Hello All, I am trying to make a comprehensive listing of the medals of the various division/army/army group/fleet commanders who served during WWII. The reason why I am doing this? I had some free time today, and I have never seen something similar before (in fact, just finding the medals each commander had is often difficult enough). Below is Part 1 - US Army/Army Group Commanders in the ETO. I will keep adding other theaters/units/nations as time goes on, and will hopefully at some point will have a near-complete listing of all the "major" commanders from the "major" nations. A few notes: At the moment, I plan on including only the decorations from the wearer's own country. "ETO Campaign Medal" refers to the European-African-Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal. Likewise, "PTO Campaign Medal" refers the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal. Oak leaf cluster devices refer to multiple awards of that medal (eg. a ribbon bar with two oak leaf clusters means the recipient was awarded that medal three times). A bronze cluster detonates a single additional award, while a silver cluster is for five. A star on campaign medals detonate how many campaigns the recipient participated in, with the same rules for silver and bronze stars applying. Some (like Eisenhower and Bradley) are easy to compile. Others (like Patch) are not. For many of the commanders it was difficult to find their complete records (especially campaign medals). If you see a note referring to this, I am assuming they received these medals based on the location/circumstances and time in which they were stationed there. I have tried to validate the medals by using multiple sources when possible, but errors may still be present. Please inform me if you see any. Army Group Commanders Dwight D. Eisenhower - SHAEF General of the Army Army Distinguished Service Medal (5), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Mexican Border Service Medal, WWI Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, ETO Campaign Medal (9 campaigns), WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal (1 campaign), National Defense Service Medal (1 campaign) Omar N. Bradley - 12th U.S. Army Group General of the Army Army Distinguished Service Medal (4), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit (2), Bronze Star, Mexican Border Service Medal, WWI Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, ETO Campaign Medal (8 campaigns), WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal (1 campaign), National Defense Service Medal (1 campaign) EDIT: I've had to split the first group up over multiple emails because the site doesn't allow more than 25 images per message. Sorry about that - I would've liked to have it all in one.
Courtney N. Hodges - 1st U.S. Army General Distinguished Service Cross (3), Distinguished Service Medal (3), Silver Star, Bronze Star I assume that he also received the following (unsure of the devices): Philippines Campaign Medal, Mexican Border Service Medal, WWI Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, ETO Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, National Defense Service Medal.
George S. Patton - 3rd U.S. Army General Army Distinguished Service Cross (2), Army Distinguished Service Medal (3), Silver Star (2), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Silver Lifesaving Medal, Mexican Campaign Medal, WWI Victory Medal (6 campaigns), American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, ETO Campaign Medal (8 campaigns), WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal.
Lucian K. Truscott - 5th U.S. Army General Army Distinguished Service Cross, Army Distinguished Service Medal (2), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Purple Heart I assume that he also received the following (unsure of the devices): American Defense Service Medal, ETO Campaign Medal, Army of Occupation Medal Mark W. Clark - 5th U.S. Army General Distinguished Service Cross, Army Distinguished Service Medal (4), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (for Valor), Purple Heart. I assume that he also received the following (unsure of the devices): WWI Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Germany Medal, American Defense Service Medal, ETO Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Korean War Medal
Alexander M. Patch - 7th U.S. Army General Army Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal I assume that he also received the following (unsure of the devices): WWI Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, PTO Campaign Medal, ETO Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal William H. Simpson - 9th U.S. Army General Army Distinguished Service Medal (2), Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Philippines Campaign Medal, Mexican Campaign Medal, WWI Victory Medal (2 campaigns), Army of Occupation Germany Medal, American Campaign Medal, ETO Campaign Medal (4 campaigns), PTO Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal
When/if I complete this project, would anyone here be interested in viewing it in PDF format? I can't help but feel that I am just clogging the forum with pictures by posting this here in its current format.
Nice job, Alan. Excuse my nit-pick, but the generally accepted form for US Army designations during WWII was to write out the numbers, with "U.S." between the number and the word "Army" ex: First U.S. Army, Third U.S. Army, Ninth U.S. Army etc. Corps were written with Roman Numerals, with "U.S" before them: U.S. VII Corps, U.S. VIII Corps, etc. Air commands use Roman Numerals: IX Tactical Air Command, IX Bomber Command etc. Air Forces are written out: Ninth Air Firce, Eighth Air Force etc. Again, this is only meant to help, not to be picky. Greg C.
Thanks Greg. I'll fix that right away. The reason for posting it here in the first place was so that I could get some WW2F community feedback (to both correct possible mistakes, and make the information more accurate). Your feedback is welcome in this regard. If you have any other fixes, feel free to through them out. I would like to make this listing as accurate as possible.
