Service medal on Sgt Foley's chest?
I saw a Vietnam yellow/red/green one with a couple stars.. But what was the red/blue one with 2 stars.. It's not Korea, and he's too young for WWII. Any help?
shareI'm not sure which one you're talking about. Here's a pic (about the best I could find of his ribbons, or "fruit salad" as we used to call it). Which one is the red/blue one with 2 stars?:
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/6lGs-tXWpR4/maxresdefault.jpg
Thanks so much for the quick reply and pic!.. It's the one directly above the Vietnam service medal with 3 tour stars, this red/blue one has 2 tour stars I believe. But I know the Korean service is white/ blue, so not sure what this was.
This one is mostly red with 1 or 2 small blue stripes.
I'm pretty sure it's the USMC Good Conduct Ribbon, with two, maybe three, bronze stars - indicating that Gunnery Sgt. Foley received the award more than once.
The ribbon of the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal is dark red with a dark blue stripe in the center. Additional awards are denoted by three-sixteenth bronze stars.
Here's the basic ribbon:
http://99static.net/images/5new/70004.jpg
In this image, you'll spot the ribbon with two bronze stars:
http://www.wwmcmillan.info/images/usmc/usmcRibbons.jpg
Why it's awarded:
http://www.medalsofamerica.com/Item--i-R036_Header
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Thanks! I always assumed stars meant tours of duty in conflict theaters. Now I'm curious about the other two awards with stars in the second link, besides Vietnam, Korea, and USMC
shareHere's a link (with numerous pages) that has most if not all U.S. military ribbons and what they're awarded for. You can search through those pages and hopefully identify the other ribbons.
http://www.usamilitarymedals.com/military-awards-decorations/military- ribbons.html?branch=162
You are correct for campaign ribbons. If you wear a campaign ribbon, you have to wear at least one star on it (one for each campaign, no stars means no campaigns and no ribbon). For example, three campaigns in SW Asia means three stars. For other types of ribbons, like the Good a Conduct, the ribbon itself counts as the first one. Subsequent awards will have a star, oak leaf, knot, or some other device.
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The bronze star attachments (not to be confused with the Bronze Star Medal) on the Vietnam Service Medal (all 3 words are capitalized) denote campaigns, not tours. The VSM has always typically been shown in photos as having two campaign stars. You couldn't hardly spend a year in Vietnam without qualifying for at least two "campaigns". The three campaign stars on the gunnery sergeant's ribbon were quite normal, and could have been qualified-for in a single USMC 13-month Vietnam tour. The Army's Vietnam tour was 12 months, and 3 or 4 campaign stars were typical for a single tour, depending on what unit you were in, what zone(s) the unit was located in (and when), and what major combat operations were conducted by that unit, in that zone, in that time period. In the pre-Internet era, most returning servicemen would have had no idea how many formal campaigns they'd been a part of, so most just wore the two campaign stars they'd seen in most VSM photo-depictions. (One's DD-214 didn't reflect how many campaign stars were merited - just the VSM, itself. And orders weren't issued for the VSM; its award was simply noted on the serviceman's DD-214.) But 2, 3, 4, or even more VSM campaign stars (depending, as detailed above) were normal for a single Vietnam tour.
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