Help me identify my great grandfathers WW2 patches

First, Thank you to all the veterans that have served our country. I wanted to post a picture of my great grandfather during WW2, but I don't understand the medals and patches he is wearing in the picture. His name is Lacy Moon and he was in the Army. I know the picture may make it hard to see, but I am most interested in the large patch. Thank you for all the help! Hayden,

View attachment 23184

 

Thanks so much for the help already!

 

I don't. I'm going to check with my grandmother to see if she may. What I am pretty sure of is that he was in the 82nd. Thanks for the help!

 

The pic does have me puzzled. The patch appears to be a I Corps shoulder sleeve insignia with an Airborne pin. That wouldn't make any sense, though, if he was in the 82nd. The I Corps was in the Pacific, and the 11th Airborne Division was with I Corps. As Biak said, it's a puzzler.

Also, I don't think I've ever seen the CIB worn on the pocket flap.

Anyway, I did find a Lacy V. Moon in the Army Enlistment database. This has his Army Serial Number which you can use to request his personnel file.

Also found a brief obituary. Unfortunately, not much more info than we already had.

 

Was he born in Roxboro, North Carolina? Someone saw fit to post his obituary to the 508th PIR website. http://www.508pir.org/obits/obit_text/m/moon_lv.htm

Per the same site, here's his CIB:


[SIZE=9pt]Pvt[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]Moon[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]Lacy V[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]10 Mar 1945[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]Co F[/SIZE]


[SIZE=9pt]GO-8[/SIZE]

 

McCabe, that obituary is him!

Biak, your theory makes a whole lot of sense because I never saw any of his war memorabilia and he spoke of the war very rarely. I have seen another picture of him that shows much more and thought that one would have been taken after the war.

TD Tommy, thanks for that link. I will definitely follow up on that.

I really appreciate yall taking the time to help me out here and if you have any other info or interesting facts/stories about the 82nd or 508th I'd love to hear them.

 

A cool piece of info I can share with yall is that if you look at the Army Enlistment Database it shows his both year as '22. He was actually born in '24 as the obituary shows, but his brother(who also served)helped him to tell and little lie and join. They were orphans and Lacy lived with his aunt. To make a long story short, she treated him pretty poorly and one day instead of cleaning her commode(they didn't have plumbing) he said "to hell with you", threw her full commode on the living room floor, and went straight to enlist.

 

Another tidbit, if you look at the picture of his gravestone, it says he was a platoon sergeant.

 

Okay, using "Biak's Theory of Expediency", I have a possible explanation for the Airborne Wings on the round patch. The 508th Airborne would often use a white-on-black oval patch under their jump wings (scroll down about half way). He didn't have he oval patch, but found the round white-on-black I Corps patch and used that instead.

Also, the trooper pictures for the 508th PIR from 508th PIR website shows a number of men with the CIB on the left pocket flap. Here's an example:

 

I love it when mysteries get solved.

 

I am thinking there or some "shenanigans" with the picture. If the top ribbon is a PUC/DUC for then it would be a third award: Ribbon plus two oak leaves. So that would mean he would have had to been in the Jump in Sicily, Normandy and Market Garden and would have 3 corresponding bronze stars on his jump wings.

To me it looks the same as the ribbon on the right end of the second row which looks very purple hearty. The middle ribbon looks the same in in both rows, which leads me to think the top ribbon bar is flipped.

The ribbons are a dead end as I don't think they are accurate .... I think this was a "fun" portrait that he took to impress someone back home not a thing wrong with that....just not worth chasing down.

 

Also looks like a bronze star ribbon with a device, in the middle, 2nd row. Certainly not where that belongs.

 

Brad, I agree completely with the "shenanigans"- nothing right about the display of awards. Wanted to comment on the bronze stars on the jump wings. Using bronze stars on jump wings to indicate combat jumps was not authorized until 1983. A lot of guys added stars for combat jumps during WWII and seemed to be accepted, but it will not show in any WWII award book.

 

Bronze stars on the jump wings? I don't see that in the photo.