army sharpshooter qualification badge

My grandfather was in the Army 33rd division in WWII. His uniform has 2 sharpshooter qualification badges. One has the rifle bar and one has the rifle bar and auto rifle bar. I'm trying to figure out why he would have 2 different badges. I have his officer qualification card and it looks like he was listed as a SS with the M1 and BAR.

 

He should only wear one sharpshooter badge with the rifle and automatic rifle bars.
If he qualified expert with the M1 and sharpshooter with the auto rifle, he would wear two badges that reflect his qualifications.

 

Buten is right on...that is correct!

 

I'm basing my assumptions that he was a sharpshooter on 2 things. 1) the badges are a sharpshooter badge and 2)his officer qualification card has a listing that I'm assuming is his shooting qualifications. it's in tiny handwriting and hard to make out but I think this is pretty close. The only thing I'm unsure about is the hmg entry third column.

m1------------b------SS--------176------7 dec 43
bar------------b------SS--------125-----28 oct 42
hmg---------1000----2/c jar---145-----18 aug 43
carbine-------fam--------------40rds---18 may 44
mortor 60----fam--------------1 rd-----25 apr 44
pistol 45------fam--------------25rds---8 mar 44
lmg-----------fam--------------150rds--22 feb 44

my grandpa passed in 2003 and his service record was lost in the fire at the archives so this is all I have to go on.

 

ghertz, That's a shame about the records being lost-sometimes they can construct quite a bit from different sources, but it sounds like you have already tried if you know about the fire. The 33rd Division "The Illinois Division" went to Hawaii in July,43 and was assigned to guard the outer islands in conjunction with jungle training. Went to new Guinea on 11 May 44 and finally to Luzon in the Philippines on February 10, 1945 where they were involved in a lot of action. His two battle stars on the Asiatic Pacific Campaign ribbon would be for New Guinea and Luzon. The WWII Victory medal should go just before the foreign medal (Philippine Liberation Medal). The American Campaign would then go on top. Officers don't get a Good Conduct Medal.
I believe the HMG is heavy machine gun (50Cal) and LMG stand for light machine gun (30 cal.) Not sure what 2/c Jar stands for--it's in the qualification column so I'm guessing it 2nd class something. (help me out here, applevallyjoe) Can't gleen much more from the uniform except the Combat Infantry Badge, which makes him automatically entitled to a Bronze Star. I can help with the Army Regulation if your interested in getting it for him. Seems the CIB requires more to earn than the Bronze Star so they decided to make that available. Most Infantrymen are more proud of their CIB than any of the others--for good rason.

 

I've been able to get a lot of information on him from the documents in his foot locker, the book "golden cross" and www.33rdinfantrydivision.org. Most of my questions are on things like the medals that aren't documented any of those places. The handwriting on the shooting qualifications is pretty hard to read so I'm not sure on the 2/c jar, it may not be jar.

I'd definately be interested in the Army regulation. Not sure where the medals would have went but they aren't in the pile of stuff the family has. All we have is what is on the uniform.

He was with the 136 inf Co B most of the time and then moved to 136 inf Co G when he was made a 2nd Lt in the philippines.

Is there somewhere I can request the medals he would have received that we no longer have?

 

You can request a replacement set of medals from the NARA site. You should download a form 180 and fill it out and ask for all his records that are available and a replacement set of his medals. You should also send a letter explaining what you want, together with a copy of the Bronze Star page I've included a link. Tell them that you would like the Bronze Star that he is entitled to, and to have it engraved (they will engrave his name on the back). They will not replace the Philippine Liberation Medal because it's foreign, but you can buy one at Medals of America or another retail medal dealer. This is all free. You will need to say you are next of kin-if you are, or have whoever is next of kin sign it. With his records destroyed in the fire, it may take longer than if they could retreive the file, so be patient.
How to Request Military Service Records or Prove Military Service (DD Form 214, DD-214, DD214
BRONZE STAR
Let me know how you do.

 

we've requested the records and they sent a form saying they were lost in the fire and had me fill out another form. I sent that form back a week or so ago. I don't recall anything on the form about getting replacement medals. I'll have to contact them about it.

thanks for the info, I'll work on requesting the bronze star and liberation medal.