Korean War Medal Bars

[azyeoman]

On November 22, 2009 at 04:36, Brett Hendey said:

Here are the 2 Squadron SAAF Korean War groups in my collection. All belonged to ground crew, so lack the glamour and, usually, the extra medals of air crew.

The scarcity of these always makes them interesting whether they be ground or air crew.  Thanks for posting these Brett!

A Greek medal bar for the Korean War.

[azyeoman]

A colorful medal bar to an Australian.  For much more information go to: 

 

[Brett Hendey]

Thank you for responding, John.  The Greek and Australian groups are great.  

I think it has already been recorded elsewhere on this forum, but it is worth repeating that the Korean War was the only war ever fought by the United Nations.  The UN has since been present on numerous peace-keeping missions, but not on one side of an armed conflict.  This was because the USSR was absent from the UN meeting that voted on the Korean crisis, so was not there to veto the intervention vote.  At least, that is what I understand.  It was a hard and cruel war, but a very interesting one in part because of the countries that took up arms against North Korea and China (and the USSR in the background).

Regards

Brett

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Brett Hendey
To replace duplicated text

[pieter1012]

Although Purple Heart documents issued for the Korean war come on the market from time to time, this one I have is interesting in that it was awarded to someone from a unit that apparently consisted of all African American soldiers. The document came with a picture of the unit; Stokes is standing in the first row, fourth from left, as indicated by an arrow he probably put there himself. Unfortunately, the set came without his Purple Heart.

regards, Pieter

Edited December 15, 2016 by pieter1012

[pieter1012]

Here a Canadian Korean war pair I have that is named to SK 800227 R Yee. (sorry for the poor quality of the pictures). Some paperwork came with it stating that Act. Sgt. Richard Yee joined the 2d Bn PPLCI in Calgary in August 1950 and served in Korea from 18-12-'50 to 07-03-'53. What makes it interesting is that Yee is a Canadian (Saskatchewan Prov.) from Korean descent, so could it be that he was used in Korea for interpreting purposes?

regards, Pieter

[Brett Hendey]

Pieter

Thank you for two interesting posts.  Although I have British and New Zealand pairs in my Commonwealth Korean War collection, I have yet to add medals to Australians and Canadians.  Yee's group is particularly interesting because of his long deployment in Korea, so perhaps he was an interpreter rather than a frontline soldier.

The US group that I posted earlier includes the first Purple Heart in my collection.  It is a beautiful medal and all the more special because it is named, and it identified the man to whom the group belonged.

I see that you are from the Netherlands.  I recently purchased a Netherlands Cross for Freedom and Justice for service in Korea on an auction in South Africa, and, later, a Dutch UN Korea Medal that my son is bringing from the UK tomorrow.  Since I have been unable to purchase Korea War groups to identified non-Commonwealth troops, I have made up groups to represent the medals that they would have been awarded.  In addition to the Dutch pair, I also have made-up groups representing France, Belgium and Ethiopia.  Also a single Turkish UN Korea, which was the only medal for the war awarded to Turkish troops.

Regards

Brett

[pieter1012]

Hi Brett,

nice that you could get the Dutch medals for the Korean war. To make the group complete, the Korean war service medal should be added.

Unlike in the UK and the Commonwealth, when only in 2001 permission was given to receive this medal, members of the Dutch army received this medal straight after the war and were allowed to wear it on uniform. So most Dutch Korea groups include this medal. Such groups are indeed hard to identify, unless it comes with the award certificates or other provenance.

For your interest I have added pictures of the certificates belonging to the three medals a typical Dutch Korean war veteran would receive.

Regards, Pieter

[azyeoman]

208744 BDR D B McDONALD, RNZA (EIIR First type obverse), mounted as worn with Korean War 40th Anniversary Medal1950-1990.  Desmond Bruce McDonald, 16 Field Regiment, Royal NZ Artillery, arrived Korea 27 August 1952, returned NZ 13 March 1954, returned to Korea 2 June 1954, promoted to Bombadier, discharged 10 February 1955, Died Christchurch 30 January 2001.

Queen's Korea, UN Korea and Intl. Federation of Korean War Veterans 40th Anniversary Medal

Edited December 16, 2016 by azyeoman

[Paul R]

I love the British bars for Korea!  They are not common at all. 

