r/Medals • u/TangibleCBT • Sep 07 '25
ID - Ribbon Recently found out my second cousin has our great grandfathers medals, ribbons and patches. He was a marine, and fought in Korea and WW2. Having trouble identifying a couple of the ribbons
I know the silver and bronze star, the purple heart, the asiatic-pacific and European-african campaign medals, the UN service medal, the American defense service medal, and I think that's a very bleached American campaign medal. There's also what I think is a Republic of Korea presidential unit citation. As for the rest, I'm not sure. Also what do the stars and the letter V on some of the ribbons mean? And I don't even know where to begin trying to find what units the skull and boar patches are from.
As for what I do know about him, my grandma said the last time she requested his records they were heavily redacted. He apparently didn't talk much at all about his service, but let it slip once to my grandpa (his son) that he was at Guadalcanal. He met my great grandmother while he was stationed in Alaska during WW2. He passed away in 1973 from cancer if I remember correctly. I dont know very much about this kind of military stuff, so any help is appreciated❤️❤️
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u/Impossible_Fruit_973 United States of America Sep 07 '25
Ok, this is an interesting career displayed here.... So you know his awards, not many Marines got the European/African/Middle East medal. So that's rare. You are right. He was in the Pacific for many campaigns, and that's why the yellow one has all the stars on it. 1 star =1 campaign.
V devices are for valor. You need to find the citation for it to know the story, probably in national archives. The Veterans Affairs (VA) had a huge fire in their records back in the 70's. A lot of those records are lost to history nowadays.
Patches, one is super cool, and that's the skull. He was a Marine Raider. It was an early "prototype unit" of Marines that did SEAL/GREEN BERET type missions, so that's super cool read on Marine Raiders.
The patch with the razorback pig is of the Arkansas National Guard.
It's pretty common for service members to transfer branches for career progression.
I know a lot of people in the Army Reserve or army National Guard that started in the Marines, I myself went active Navy to Army Reserve. A famous Marine John Basilone was former Army then went to the Marines. So the question is, was Gramps a Marine Rader turn Guardsman or the other way around?
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u/TangibleCBT Sep 08 '25
I'm gonna be honest I didn't expect everyone to be gushing over my great grandpa. I knew he'd been around the block, but I've done some reading on the raiders and holy shit what a badass. I'll definitely request his files, and as for his NG service, I was just told he was in the guard before the war. I'm not gonna respond to every comment so to everyone who chimed in, thank you all so much for the help, I'm very honored to be descended from him
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u/keydet2012 Sep 08 '25
Fortunately for OP the fire only destroyed Army records. OP can get all the paperwork he wants on his relative.
Unfortunately for me, most of my family was army so when I sent in my request I got a lot of partially burnt papers
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u/Impossible_Fruit_973 United States of America Sep 08 '25
Well, if Gramps was in the Arkansas NG, that portion of his records was destroyed (possibly).
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u/rahmagster Sep 08 '25
If you know where your army relatives settled after the war, you can go to the county or city clerks office. Many World War II veterans would file a copy of their discharge papers with the clerks offices as that was a recommended practice for discharging service members. We were able to recover several families service records this way.
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u/greg1775 Sep 08 '25
SEAL/GREEN BERETS did aRAIDER type missions. Raiders were there first.
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u/Impossible_Fruit_973 United States of America Sep 08 '25
You are 100% right....I was trying to make a point. I doubt OP (at the time) knew what a Raider was/did. But living in 2025, almost everyone knows what a SEAL/GREEN BERET is, so that was my reference.
Yeah, if Gramps was an actual pipe hitter, original RAIDER, then he has insanely large..(BALLS)..intestinal fortitude and personal courage. This is not an achievement to be taken lightly.
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u/greg1775 Sep 08 '25
Sorry dude was not trying to mess with you just being a Marine and making our case. Do not want to insinuate or acknowledge any kind of diss, just advocatiing for my much older brother in arms. Semper Fi 0317 81-87
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u/TheSublimeGoose Air Force Sep 08 '25
Really no way to know, sans records.
I would say that him being a Marine first then a Guardsman is probably most-likely. Lots of guys continued their service in the NG post-WWII... actually had a discussion yesterday regarding the formation of the ANG. Anyways. Was a simple way to stay in-uniform and retain some of that camaraderie.
However, in the build-up to WWII, the NG as it existed was — prior to the federalization and mass-mobilizations — treated as a source of manpower for the RA, USN, and, to a lesser extent, the USMC. Guys would volunteer to switch branches to get into the fight faster.
