Both of my grandparents have now passed away and we are in the process of cleaning out their house and selling it. I came across a jar with some military patches, some pins, and a dog tag that doesn't belong to anyone in my family inside. The patches and pins either belong to my great grandfather, who I believe was in the Army fought in France during WW2, or my great uncle, who was in the Air Force during Korea. Edit: sorry. Can't get the pics to embed.

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac21/mrfart/Mobile%20Uploads/20170501_123523_zpso9hbhycl.jpg

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac21/mrfart/Mobile%20Uploads/20170501_131551_zps3jmsvbap.jpg

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac21/mrfart/Mobile%20Uploads/20170501_131642_zpstzs1vbxv.jpg

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac21/mrfart/Mobile%20Uploads/20170501_123507_zpsbs38tyrm.jpg

2nd one is the 'ruptured duck' that identified WWII veterans on their way home. As far as I know.

The two ribbons in picture 4, the red with white stripes is Good Conduct medal.

Awesome. Thanks for the help.

Other ribbon in picture 4 is the WWII European African Middle Eastern campaign ribbon. It has faded a lot over the years.

The pic with the two ribbons :

The one with the red/white/blue stripes down the middle is the European-African-Middle Eastern WW II Victory Ribbon.

The red one with white stripes is an Army Good Conduct Medal (or is it a ribbon).


WWII Victory Medal

Good Conduct Medal

Disregard. All these other guys are faster than me.

nm

Found this so far, still looking: Joseph H. Smith

armymom said:

---

Found this so far, still looking: Joseph H. Smith

---

Thanks for posting that link. I was able to lookup my Grandfather who fought in the Pacific.
I was unable to lookup my Grandfather who served in Pensacola but then I figured out those records were only Army and my Grandfather who served at Pensacola was in the Navy.

HollywoodBQ said:

---

2nd one is the 'ruptured duck' that identified WWII veterans on their way home. As far as I know.

---

Since a lot of them didn't have civilian clothes, this was so they could wear their uniform home, even after they were discharged.

Hey Nav said:

---

The pic with the two ribbons :

The one with the red/white/blue stripes down the middle is the European-African-Middle Eastern WW II Victory Ribbon.

The red one with white stripes is an Army Good Conduct Medal (or is it a ribbon).


WWII Victory Medal

Good Conduct Medal

Disregard. All these other guys are faster than me.

---

Well, the European-African-ME ribbon is a service medal, not a victory medal.

The eagle in a circle patch is called the "ruptured Duck." It was a patch for those honorably discharged after WWII.

The "ruptured duck" patch is interesting. I did not know it existed as a patch, but it looks exactly like a brass lapel pin that my Dad wore on his civilian clothes from late 1942 until the end of the war. He was medically discharged after serving only a few months on active duty. He later explained to me that men in his situation were issued that pin so that they could demonstrate to people they encountered in civilian life that they had been honorably discharged. Apparently there was considerable potential stigma during the war associated with being an obviously military-age young man who was a civilian.

I think that's true, but I was surprised at how late my uncles entered the war. Come to find out that at least two of them tried to enlist, and were basically told to go home until they were drafted. There just weren't enough facilities to house and train everyone in 1941-1942.

Both ended up working in defense industries in California, and at least one was told he was critical and didn't have to be drafted. He ended up as B-24 flight engineer in the south Pacifc.

Actually, my Dad experienced something similar. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after Pearl Harbor, but all of the training facilities were so overwhelmed at that time that he was told to go home and wait to be placed on active duty. It was 6 months before he was notified to report to the Army Air Corps Classification Center (I think that's what it was called, or something similar) in Nashville, TN. Once there, he initially underwent a physical exam, including a chest x-ray, which apparently was not done when he enlisted. The chest x-ray showed scarring in one of his lungs from healed (presumably from childhood) tuberculosis, which was deemed an automatic disqualification for service. I don't know if this was disqualifying for any Army service, or just for air crews (?maybe something about reactivation of the T.B. at high altitudes?), but in any event, he was then honorably discharged as soon as they could process his paperwork, which actually took several months!

Both of my Grandfathers had unusual entries into the war.

My fraternal GF was in the Army (5th Cav) from 1933 to 1940.(He was 16 when he joined the Army). He didn't reenlist because they were taking away the horses and sabers. He volunteered to re enter the Army in 1944 at the age of 27. He was sent to train troops at Fort Hood on the M-18 Hellcats. Eventually he was sent to Burma to train Brits on the M-18. Because he volunteered, he was not eligible to return home immediately after the war. He was then transferred to a refrigeration unit in India and had a C-46 and crew assigned to him so that he could fly all over and fix and maintain big refrigeration freezers and such. He flew all over Iran, India, Burma, Singapore and over the hump into China doing that until the middle of 1946. He received the Burma Star from the British Army.

My maternal Grandfather worked for the soil conservation service and was deemed necessary to the production food crops. His deferment ( not sure what the correct term is) ran out in 1944 and he was drafted at the age of 33. He was a clerk typist in an infantry regiment in the 42nd Rainbow Div. He was the oldest man in his company and probably older than the regimental commander.

Yeah, it's funny, about half the military in WWII was drafted, as opposed to 25% in Vietnam and 0% since the 1980s or so.

Yet, WWII is held out as the patriotic war where everyone volunteered.

As we've discussed before, and as some of these examples show, I think a lot of the WWII veterans were certain they would be called up. And either on their own, or on the advice of their draft boards or recruiters, they decided to stay home and work until Uncle Sam called.