[Brett Hendey]

Pieter

Thank you for showing the certificates.  In the absence of named medals, having them would be a perfect solution.

I forgot to mention that I do have a South Korean medal to go with the two Dutch medals.  The Dutch UN medal is on its way to South Africa at the moment and I hope to have it later today.  I will post a picture of the made- up group soon.

Regards

Brett

Paul

Below is a picture of a British Korea group.  Unfortunately, the family member who sold this group to a dealer would not part with the accompanying service record, so I know little about the man, except that at one time he was serving at the Kinaruru Military Correctional Establishment in Malaya.

Regards

Brett

 

[Brett Hendey]

John

I do not remember having previously seen a medal issued by the International Federation of Korean War Veterans.  Do you have other examples?   I suppose that this Federation must be close to closing down, if it has not already done so.

Regards

Brett

[azyeoman]

Hi Bret,

It's the only one I've ever seen mounted.  The Canadians have issued quite a few in their Korean veterans org., and then there are the ubiquitous ones from Korea itself,  but this is the only one I've seen from the federation.   Normally you see them as singles as I'm sure they are not officially recognized.

John

Edited December 16, 2016 by azyeoman

[Brett Hendey]

Pieter

Below is a photo of my made-up Dutch group.  The Cross for Justice and Freedom turned up in South Africa, I bought the Dutch UN medal from a dealer in Canada, while the Korean medal came from England.  I would much prefer to have a trio awarded to a known Dutch Korean War veteran, but that is not likely to happen!

Regards

Brett

 

 

 

[pieter1012]

Brett,

congatulations, a very nice set. The bar with numeral 2 stands for two tours of duty and is rare as only 516 were issued. With no numeral, around 3500 were issued and with numeral 3 for three tours of duty, 38 were issued. Apparently one bar with 4 was issued to a military chaplain, but there is no documentation on this and the whereabouts of the medal is unknown.

Many Dutch Korea veterans did not have their medals mounted, so a display like yours is not uncommon.

Regards,

Pieter

Edited December 17, 2016 by pieter1012

[Brett Hendey]

Pieter

Many thanks for your comments.  It is always good to have extra information on the medals, even if there is no record of the man who actually wore them as a group.

I hope that you will post more from your collection.

Regards

Brett

[demir]

Beautiful medal bars. Thanks for sharing.

Regards

Demir

[Kvart]

From another Swedish auction site, the medal group of Dr. Bo von Garrelts.

 

 

[Brett Hendey]

A wonderful medal group! Thank you for showing it.

Regards

Brett

[makedon]

Sorry to say, but the greek group is obviously a fake...

The military merit medal is the modern issue. As I can easily tell by the medals' quality, they are part of the big group which was found in the army depots and were sold to a dealer. He probably "fixed" some medal bars himself...

On 14/12/2016 at 21:40, azyeoman said:

The scarcity of these always makes them interesting whether they be ground or air crew.  Thanks for posting these Brett!

A Greek medal bar for the Korean War.

Sorry to say, but the greek group is obviously a fake...

The military merit medal is the modern issue. As I can easily tell by the medals' quality, they are part of the big group which was found in the army depots and were sold to a dealer. He probably "fixed" some medal bars himself...

[censlenov]

Does anyone happen to have a Group/Single with an Italian version of the UN Korea medal?

This is a Group in my collection to a Canadian who served in the navy during ww2 and army  with 1 PPCLI during Korea and eventually the RCAPC.

Cheers

Chris

[censlenov]

My Italian Group to a member of Red Cross Hospital 68

[Lenaerts Jannick]

A Belgian Korean war medal group mounted for display ( in a case) not for wearing.

These are the medals of corporal (later sergeant) Bodnar Emile, who served with the Belgian batalion in 1953. During the heavy fighting at Chatkol in april 53 he was wounded when his platoon was send out on a counterattack on an overrun listening post in the frontline. 

[Brett Hendey]

Very impressive!   Thank you for sharing it.

Regards

Brett

[Sampo]

Dear Lenaerts Jannick,

What a stunning Belgium group. Do you have any documents with them? And can you tell me the number on the back of the Chungmu? Is the Bronze star named? I would really like to know more about this medal group.

Regards

Sampo

[Herman]

The Dutch Cross for justice and freedom. The figure 2 and 3 on the bars are the 1 year tours a soldier did in Korea.