Posted 4 years ago
Biggscasa
(2 items)
My dads pin. He was in the Philippines during WWII and I am putting his pins and metals and certificates in a shadow box display to present to him for his upcoming birthday ! Can you tell me more about this pin the stripes and four stars?
That’s going to be a wonderful gift for your dad! My dad’s WWII medals, insignia and papers stayed in his footlocker until I did the very same thing you are doing for your dad.....my dad was 91 when I put all his items in shadow boxes and frames for him. He loved looking at it all.
I found the internet and a military magazine very helpful in showing the order in which medals are to be arranged when you make a display.
A local trophy shop engraved labels for each item for me.
I hope you will update your post with the final product when you are done.....I, and many others here, would love to see it!
Sorry I cannot answer your question about the names of those ribbons. The stars each indicate an additional period of service - so, the ribbon (or medal) represents the initial service and with 2 stars on the ribbon (or medal), it shows he had 3 periods of service.
There are lots of folks who know tremendously more than I do here so I hope they correct me if I’ve not stated any of that properly and I hope they can tell you more.
Please tell your dad that I appreciate his service and value what he did for our country!
I had a minute to look the yellow one up for you:
The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
Awarded to those serving in combat in the A-P Campaign for at least 30 days.....so your dad served at least 90 days in combat in the Philippines.
Tell him he’s lucky to have survived that mission!!
Regarding the stars on that A-P Campaign ribbon...let me correct that info...it’s not 30 days per star as I stated...it’s an additional battle area per star. Per Google, I read there were 20+ separate areas of battle in the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign.
Please read up on that yourself because I only had a few minutes to delve into it....it’s super interesting! Maybe you could print the info and keep it with your shadow box (that’s what I did).
Your red ribbon with black/white stripe represents the Philippine Liberation Medal.
I didn’t get a chance to find out what the stars represent.
Thank you! Yes the other medal and pin and certificates are still at the frameshop. It has taken many years to get him to talk. He has always been very humble. I think like mostenlisted there must be some PTSD, I am sure agent orange and some survivors guilt. Truly I think he was a 17 year old kid who saw signing up as not just joining the war effort but a way to improve his future (He was the oldest son of ten children as well). The next brother below him enlisted three years after him. He found out as he was coming home and spotted his brother going to. He did not know he had enlisted. They had only minutes to talk.
My dad had to go the next state down to enlist because of his age. (I doubt he told his parents) and found out I think when he was in line enlisting that his education would be paid for (and could get his GED).
Such important family history to pass down!