SILVER STAR with MERCHANT MARINE COMBAT BAR ( William O Stewart )

[numis]

William O Stewart received a Silver Star with his Merchant Marine Combat Bar ( for WW2 service ) denoting having been on a ship abandoned due to  war action .

Is there  any means of obtaining details of the incident ( abandonment of ship ) ?

[dmiller8]

The Merchant Marine combat bar was a ribbon awarded to Merchant Mariners whose ship was damaged or sunk by enemy action. A silver star on the ribbon represents a second award. Since William O Stewart was decorated for valor in the course of his service, we have no way of determining the conditions that led to his award of the Silver Star. This link https://homeofheroes.com/silver-star/ lists Silver Star awards by time period and branch of service. This list is incomplete, especially for Naval awards. Plus, there is no separate listing for Merchant Marine citations. Unlike the London Gazette that published awards and citations in Great Britain, there was no similar publication in the United States. If William O Steward had a hometown newspaper interested in his bravery, the details of this deed might have been published and archived for posterity. 

[RAL]

Gents -

 

It appears that you are discussing two entirely different silver stars.  The silver star on the Merchant Marine Combat medal was a 3/8ths inch silver star device pinned to the ribbon to denote a second award of that medal.  Note this a "device" not a "medal".  Stars are awarded in lieu of additional medal awards; you only get the actual medal once.

 

The Silver Star Medal is an award for valor awarded to military and naval personnel (and, in fact, in the naval services could have star devices for additional awards). 

 

Unless your William O Stewart was a member of a naval gun crew on a merchant ship or, unless, since they were dual designated as USMM and USNR, he were a merchant marine officer, he would be ineligible for an award of the Silver Star Medal.  There are those who will tell you that individual crew rated members of the Merchant Marine were eligible for the Silver Star Medal, but that is not true, during WW2 they were not considered part of the US armed forces.

 

Notations of silver star devices (the word "device" often being left out) for additional awards of a decoration and Silver Star Medals (and likewise "bronze stars" for additional awards as devices and Bronze Star Medals) can cause confusion.

 

You may wish to check to options available at

http://www.usmm.org/contact.html#contact3

 

Veteran status for Merchant Sailors was not established until the 1980's, see:

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R44162.html

Edited November 7, 2021 by RAL

[dmiller8]

Our learned friend, Numis, is devoted to the provenance of the awards that he collects. And apparently, I misread how he described his acquisition of the Merchant Marine Combat Bar. When he capitalized the Silver Star, I believed he was referring to the medal, not the appurtenance. 

[numis]

I was not referring to the Silver Star Decoration.

What I was referring to is a small silver star device affixed to the MM Combat Bar ribbon

According to my info the device is not a second award of the Combat bar but instead denotes having had to abandon ship due to enemy action ( including mine sinkings ) 

The Combat Bar on its own is for seeing action without necessarily having had to abandon ship 

The card with Stewart's award is annotated " star "

In WW1 Stewart served with S African Forces and received the BWM and bilingual VM

I reiterate my starting question as to whether details of the incident are findable 

[dmiller8]

You have more biographical information on William O Stewart than I have. Depending on when he passed, his records from the Merchant Marine may be available from the National Archives or from the US Merchant Marine  http://www.usmm.org/contact.html