85th Division 338th Infantry Medals

Hello, I'm new here and looking to reassemble my grandfather's service medals. He passed in the early 90's, whatever personal records he had have been lost and when I requested the records from the government I found they were destroyed in the 1973 fire. What I do know is he was in the 5th Army, 85th Division, 338th Infantry Cannon Company and drove a deuce and a half hauling 75mm ammo. He returned from the war with the Combat Infantry Badge, ETO Campaign Medal with 3 stars and the Good Conduct Medal. From what I can tell he should have been issued the American Campain Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Bronze Star Medal and possibly the Army of Occupation Medal. Just wanting an opinion on the American Campaign and Army of Occupation Medals. Any help is appreciated.

 

These give the requirements for each;

American Campaign Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Army of Occupation Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

occupation medal could be authorised for Italy, 30 consecutive days between May 9, 1945 to September 15, 1947

 

Based upon the criteria posted by Spartanroller I think he qualifies for the American Campaign Medal. The 85th trained in the US for well over a year before deploying to Africa.

"To be awarded the American Campaign Medal, a service member was required to either perform one year of duty (cumulative) within the continental borders of the United States, or perform 30 days consecutive/60 non-consecutive days of duty outside the borders of the United States but within the American Theater of Operations. The American Theater was defined as the entirety of the United States to include most of the Atlantic Ocean, a portion of Alaska, and a small portion of the Pacific bordering California and Baja California.[1]"

 

As far as the Army of Occupation Medal goes I am unsure how long the 85th remained in Italy after May 9th 1945. The criteria for the medal for occupation of formerly held German territory was:

To be awarded the Army of Occupation Medal, a service member was required to have performed at least thirty consecutive days of military duty within a designated geographical area of military occupation.

• Germany (May 9, 1945 to May 5, 1955)
• Austria (May 9, 1945 to July 7, 1955)
• Italy (May 9, 1945 to September 15, 1947)
• West Berlin (May 9, 1945 to October 3, 1990)

I assume that if the 85th remained in Italy for 30 days or more after May 9th 1945 my Grandfather would have been entitled to the medal?

 

It is the individual and not the unit which is important, so if he remained there long enough it seems reasonable.

It's a little unclear how it would work if he had say 15 days in Italy and then immediately another 15 in Austria for instance. I assume it would count. It seems the clasp said 'Germany' for all the European areas regardless, although it may be the clasp was only issued for 'actual' Germany. (there doesn't seem to be an 'Italy' clasp, although there is one for the Victory Medal)

 

The Germany clasp covered occupation service in Italy, Austria, Germany and Berlin. That much I do know. I assume it's because these were formerly held German territories. Given the fact that he has passed and all his records are gone I may never know how long he remained in Italy after May 9th. I was hoping the unit stayed together in Italy for a specified period of time after May 9th and based upon that I could determine if he qualified for the medal?

I had no idea there were clasps for the victory medal.

 

my mistake - it was a ww1 victory medal I was looking at

As far as I know you could just apply for the medal and hope for the best - have a chat with Josh Arterburn if you need any pointers on the paperwork - he's going through a similar process right now.

http://www.ww2f.com/members/josharterburn.html