Couple questions on my grandfather's WW2 medals

Hello. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I have a couple questions regarding medals my grandfather received during WWII from Jan 45-April 45 (was wounded April 12th at Barby on the Elbe River) in the 83rd Infantry Div, 329th Infantry Reg, 2nd Battalion, G Company.

The first is the fact that he received a bronze star. We can not find any information as to why he was awarded this. I've checked the morning reports and after action reports on 83rdinfdivdocs.org but have found nothing. Is there somewhere to go and find why he would have received this medal?

Second, as I stated previously, he was not in Europe until roughly Jan 22-23 1945 and was active until April 12th 1945 when he was wounded. He was sent to the evac hospital, and eventually Paris to be tended to. He received the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign medal which was a unit wide citation, however it was decorated with a Bronze Star Attachment (double). We are not sure why he would have had the Bronze Star Attachment (double) as I believe he was only in one campaign (Central Europe Campaign).

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

If he was awarded a"Combat Infantry Badge" he was awarded the Bronze Star medal. This was done after hostilities ceased. Bronze battle stars are given for areas served in during a specific time.If his discharge shows 2 zones then 2 stars on the EAME ribbon. Do not confuse The Bronze Star medal with bronze battle stars.
Scan and post his discharge papers.Many here can translate and add to your knowledge.

 

The other campaign star would most likely be for the Rhineland Campaign.

If he has a CIB, then he could have applied for, and received a Bronze Star medal for that. IIRC, this came into effect in 1947.

 

Ah, very interesting. Thank you for the quick replies and helpful information. He did indeed have a Combat Infantry Badge. Sorry if this is a redundant question, but are you saying he was awarded the Bronze Star simply because he had the CIB? Very cool.

Looking over more, just now realized he had his Expert Marksmanship Badge in Carbine, Rifle and Grenade. Grandpa was a war machine. Haha.

I will have to talk to my dad to see if we even have his discharge papers. If so, it may be some time before I get the scans. My dad's not the most tech savvy person I know.

Thank you so much for the help and again in such speedy time!

 

It had to be applied for. A lot of vets did not even find out about it until several years or sometimes decades later. I know the VFW and American Leion were active in helping their members apply for Bronze Stars.

 

Excellent. Thank you again for the help putting that mystery to bed.

 

There is a reasonably good discussion of the CIB-BSM here: www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/69425-cibbronze-star-conversion