Identification of ribbons wanted

[Wilco]

I am trying to find out to which decorations two ribbons belong. It are the two ribbons on the photo below, the last line on the far right and far left.

[JBFloyd]

The first ribbon in the bottom row is the French Croix de Guerre 1939-45 (as is the middle ribbon on the next to last row); the last ribbon is an unofficial ribbon used for a variety of local and organizational medals.

The group shows some serious flaws with Canadian, USAF, French and very recent US Army ribbons.

[Wilco]

French Croix de Guerre 1939-45

Are you sure? The lines that should be green are in fact a golden tan.

The person involved, Colonel Lloyd Neblett, joined before the US was involved in the Second World War the Canadian Air Force (thats for his Canadian/British awards) and commanded a Air Corps transport squadron later in the war and was involved in the air operations for Normandy, Bastogne, Market Garden and the Crossing of the Rhine. After the war he was in the reserves and involved in training air transport personnel. On later life he even was involved in training "official" re-enactment personnel as far we've found out. The decorations are genuine and indeed remarcable. The training decoration must have been a sort of honorable award for he was officially retired in 1977.

If the left below is the French Croix de Guerre (I have never seen one that was faded to these colors, but don't rule it out), it could very well be he wore that one for the decoration to his unit (301st Troop Carrier Squadron, 441st Troop Carrier Group - silver palme is then for the divisional, so must be the 441st Troop Carrier Group I presume) and the one without the palme then should have been awarded to him personally i think.

[Guest Rick Research]

The mixture of inappropriate and indeed IMPOSSIBLE foreign ribbons and the souvenir ribbon in last place makes NO sense whatsoever.

[Wilco]

Rick and others, I have send an email to the owners of the legacy of this person (the unit he served with holds his legacy), the person is Genuine, his Royal Canadian Air Force service record is genuine, his awarding for his actions over Europe are genuine. His after war record is known and genuine. The only question is the awards that should not be there for a person who was retired officially in 1977, but until a few years ago still worked as training instructor. As I say, I have popped the remarks and questions to the Travis Air Force Base, where the people are that are working on the details of their former commander. They should be able to shed some light on this.

[David S]

Yikes indeed at the ribbon bar

If your guy retired in 1977 there are three ribbons that shouldn't be in that group

These three required active service on or after the institution dates

Army Service - instituted in April 1981

Army Overseas Service - instituted in August 1981

USAF Military Training Instructor - instituted in 1998

--> edited to fix a boo boo <--

Edited November 2, 2008 by David S

[Wilco]

Yes and that is why the question is popped to the persons I mention. My question is not so that he coul dnot have received them, my question to them is how they ended up in his award group. The photo of this group has been send to me by the US AIr Froce unit themselves. So they should be able to clarify this.

[Guest Rick Research]

Even many active duty personnel are not as knowledgeable (fanatically picky? ) about Unimportant Details as we are.

I doubt very much anyone there will have working knowledge of the requirements of the Canadian WW2 Volunteer Service Medal with Maple Leaf device/British War Medal (in incorrect positions) for overseas non-operational service without a 1939-45 Star for an American volunteer...

in 2008.

They're younger than us and don't remember such things.

Well, waaaaay younger than ME, anyway! :catjava:

[Wilco]

Even many active duty personnel are not as knowledgeable (fanatically picky? ) about Unimportant Details as we are.

I doubt very much anyone there will have working knowledge of the requirements of the Canadian WW2 Volunteer Service Medal with Maple Leaf device/British War Medal (in incorrect positions) for overseas non-operational service without a 1939-45 Star for an American volunteer...

in 2008.

They're younger than us and don't remember such things.

Well, waaaaay younger than ME, anyway!

Rick, his Canadian Record is known to me. He received the Volunteer medal beceause he was just long enough volunteer in the Canadian Air Force. The Oversees bar was a mistake of the Canadian government (not the only one they made with US Volunteers). When he was transferred to the US Air Corps, he was not written off as Canadian Volunteer.

[JBFloyd]

Rick, his Canadian Record is known to me. He received the Volunteer medal beceause he was just long enough volunteer in the Canadian Air Force. The Oversees bar was a mistake of the Canadian government (not the only one they made with US Volunteers). When he was transferred to the US Air Corps, he was not written off as Canadian Volunteer.

His Canadian service would have also qualified for a War Medal, which required only 28 days of service. The Defense Medal would have required at least 6 months of service outside Canada.

It is certainly possible that he wore the second Croix de Guerre ribbon as a unit award. That mistake was a common one where units were cited for the CdG.