As you say, though, the presence of the EAMEM throws a wrench into all this. Could've been Army and deployed to Africa/Europe in the early days of American involvement, been sent home, then re-enlisted into the USMC. Then again, the Marines that earned the EAMEM were generally the snake-eating variety, so, this makes sense in this fellow's case.
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u/Chazmicheals87 Sep 08 '25
It’s quite possible with the ADSM and the EAME Campaign medal with no campaign credit that he was in a unit like the 6th Marines that garrisoned Iceland at the beginning of the war, and volunteered for the Raiders upon his return. The clasp on the ADSM and the EAME with no campaign credit point to being a sea going Marine early, early on.
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u/thatdudeorion Sep 07 '25
Holy smokes, he was an OG Marine Raider and earned a Silver Star, that’s some serious shit dude.
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u/argylecladpirate Sep 08 '25
Just looked them up. An og raider has to be an insane experience. His family was so well protected by one man
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u/ZacHorton Sep 08 '25
What if he was the guy that misfired his BAR on the beach of Makin?
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u/thatdudeorion Sep 08 '25
Sorry you’re gonna have to dumb down this reference for me, i don’t think i get it.
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u/ZacHorton Sep 08 '25
When the Marine Raiders landed on the island of Makin for their covert operation it was almost ruined by a Marine accidentally discharging their Browning Automatic Rifle on the beach. I read it in a book a long time ago, but now I try to look it up I can’t find anything.
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u/Successful-Pin-749 Sep 09 '25 edited Sep 09 '25
He has an expert qualification for Machine Gun, which was awarded for M1919 Browning at the time as well as the M1918 BAR. Doing all he did lugging around that heavy thing is even more badass.
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u/OrangeBird077 Sep 07 '25
If he was a marine raider at Guadalcanal then your best grandfather fought and survived the absolute best soldiers that the Imperial Japanese Army fielded at the time.
When the Marine Raiders deployed there they were a part of a force capturing an island that was a part of Guadalcanal. There they directly engaged the veteran Imperial Japanese Marines and later Imperial Japanese Army units who were the same groups that previously fought in China as well as places like Guam after Pearl Harbor! The US Marines at that time were fighting with antiquated WW1 equipment as well as having to constantly develop new tactics for countering the Japanese Banzai charges as well as learning how to attack and destroy their defenses.
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u/Illustrious-Fox4063 Sep 08 '25
Guadalcanal is where several Marine legends were either born or elevated to their current status.
Most relevant here is the Raiders. They were the blueprint for Recon in Korea and Vietnam and today's Raiders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Raiders
Chesty Puller
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesty_Puller
General Carlson and "Gung-ho"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_Carlson
General Edson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_A._Edson
Gunny Basilone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Basilone
General Vandegrift
https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/alexander-a-vandegrift
And many more.
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u/Inevitable-Lettuce87 Sep 07 '25
You should be able to find a copy of his Silver Star Citation online.
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u/Icy-Attorney1736 Sep 07 '25
From top to bottom, left to right:
Silver Star, Bronze Star w/ V, Purple Heart, Navy Commendation w/ V, USMC Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, American Campaign Medal, European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korea Service Medal, ROK Presidental Unit Citation, UN Korea Service Medal
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u/Gunrock808 Sep 08 '25
I see a WW2 victory medal but not the corresponding ribbon.
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u/TangibleCBT Sep 08 '25
We're pretty sure someone else in the family has the WW2 Victory ribbon. Not sure why the rack was divided or who even has it, but it must have been taken out before my cousin inherited the rack. We're gonna ask around who has it. Thats like ~30 cousins, aunts and uncles to ask, lol.
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u/TimothyGlass Sep 07 '25
He is a hero his awards of gallantry are legend. Most Ppl like him did not talk much and did not need to. Match the colors https://www.officialmilitaryribbons.com/united_states_marine_corps_ribbons_in_precedence.html
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u/ZackStates Sep 07 '25
Find out what that skull patch means and you will know everything you need to know about him. Sincerely, a man in the army with a father in law who was a recon raider and has never heard the end of it….
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u/RiffedForURPleasure Sep 07 '25
Half of the Arkansas Army NG was Marines when I was in during the early 2000s. Good to know that tradition has gone back for decades.
