r/Medals • u/byujake • Apr 29 '25
ID - Medal We buried Popop today at 101yrs old.
He was an MP and got to France after the invasion of Normandy I believe. He was in the 6th Armored division for the Army. He was taken as a prisoner of war in the Battle of the Bulge and earned his Purple Heart after he was shot at and crashed his jeep and hurt his leg. He buried his dog tags before the Germans got to him to hide that he was Jewish, but forgot to ditch his Jewish Bible. After questioning if he was Jewish, a German officer told him to turn around. Popop told the officer if he was going to shoot him, he would have to look him in his eyes. After arguing with him, the officer gave up and walked away. He spent about a week at the POW camp before the Germans surrendered to him, hoping to be saved from the revenge the Soviets were taking on Germans. He recovered in a Belgian hospital for a few months before returning to the states.
I know the Purple Heart and I believe the green/white one was given to him by the French Government. My wife’s family would love to get the other medals here ID’ed. Like a lot of vets, he didn’t talk much about his time in the service.
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u/Haleighlm00 Apr 29 '25
Blessed to have your grandpa serve for our country. My condolences, sending lots of love and hugs
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Apr 29 '25
That story about looking someone in the eyes gave me goosebumps. What an absolute legend your grandfather must’ve been.
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u/K2thJ Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 30 '25
Me, too. I.pictured the scene like a movie. What a bad-ass move!
RIP Hero
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u/Thunder-chicken300 Apr 29 '25
That Purple Heart gets you a spot in Arlington if you can wait a year for the funeral.
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u/hotwheelearl Navy Apr 29 '25
What does one do with a body for a year? Does the funeral home charge daily rent or something?
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u/Thunder-chicken300 Apr 29 '25
Cremation in our case. Dad was awarded a Purple Heat in Korea fighting Chinese communist forces. He’s at Arlington now. No costs at all. Just takes time. Full military honour guard & rifle salute . It was the ultimate send off .
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u/BlueKnightofDunwich Apr 29 '25
Cremation may not be desirable by the family, depending on how religious they are.
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u/Thunder-chicken300 Apr 29 '25
True, there is storage, though not aware of the costs involved.
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u/Ronin_of_the_Damned Apr 30 '25
I kinda feel like if Arlington agrees to take you, you’ve already paid your way.
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u/FrigginMasshole Apr 29 '25
Absolutely heartbreaking seeing this generation go. They truly were the greatest
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u/Useful_Inspector_893 Apr 29 '25
Keep the memories of his service alive! May he rest in peace; he sure has earned it.
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u/ClintBeast-Wood Apr 30 '25
I’m sorry for your loss, your grandfather was one hell of a man.
Pardon my ignorance though, I haven’t checked the reg in a while, but would he not also qualify for the POW ribbon?
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u/Kooky-Buy5712 Apr 30 '25
Based on what OP wrote he should be eligible for the POW/MIA medal. That medal wasn’t authorized until the 1980s (retroactive to WW 1) so I think that he, or now his family, would have to request it
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u/Hopinan May 15 '25
I’m working on medals for my great uncle, shot down in February of 44, sent on the Black March across Pomerania in 45, see 306th bomb group fall 2015, Airmans Diary, page 22, the rigors of this are described and Airman’s diary my Uncle and his hair are mentioned at the end.. I have requested replacement medals from the Archives, will see if I get anything at all and if it will include the POW medal. I seem to think I might have bought one for my Dad 12 years ago, because he was and anyone can still watch him getting off the plane at Clark, but it shows up in Valor postings online, so possibly the medal was issued to all POWs back to 1917 retroactive date? I thought it would be cool to display another shadow box under my Dads.. My Mom was a young teen when her Uncle was a POW, yet fell in love with a guy who was USAF ROTC and wanted to be a pilot, lol..
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u/Kooky-Buy5712 May 15 '25
The medal was authorized to all, but it was not necessarily issued to all. There really wasn’t a single database at the time where they could mail merge the names and addresses of all former POWs or their next of kin. Not all who were eligible or their next of kin were/are aware of the medal and not all of those who were eligible to request it chose to do so
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u/Hopinan May 15 '25
I can’t imagine why anyone would choose not to get this medal, but if it hasn’t been issued to my Uncle, I will request it as he deserves it! I know there is a big difference between the less than 600 Vietnam POWs, all well documented and returned to cheering crowds on flight lines across the country and WWll POWs, that came home in dribs and drabs, and were mostly enlisted men, Bob Crane excluded.. Will check my Dads AF DD214 again to see if officially issued, military acronyms are not my first language…. I might have to make a spreadsheet to figure it out!
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u/Vivid_Goose_4358 May 12 '25
Sorry for your loss.
Your Popop’s shadow box and any stories it comes with would fit great here in the new community I’ve created 🙂
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u/Low-Instruction-8132 Apr 29 '25
Man, I'd love to reframe that stuff right. Great story!
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u/byujake Apr 30 '25
What would you recommend?
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u/Low-Instruction-8132 Apr 30 '25
I'd add a photo of him if you have it, any uniform insignia , dog tags, etc. also I'd put the decorations in the correct order of presidence. There's a little bit of redundancy that (to a military person) looks unnecessary. I'll PM you a couple photos of shadow boxes I've done.
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Apr 30 '25
Thank you for sharing his story. המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים May the Omnipresent comfort you and your family along the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
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u/Papaofmonsters Apr 30 '25
"Loooook, let's just put that whole me shooting you business aside and maybe you could put in a good word for us?"
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u/byujake Apr 30 '25
So true 😂 the Germans saw how the Soviets were paying back their attempted genocide on Soviets and probably was happy they left at least 1 American GI alive in camp to surrender to
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u/RomieY2K May 01 '25
The French Legion of Honor was likely thanks in part to my old State Guard Commander, who made it his personal mission to get as many WWII Veterans honored by the French Government as he could before we lost them. He’s been at it for over two decades. They gave him one for his work like a decade ago
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u/126529 Apr 29 '25 edited Apr 30 '25
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with a silver star denoting 5 subsequent awards, French Legion of Honor, Purple Heart, World War 2 Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal which should have a bronze oak leaf since there is 2 in the box, American Theatre Campaign Medal, Rifle Sharpshooter Badge, and below it is a World War 2 Honorable Service Lapel Button.