I just received a copy of my dad's service records, at least what still exists, apparently some of his records were lost in a fire.

I need help translating the information listed under Decorations, Medals, Badges, etc. It's difficult to decipher if each of these is a single item or if several in a line go together - also I don't know what the abreviations mean.

UNSM NDSM Wharang Dist Mil SVC Med w/Gold Star
KSM Master Prcht Badge BSM PH WWII DO Lanyard
AFRM ROK Pres Unit Cit BUB OLC(DUB) Bel Fouragers Fr Fouragers
Bel Cr DeGuerw w/Palm

If someone could help me with this information I would be most appreciative. My father passed in 1992 so I am unable to get his assistance in translating.

Roberta Smith Frederick

I'll try.

UNSM = United Nations Service Medal (UN Medal for Korean War)

NDSM = National Defense Service Medal (US award)

Wharang Dist Mil SVC Med w/Gold Star = Wharang Distinguished Military Service Medal with Gold Star (ROK Ministry of Defense award)

KSM = Korean Service Medal (US Medal for Korean War)

Master Prcht Badge = Master Jump Wings (US Badge)

BSM = Bronze Star Medal (US award)

PH = Purple Heart Medal (US award)

WWII DO Lanyard = unknown

AFRM = Armed Forces Reserve Medal (US award)

ROK Pres Unit Cit = Republic of Korea, Presidential Unit Citation (ROK unit award)

BUB OLC(DUB) = unknown

Bel Fouragers = Belgian Fourragere (Kingdom of Belgium unit award)

Fr Fouragers = French Fourragere (Republic of France unit award)

Bel Cr DeGuerw w/Palm = Belgian "Croix de Guerre" Medal with Palm (Kingdom of Belgium award, means "Cross of War")

Hope that helped some.

Wow! Very impressive. Tell us about him.

WWII DO Lanyard = Dutch (Netherlands) Orange Lanyard (?)

Thanks for all of the help. I really appreciate it.

Azmax64 if you are asking about his military service I don't know know much because he never talked about his war time service. I know from my mom and some old newspaper clippings that she saved, that he was a member of the 82nd Airborne and the 101st. He was at Normandy and years later he was contacted by the author of the well known book about Normandy, requesting an interview and he would not respond to the letter.

When I was fairly young he was injured during a jump and broke both legs in five places. That ended his days of jumping out of airplanes. At the end of his service time he was with Hq 10th Tng Bn USATC.

He was plagued with terrible arthritis due to his injuries. He wound up having surgery to immobilize one of his ankles and that eventually led to his retirement after about 25 years of serving. He walked with a bit of a limp and moved the immobilized leg rather like someone with a prothesis. He pretty much took it all in stride. As a kid I was the only one he really trusted to help him get his cowboy boots off :-)

Thanks to all of you for the help. If anyone knows about the DO Lanyard and the BUB and OLC (DUB) I'd appreciate knowing that. I am trying to get all of this down for his great-grandchildren and for his genealogy record in the family tree I am compiling.

RSFjt-
Elements of the 82nd and 101st Divisions did receive the Netherlands Orange Lanyard during WWII. There are not very many lanyards and this is the only one that could fit that description. If he participated in airborne operations in Holland with the 82d or 101st his unit probably received it.
Is the posted list only those that are on the discharge, or are these only the ones you wanted help with?

The Presidential Unit Citation (PUC) was named Distinguished Unit Citation until 1966, also called the Distinguished Unit Badge(DUB). Again, the 82d and 101st received these during the European Campaign. "OLC" is oak leaf cluster, indicating a second award.

Your dad was an amazing man. My dad rarely talked much about the war part WW2. Thanks for some insight.

Why dosen't it list the WW2 Campaign trio, EAMCM, ACM, WW2VM?

BUB OLC(DUB)? Something with a Oak Leaf Cluster?

Thanks to all of you for the additional information. Redleg13f the list consists of what was listed on the DD214. His headstone only lists the Purple Heart - is that the way it is normally done? Apparently they no longer have his service records from 1936 to August 1942 when he was commissioned. They sent a certificate for that time saying that it would suffice for verification of service. I understand from my mom he was wounded a couple of times but that information is not on the DD214, not that we particularly care if the information is included,just curious. When I get to my mother's house next I will try to go through what is there and see if I can figure out what is what and make sure it is all being stored properly.

RSFjt,

Thought I'd put in my two cents. I came up with some graphics so you could see what your Dad's awards might have looked like;

Dad Had the Dutch lanyard and the BF

quote:

Why dosen't it list the WW2 Campaign trio, EAMCM, ACM, WW2VM?

BUB OLC(DUB)? Something with a Oak Leaf Cluster?

I agree.

If he was WWII, the above awards should be listed as well.

hmmmm

Could there be a page missing for continued items?

quote:

Originally posted by RSFjt:
Thanks to all of you for the additional information. Redleg13f the list consists of what was listed on the DD214. His headstone only lists the Purple Heart - is that the way it is normally done?

If it was an Uncle Sam provided headstone there are guidelines as to what can be done, but within those guidelines it is up to the family or next of kin's wishes what is inscribed.

Veteran's Affairs is in charge of the headstones.

That fire in St Louis years ago, did wipe out a lot of vets records. His initial 214 may have listed those awards too. I have my dads, one of those old photostats. Looks like a xerox'ed photo negative.

Zach,

Your rack has the Wharang DMSM and the ROK KWSM in the wrong order in the color picture but correct in the diagram.

I have to agree, those are the most likely awards he should have been awarded not listed on his DD-214.

The only one I might question is the KDSM. If he was on penn for 30 or more days after the ceasefire, then yes he should be awarded it, but without some documentation (IE travel orders, transfer orders, etc.) it might be hard to prove.

Also, he most likely has a couple of combat jump stars on his Master Blaster. We know at least one for Belgium, most likely more.

Also, every soldier qualifies with at least one weapon so there's a bolo badge out there too.

Joseph,

Yeah I kind of figured I might of had those last two ribbons in reverse order. Without a decent reference, it was a little difficult to figure out. Nobody's perfect!

I'm sure some of the other awards besides his Master Blaster wings would have had an assortment of devices and appurtenances, but without knowing what units the soldier in question was in, we may never know. Although, with a bit of research through the 82nd and 101st archives, I'm sure one could pretty much figure out what campaigns they were involved in.

Hi,

I'm going to try to post a couple of photos. Took me a bit to figure out how to do it so I hope this works. I looked at a number of pictures of him in uniform at various periods. I remember seeing the lanyards - it came to me when I looked at the photo of 1SDHicksD's father but I don't find photos where they are displayed in the same way. I do remember the metal tips though. In none of the photos does he seem to be wearing the same things though. One of the earliest photos shows the wings and a couple of medals or awards below but they are too fuzzy to make out - he is wearing a patch on his left sleeve that displays an eagle's head and Airborne above. Later photos show the double A patches on his sleeve rather than the eagle. The two photos I am posting show the medals and awards more clearly so they will probably be more helpful.

RSFjt,

Thank you for the photographs that you provided! This helped a bunch! I was able to gather much more information from the excellent photos you shared with us. I updated your father's award rack according to the pictures you posted:





You may notice, on number 10. I was unable to identify this particular award. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I post an updated ribbon rack of all the awards your father would have been authorized to wear, including retroactive awards.