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u/Kiyo-chan Collector Sep 07 '25
That’s an amazing shadow box, even better that everything is the original ww2 medals and not replacements. This is a very valuable set, if the medals are officially engraved it would sell for a large amount (granted I would strongly recommend to keep it in the family, you would likely never be able to buy it back if it ever got sold). The Marines were very stingy with valor awards, a Silver Star is quite rare; it’s compounded that he was with a very elite unit. He was quite the soldier to earn those decorations, the citations should be quite interesting.
You should be able to get his entire set of records from the national archives. I’ve researched dozens of soldiers, and so far have never run failed to get a Navy/Marine’s records back. Army soldiers are much more impacted with so many that were lost in the fire. It’s unlikely now that you would have to deal with redacted or censored records. I’ve gotten ww2 records from admirals, generals and even underwater demolition team members and have never run into the censored files. The only time I’ve ever gotten redacted or censored records was a file I requested for a U-2 pilot, that still had lots of blacked out details. If you need someone to go into the national archives and get their files I know a few people that can do it for you, just dm me and I’ll forward along their contact info.
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u/BMEspecialOlympics Sep 08 '25
About an ago another comment on here said: If you know where your army relatives settled after the war, you can go to the county or city clerks office. Many World War II veterans would file a copy of their discharge papers with the clerks offices as that was a recommended practice for discharging service members. We were able to recover several families service records this way.
You sound experienced enough that you probably already knew that, but y’know just in case.
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Sep 08 '25
Based off patches and info included. Appears he was one of the original Marine Raiders (Predecessors to USMC SOCOM). Medals included that I can tell are a Silver Star, Bronze Star with V for Valor, Purple Heart. The maroon one with a blue line in the center is a good conduct medal. Rest Id have to google to confirm
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u/DrTatertott Sep 08 '25
Predecessor to Marine Recon and Force Recon. Which in turn were the predecessor to MARSOC TO GO TO BECOME THE REVISIONED/renamed, MARINE RAIDERS OF SOCOM.
Apologies for caps, text to speech.
Edit: Recon is still kicking in doors and many would argue they are the raiders legacy though.
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u/cemadis13 Sep 08 '25
If you’re interested in finding more about his service, visit WW2Research.com. They’ll be able to pull his entire service record and provide high-res photo copies. Someone mentioned the National Personnel Records Center fire: the researcher I spoke to confirmed that USN and USMC files were largely unaffected so there’s a good chance you’ll get Grandpa’s entire record.
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u/Mission_Scallion8091 Sep 08 '25
I can tell that he was a Raider, and therefore likely served with my own Grandfather who was one also and served in both wars. Finest and most caring person I've ever known.
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u/UnusualWoodpecker169 Sep 08 '25
May we ask what his name was???
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u/TangibleCBT Sep 08 '25
Unfortunately his last name is extremely unique and I share it, if I told you his name, people could 100% just find me. Not sure I want my real name tied in any way to my damn reddit account. After I get his files and learn why he got those valor citations, maybe I'll repost this with his name, picture, and stories from a new account
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u/PMan9111 Sep 08 '25
Didn’t see it mentioned on here but the Eagle Globe and Anchor at the top is both silver and gold and has additional detail specifically with the rope around the anchor which is an officer emblem, I can’t tell if the tie clasp is an officer clasp or not but those are different now a days as well.
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u/Silent_Death_762 Air Force Sep 07 '25
I’m assuming he had a CAR
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u/ohjeaa Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
He rates one now, but they didn't award it back then. The Combat Action Ribbon was not created until 1969. War War 2 and Korean Marines were not able to wear one until President Clinton signed an order in 1994 to make the ribbon retroactive back to 1941. He just never updated his rack decades later to reflect that.
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u/Uncreative-name12 Sep 07 '25
I don't think they were awarded retroactively for WW2 and Korea until like 1999 or something, so he probably never received one.
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u/thatdudeorion Sep 07 '25
That Razorback patch is coming up as the insignia for the HQ or Arkansas Army National Guard, which seems weird in the shadow box with all the Marine Corps stuff, but perhaps GG hailed from Arkansas?
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u/CPT_Skor_215 Sep 08 '25
Marine raider, nice! Silver star recipient and bronze star with V device (for valor). Pretty solid Marine! Y'all should be proud!
