Question about a medal

[SmilingOtter]

Hiya -

In going through some old family things, I found a medal I first thought to be my father's (Ga. National Guard) or one of my uncles' (WW2 Army Air Force/Air Force.)

After some research, I learned that it is a Navy/Marine Presidential Unit Commendation. (Blue, yellow, and red horizontal stripes.) It also has a silver star in the center which, I learned was the equivalent of five bronze stars.

Curiously, I have no family members who ever were Navy. One of the uncles I mentioned was a fighter pilot in the Pacific, but I know for a fact that he was Army Air Force.

Does anyone have an idea where would I find a list of units who received that citation? I don't know how often it was issued, but I would imagine that the silverstar would make it somewhat unusual.

Thanks,
Tom

[Marine8541]

Is this what you're talking about minus of course the star?

[semperfiostoj]

I think he's talking about the PUC:

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3903/pucbr7.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Unit_Citation_(US)

I'm not sure where you would find a list of units awarded the medal though. I find that curious also that the version of the medal you found was the Navy/Marine Corps PUC. Good luck though!

[SmilingOtter]

Semperfiostoj got the right one.

The simplest answer I can imagine is that it has nothing to do with my family, that they just acquired it somehow. Not a very satisfying answer, though...

[Marine8541]

PUCs aren't handed out like candy so I was thinking maybe it was a NUC that are awarded more. I'm not sure you want to go through the trouble or not but if you really want to know if some one in your family was awarded the PUCx5 you can do a request at http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/get-service-records.html you can never be sure who was attached to a navy or Marine unit especially because you had family in the Pacific.

With out knowing what unit to research I'm not sure where a list of all awarded units could be found but you can always try to ask the
Marine Corps History Division
3079 Moreell Avenue
Quantico, Virginia 22134
(703) 432-4877


Good luck.

[FDC]

While the description does sound like a PUC, I agree with Marine8541 that they are certainly not handed out like candy. I'm wondering what Army Air Corps unit was attached to Marine units enough to earn 5 PUCs??? I know a few Army units with 1 or 2 Navy/Marine PUCs, but for a person to have 5 he'd have to move around a bit.


Also, Marines---are you using stars or oak leaves to denote subsequent awards on PUCS?

[SmilingOtter]

I found this site:

https://backup.vworkgroup.com/awards/webbas01.nsf/(vwWebPage)/home.htm?OpenDocument

which, as soon as I find out some more info on my veteran family members, might be of some help.

[SmilingOtter]

Alright, I might have found an answer (for those wo are interested.)

Seems my uncle Grady flew with the 18th Fighter Wing of the Fifth Air Force in the Pacific during WW2. Finding an online association for the 18th, I contacted the guy in charge, and according to him, (at least back then) if a unit assisted in a Navy operation, then it would often be awarded a Navy medal.

I'm still going to see what else I can find out, but that's gone a long way in satisfying my curiosity.

Thanks again to all for their input.