US Army Medal Mounting WWII

[Daniel Cole]

I'm making a shadow box for my wife using her dad's WWII decorations. I'm curious how they should be mounted to be period as compared to current Army regs which I think are in rows of 3.

I'd appreciate some photo of examples.

His awards are pretty routine for the Pacific theater.

Good Conduct

American Theater

Asiatic Pacific Theater 3 stars

WWII Victory medal

Phillippine Liberation medal

Thanks

Dan

[coastie]

I'll look around but I think wearing medals on uniforms is designed for symetry.

A single row up to 4 medals then it's 2 top/3 bottom, 3/3 3/4 and so on.

[Guest Rick Research]

I've never known an American WW2 veteran (though might be different for career officers) who mounted their medals. Most don't even wear them (despite my encouragements). Pinned on singly is 99.9999999999% I'd say.

[Michael Johnson]

I'd mount them straight across, so they all can be seen.

[Ulsterman]

I have NEVER seen a period picture of a GI with any medal worn except bravery medals and the good conduct medal. Only ribbons were issued until AFTER the war.

My understanding is though that the order should be:

Good conduct/US Emergency/US Campaign:defense/ European/ Pacific/ Victory/ Phillipine medal(s).

Most ribbons were worn three across and often done wrong. I suspect most period GIs did theirs chronologically or by the regs and most GIS-at least those who were out by October, 1945-did not actually ever receive their victory ribbon until they were civillians again-if then!

Edited September 28, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Ulsterman]

also, @ 1945/46

[Ulsterman]

Also: 1946-

[Ed_Haynes]

So few ever wore medals, based on photos of my father and his mates, I'd just arrange them, loose, 3/3/3/etc.

In other words:

Top row: Good Conduct, American Theater

Second row (with first overlapped horizontally): Asiatic Pacific Theater 3 stars, WWII Victory medal, Phillippine Liberation medal

Edited September 28, 2006 by Ed_Haynes

[Daniel Cole]

I'm thinking separate may be best. Thanks for the feedback.

Dan

[coastie]

It really boils down to what you and the viewer likes.

You guys are generally correct in that most of the GI's did not ever wear their medals. But lets consider that the medals are meant to be worn - when warranted. If a GI remained in the service, chances are that he may have to wear the medals for some special function (change of command/honor guard/dining out, whatever). With that in mind there are certain criteria for wearing them as I mentioned earlier.

One last thing is that the Phillipine Liberation medal was just a ribbon a medal was not authorized to wear on the uniform.

Edited September 28, 2006 by coastie

[Steve Russell]

Dan,

Regular soldiers, officer and enlisted, certainly did wear their medals full size but they were not authorized for service uniforms unless they were being awarded or if the service uniform was worn in lieu of a formal uniform when prescribed. Most WWII vets were not regulars and were discharged before ever having the need for a formal uniform. Here is a picture of a pretty famous guy wearing his medals according to the regulations of the 1930s--the same that governed WWII.

[attachmentid=59076]

The current regs are near identical to the older ones. Here is an excerpt from AR 670-1:

29?8. Wear of full-size U.S. and foreign decorations and service medals

a. Where worn. All personnel may wear full-size decorations and service medals on the Army blue and white uniforms. When the Army green dress uniform is worn to social functions, enlisted personnel may wear full-size decorations and service medals on the coat of the green dress uniform.

b. How worn. Personnel wear all full-size decorations, except the Medal of Honor (worn at the neck) in the order of precedence from the wearer?s right to left, in one or more rows, with 1/8-inch space between rows. Second and subsequent rows will not contain more medals than the row below. Personnel will not wear service and training ribbons when full-size decorations and service medals are worn. Personnel may wear U.S. and foreign unit award emblems as prescribed, when wearing full-size medals. Full-size medals are worn as follows:

(1) Males wear full-size medals immediately above the left breast pocket, in as many rows as necessary. The number of medals worn in each row depends upon the size of the coat. Full-size decorations or medals will not overlap within a row.

[attachmentid=59078]

The second pic is a photo-montage of how your ancestor's medals could be worn by the reg. Given that there are five, a single row is appropriate and presents the best appearance for a display in my opinion because you can view them all. But a stack does look nice. And while Coastie is coorect that the Philippine Liberation Medal used to be a ribbon, it is a full-sized, authorized decoration now. It may also be that your relative was authorized other medals, such as the Occupation Medal and others. Hope this helps. Steve

[Jim Baker]

Dan,

My Dad was in the Navy, and I believe I read somewhere that only five medals were worn by enlisted men. They could wear any five of their choice, and I believe most wore medals for valor followed by campaigns.

These are the five he chose to wear, worn straight across. The next picture is of his ribbon rack per regs.

Hope this helps.