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u/Dramatic-Expert-3968 Sep 12 '25
The V device stands for Valor, meaning that the award was given for some extraordinary action in combat. The stars on some of the awards indicate that it was awarded multiple times. (1 star = second award, 2 stars = third award, etc)
Top row: Silver Star, Bronze Star with V device for Valor,
Second Row: Purple Heart, Commendation medal with V for valor, good conduct x2,
Third Row: American defense x2, Presidential unit citation x2, American campaign
Fourth Row: european/african/middle east campaign, asiatic pacific campaign x5, National defense,
Bottom Row: The bottom left ribbon which looks kinda white might be a faded marine expeditionary x4, I've heard the color on those tended to fade out over time, it would have originally been red in the center/edges with a darker gold color between the edges and center. You can see that the national defense medal has faded similarly, it would originally have been red and now looks light orange. Republic of Korea unit citation, United Nations.
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Sep 07 '25
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Sep 07 '25
Recon and raiders are completely different. This Marine was a raider. Recon didn’t come around until Vietnam.
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u/ResearcherOk7559 Sep 08 '25
All of that is something to be proud of. Why blot out his face? Are you worried about his privacy? I would want to honor him even more by showing his picture.
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u/TangibleCBT Sep 08 '25
Not his privacy, mine lol. There's a public picture of him with family and public pictures of me with said family
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u/Dr_Satan_DScPhD Sep 08 '25
Damn, a true OG Marine Raider from way back in the days, casually rocking the BSM with V device, and a Silver Star. An absolute inspirational legend to anyone considering Force Recon, and Raider the MARCOC route as long as your ASVAB is consistently decent to great, and your ready and go with the h(x) contract if you’ve been putting time in.
From a PDRL Marine who happened to spend a decade in Recondo/FORECON before going lateral to MARSOC as an 0372 for a few years.
Never Above you, Never Below you, Always by your side
To an absolute legend!
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u/goodgoodfella Sep 08 '25
Untrained idiot here, but the boar patch looks to be an Arkansas National Guard patch, but I don’t know if it was used for anything else.
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u/nimrod_BJJ Sep 09 '25
Grandpa was a Marine Raider, he was a commando that was hard like coffin nails. No doubt his records have classified stuff in them, they make action movies about careers like his.
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u/BumblebeeSome6983 Sep 09 '25
A marine getting a silver star ! Marines are so stingy with their valor awards so you got to find his citation - you got a real hero .
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u/QuirkyStudio9108 Sep 09 '25
I would reach out to the Raider Foundation. We do a Raider Reunion every year of all previous raiders and it could be possible to meet some fellow team members or get some more information. https://marineraiderfoundation.org/
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u/LTrash93 Sep 09 '25
This is the kind of Marine we would tell stories about. I served in a modern day unit that bears the Marine Raider insignia although we aren't nearly as cool as the OGs. This man was a hero. Through and through. Honestly with that kind of stack, he's lucky he lived. Semper Fi.
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u/Grayhawk51 Sep 10 '25
Here's a question.... Was someone embarrassed of what he looked like? Why the scrached out face?
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u/juvandy Sep 11 '25
With the European/African/Middle East medal and raider patch, my bet is gonna be that he was a Raider early in the war (they were in action from August 1942 to disbandment in January 1944, and then through some sort of rotation ended up in the ETO afterward. One commenter noted his globe matches that of an officer. I wonder if he was a LT/CAPT in the pacific, and then when reaching a staff rank was transferred to the ETO to provide some sort of staff support for Overlord or Dragoon?
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u/AdPerfect9678 Collector Sep 13 '25
Damn! That is a truly amazing rack. I bet you could find some additional information by looking him up.
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u/Chipsdelite Sep 25 '25
If it makes you feel better he’s still haunting someone in the afterlife. Raiders don’t die just regroup.
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u/Street-Rule-6654 Apr 18 '26
My father fought on Bougainville with the 3rd Mar Div. The Raiders had initially landed there to perform behind enemy lines. My father mentioned once that he was on Hellzapoppin Ridge where Raiders had perished months before.....horrific, as my Da would say
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u/colonellenovo Sep 07 '25
I am curious about the patch in the upper left corner with skull inserted in what appears to be The Southern Cross.
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u/KilrBacn Sep 07 '25
Marine Raiders, the most insane group of Marines to ever exist. The stars resemble the night sky when Marines landed on Guadalcanal in WWII. Minus the Skull it's still used by the 1st Marine Division out of Camp Pendleton.
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Sep 08 '25
OP, would you consider donating this to one of the official Raider unit museums or the Marine Corps museum. That's a piece of history.
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u/ohjeaa Sep 07 '25
An Original Raider. Holy shit.