Questions re: my Uncle's WW2 medals, ribbons, etc.

Hi everyone. Hope all are having a pleasant day, wherever in the world you may be. To start out, I am not nearly as knowledgeable as some of you, so please if I use a term that is not appropriate I apologize, I was never in the military and might not know in some cases a badge from a pin etc so please forgive me.

My Uncle that raised me, Eugene Walker of Brunswick MD served in WW2. I have the little itty bitty copy of his discharge and a few medals, ribbons, pins insignia etc that I'm trying to sort through. I know many of you are very knowledgeable about this type of thing, so I was hoping you might help me out. Any and all help or advice on where to go for research is greatly appreciated. I certainly am NOT expecting anyone to do any unnecessary research that I myself could access, so if it's a matter of websites you might know of please don't go to a lot of effort, I kind if like doing that research myself, I just have run into some dead ends, so if you know of somewhere to do my own research please just point the way.


First as I stated he was my uncle, actually my great uncle, so my first question is since I am not his legal child, am I entitled to somehow access his military records somewhere? There seem to be a few places online that look promising, but they all seem to want to charge me. I don't mind paying for a legit service, but don't want to get ripped off. Also along these lines, if I can identify everything that was his, where is a good place to get replicas? Some of what I have is in very poor shape.

Secondly, he served in the Pacific the entire war, specifically in Hawaii. yet one of the pins I have is what appears to be a griffin on a gold shield, over what looks like a red ribbon with VETO written across it. AFAIK he never set foot in Eurpoe, so I don't think this is his if it is an official pin, but is it official, or a souvenir of some type?

I have his Good Conduct Medal, but was wondering just what the criteria was for earning this? I know it was a fairly common medal, and no offense to any others who may have earned it, but the only thing I remember him telling me about it was that he never got put in the stockade.

He was awarded the American Defense Service Medal, but I only have the ribbon, (3 of them in fact) but not the medal. He was also awarded the Asiatic Pacific Service Ribbon (That is the specific wording on the discharge), does that mean that he should only have the ribbon (I have 2) and not the associated medal (which I do not have)? I also have two ribbons that do not match any of his awards, is there anywhere where I can go to see all the ribbons to see what these might be?

He had the following designations per his discharge:

EXP M1 Rifle 27sep43
MKM Carbine 15jul45
MKM TSMG 27sep43
SS BAR 21 feb 44

And I have the following badges:

Sharpshooter W/ Rifle Bar
Sharpshooter W/ Coast Arty Bar
Expert W/ Coast Arty Bar

Per the discharge he was in the 608th Coastal Artillery Battery, but why is there no mention of the Coastal Artillery SS/MKM awards? Could it just be room on the form? I'd hate to think he had these if he didn't earn them (not that I ever saw him wear any of them). And what does the TSMG mean? is that the Thompson?


I also have a couple of sets of Hashmarks that wouldn't seem to be his based on what I have seen (he was credited with 1 yr 5 days continental service, and 3 yrs, 6 mos 27 days of foreign service), yet I have some very moth eaten hash marks, 1 set is 7 gold bars, and the other has 6 bars but is not of the same material as the others (assuming one was for a dress uni). He wouldn't have earned nearly this many hashmarks, would he?


The last things I have are two badges:

A silver(?) fleur de lis (SP?) on a white shield with red (badly faded, hard to tell the color) diagonal bars, a couple of unidentifiable objects to the left and right

A red shield with three lightning bolts coming out of a cloud, and "LOCAMUS" at the bottom

And two patches:

A green diamond with a gold eagle in a circle

A very faded coat of arms, mostly either yellow or gold, with the upper left and bottom right parts being horizontal white, red and grey or green stripes, and a very long apparently Hawaiian word something along the lines of "UAMAUKEEAOKAANAIKAPONO"


Thanks again in advance to anyone who can offer me any and all help and advice!

 

Dash-Begin by reading through this thread, Sticky: Requesting Copies of Military Personnel Records Your Great Uncle's records have been "archived" meaning they are open to the public and can be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. You said you have a copy of his separation papers, so you can ask for his other personnal records (probably not his medical records). They will send you a quote for the copy services--usually about $60. I'd begin there and hope his records have not been toasted in the fire in 1973.

I'll try to answer a few other questions--The Good Conduct Medal was given for three years service without any major problems like going AWOL or a Courts Marshal, etc. You can Google it and find the requirments.

A hash Mark is an angled stripe which indicated 3 years military service. Your G-Uncle had a bit over 41/2 years in, so he would only have one.

The horizonal Overseas Bar indicates 6 months overseas service during a time of war. You indicate he had 3 years, 6 months foreign service so 7 bars would be correct. The different colors were for the kacki uniform and his Ike Jacket.

TSMG is Thompson Sub-Machine Gun. He also qualified with the M-1, Carbine, BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), Being in the coastal artillary battery, I'm sure he was qualified for the Coastal Artillry Bar-they just didn't get it on his DD-214.

American Defense Medal was issued to personnel who was in the military prior to Pearl Harbor--Dec.7,1941.
As you stated, he is elgible for the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal--and maybe others. You should ask what he was entitled to when you ask for his records from the archives. During WWII brass was used for the war effort so many times only a ribbon was issued to wear on the uniform. Many vets never asked for the actual medal and never knew what they looked like. You can buy them off Ebay or from a military site like Medals of America.

I can't seem to find a green triangle patch with a circle and an eagle and someone else may be able to help with the crest.

Hope this helps, Dave

 

Thanks very much for your input, especially the difference between what I thought were hashmarks and the horizontal overseas bars.