Help restoring/cleaning military medals

garys · Post by **garys** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 3:20 pm

You don't need to wait your life away to get replacements from the Government. You can purchase new ones quite cheaply and get the project done fast. If anyone else is doing something like this, keep this in mind.

http://www.grunt.com/rifle-marksman-badge
http://www.grunt.com/national-defense-service-ribbon
http://www.grunt.com/vietnam-service-ribbon
http://www.grunt.com/republic-of-vietna ... bbon-40291

http://www.grunt.com/3-ribbon-mount

The ribbons listed above are worn on the green Class A uniform.
If the dress blue uniform is worn, the full ribbon with medal is worn.
http://www.grunt.com/vietnam-service-medal

The stars are attached to the Vietnam service ribbon as a pair
http://www.zazzle.com/vietnam_service_r ... 6809950705

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:41 pm

After more research, "commemorative" medals are pretty trinkets anybody can buy, but nobody is awarded by the DoD. They're illegal to wear on official military uniforms. They are not official military awards. Someone can buy one as a personal memento or just to boost their ego or try to impress people. They're not genuine medals, so I will stay away from them.

sawmill · Post by **sawmill** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:59 pm

If I could find the box that I packed mine in I wold post a picture to show you how they were issued. Mine are from the Army but they may all be packaged the same way. I have several ribbons but no medal was with them and I have some other ones that had the ribbon above the metal in a white box. I know they are here some where but when we moved I don't know what happened to them. You might try a military surplus store for the ones you need. I think the knockoffs are a lighter weight than the issued ones. My dad had 4 bronze stars and we never knew about them until his death. He was in WW2 and when I checked on them to see about getting the metals it took a long time to get them and then a senator got involved and we got them right away

kenj · Post by **kenj** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 2:02 pm

Buy New ones. They're cheap. Go to http://www.grunt.com.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:04 pm

Let me try to clear things up

heathicus wrote:So the medal and the ribbon are two different awards, not two ways of displaying the same award?
NO, Each Ribbon represents a single award.
All Ribbons represent an award of some type, Not all of the awards are Medals. Citations and awards typically do not have an official "Medal" associated with them.

The reason I'm confused is, on the checklist of his awards is the "National Defense Service Medal" and the "Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze stars."

These are in fact Medals. If the award says "Medal" it has an actual Medal associated with it. Devices (attached to the ribbon itself or the ribbon the medal hangs from) are used to delineate special distinctions or successive awarding of the same medal. These can be palms, stars, oak leafs, "V" etc.

For the "Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze stars." The 2 bronze stars indicate he has been awarded that medal 3 times (3 tours?). The first time the recipient is awarded the actual medal each successive time the recipient is awarded a bronze star device to attach to the ribbon that the medal hangs from. Wearing three of same medal just isn't right.

Included in the package was a National Defense Service Medal (metal medallion hanging from a ribbon) in a snap-together plastic package. It appears designed to slide on a bar, They can be place on a ribbon rack but there was no bar. In a separate tiny ziplock bag was the National Defense Service ribbon. The ribbon included a bar (one "ribbon" long) that has two pins on it for pinning to a uniform. That Bar can be used for either the medal or the ribbon. (Some people only have one ribbon/medal.) as the collection of ribbons and medals grows you get different size bars (Racks) to mount the ribbons/medals and attach to the uniform

The Vietnam Service Medal and ribbon were packaged together, pinned to a piece of cardboard inside a sealed plastic bag. Two bronze stars were in a separate tiny ziplock bag. I haven't opened the bag the medal and ribbon are in, but the ribbon appears to have the same bar as the National Defense Service ribbon (with two hat pins) while the medal has a long safety pin style pin. The medal typically can be slid out of it's holder and attached to the ribbon rack.

