals, medals, miniature medals, etc.
His separation papers only mention the CIB, sharpshooter, Purple Heart, WWII ETO, and other various medals. No mention of “1000” - that’s why I think it was an add-on.
The Wimbledon Cup was suspended during the War.
Perhaps the services continued the competition and awarded pins. Others will have to pin that down (no pun intended)...
Nobody is the same after coming back from war.
‘Citizen Soldiers’ by Stephen Ambrose is an excellent account of post D Day. He interviewed hundreds of soldiers and has loads of first person accounts.
Qualification Bars were designed to hang beneath the qualification badge and were the same width as the badge. If your bar is the same width as the Sharpshooter badge and has loops on both top and bottom for the attachment ring, then it was probably intended as a qualification bar.
However, that doesn’t mean that it was official. The official bars were: rifle, pistol, machine gun, or other standard weapon. Over the years, many novelty bars were produced and sold in pawn shops and uniform shopa. I’ve seen some weird ones. Authority to wear the qualification badge and bar came in the form of a special order, usually published by the company that gave name, degree (expert, sharpshooter, marksman) and type of qualification: rifle, pistol, etc. This was good for a year and then you had to requalify. In wartime, requalification was informal especially for a noted combat unit like the 110th Infantry Regiment.
The unit I went to Iraq with was 2nd Bdr, 28th ID (PA’s National Guard). Big mean steeltown union thugs who loudly declared that and non-Democrat needed to be hung.
We were part of 2nd Marine Division’s area. When we came back, we were offered the chance to wear either 28th ID’s “pain patch” or 2nd MARDIV.
To the last man, we chose 2nd MARDIV - we wanted no association with the 28th. Our First SGt had T-shirts made up: “I Survived Iraq Under Damn Yankee Leadership!”
To get the medals replaced all you need is a copy of his DD214, a letter to your US Congressperson, to replace the lost medals.
I did that with my dad’s. If you want more info if it was not burned, that can be had too. Check to see if he ever was treated at the VA as that is how I got my dad’s burned records. If any medal has to be engraved it takes longer.
My dad was with the 503RD Under MacArthur. Bronze Star. 5 major battles. Airborne.
Perhaps you could post a photo.
If he had a Purple Heart and a CIB from WWII, he should be eligible for a Bronze Star for that period. I know, it’s probably too little too late, but still, we need to recognize these heroes for what they were.
This is true. All WWII vets who earned a combat infantry badge were awarded the bronze star some time back. About 10 years ago, I requested replacement awards for my dad, who was also awarded the PH and CIB, and the Bronze Star was included, along with an explanation.
I wondered why my dad has a Bronze Star. He was basically a “Radar”(MASH) for the Air Corps. He never shot at anyone and no one shot at him.
His combat buds were very jealous.
There are other ways to earn a Bronze Star besides the PH and CIB. For example, there are Bronze Stars with the Combat “V” and those without, giving an indication of general circumstances occasioning the award.
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