Then, on his checklist, is the "Presidential Unity Citation Ribbon" and the "Combat Action Ribbon." Those ribbons were included in individual tiny ziplock bags, but with no bars or pins. This is common. You need to get a larger rack to accommodate multiple ribbons. These awards are Citations and have NO official Medal associated with them.

Looking at sites like http://www.medalsofamerica.com, I see there is a "Combat Action Commemorative Medal" and a "Presidential Unit Citation Commemorative Medal." I hadn't noticed the "Commemorative" until just now. What does that signify? You already discovered the Commemorative deal on another thread

His Foreign Awards (three from the Republic of Vietnam) could not be sent by the USMC so I'll be ordering those. They are listed on the checklist from the USMC as:

Vietnam Campaign Medal w/1960 Device This is an actual Medal

Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation (Gallantry Cross w/Palm and Frame) ribbon bar This is Just a Ribbon No Medal

Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation (Civil Action Color w/Palm and Frame) ribbon bar This is Just a Ribbon No Medal
But, likewise, I see "ribbons" and "medals" at MedalsOfAmerica.com
Some people only need to buy medals, some people (especially military folks) only need to get ribbons. Each time you get a new award, you have to redo your ribbon rack, when they get dirty you have to redo them, it is a very common occurrence.
The "Campaign" medal is not listed as "commemorative." The Campaign Medal does have an official medal associated with it.

And I'm totally confused on the two Meritorious Unit Citations. The "Medal" options are:

RVN Gallantry Cross Medal with Palm (it has no frame)

Gallantry Cross Unit Citation Commemorative Medal (no frame or palm)

RVN Civil Action Honor Medal 1st Class (no frame or palm)

RVN Civil Action Honor Medal 2nd Class (no frame or palm)

RVN Civil Actions Unit Citation Commemorative Medal (no frame or palm)

Furthermore, included with the paperwork was a form to apply for the "Cold War Recognition Certificate." Looking at MedalsOfAmerica.com again, I see a Cold War Commemorative Medal, and a Cold War Commemorative Ribbon.
This is just an official certificate with no official ribbon or medal
So my current list of questions:

1) What do I do with the two bronze star devices for the Vietnam Service medal and ribbon? Attach one star to each? Two stars to only one of them? You need 2 more star devices, the medal should have 2 star devices, the ribbon should have 2 star devices

2) Why did the USMC send some ribbons with accompanying medals, but other ribbons with no accompanying medals? Does it have anything to do with those medals being "commemorative"? Yes, Not all awards/citations have an official medal

3) What does "commemorative" medals and ribbons mean? How are they different? You figured out commemorative, a ribbon is just a representation of the medal. When running around in daily uniform (Class C) The ribbons are worn but not the medals. Typically the only time medals are worn is at a very formal occasion.

4) Is it appropriate to purchase those "commemorative" medals to display along with his ribbons?

5) Is it appropriate to go ahead and purchase the "Cold War" commemorative ribbon and medal to display while the application form is being processed?
This is completely up to you. As you have learned "commemorative" is not official and should not be worn on the uniform. Since it does represent an award and your display is not an official representation it can be displayed.

I hope my comments help out.

Let me add to the confusion. The order in which the awards are positioned on the rack does matter. Some awards have higher precedence than others and all foreign awards are positioned after all US awards in a determined order.

http://superthinribbons.com/ displays the ribbons in their official order of precedence for display for each service branch.

FYI, Superthinribbons only does official ribbons and medals but the ribbon racks he produces are second to none. and reasonably priced IMO.

Disclaimer: I have no role with superthinribbons.com. I just know the guy that started it and from personal experience that the quality of their ribbons is top notch.

Go to the site, click on Marines, select the ribbons, select the devices for each ribbon, and then select the medals you need to purchase.

The ribbon rack you receive will be setup for official uniform wear.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:36 pm

Thank you so much, Terry!

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:14 pm

Re-did the display case with the new medals.

I'm going to make another case (perhaps just a box of some type) for his original medals.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:57 pm

GREAT Looking display there Heath.