How would you go about locating the citation accompanying the award of the Air Medal from WW2?

2019-07-02T23:27:37-04:00

I have in my possession my uncle's Air Medal my grandparents received in WW2 after he went MIA, along with nine other men, while flying an anti-submarine mission in a PB4Y-1 "Liberator" out of England in March, 1944.

Is the citation lost to history?

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 3 at 2019 12:40 AM

2019-07-03T00:40:06-04:00

It is possible the record was destroyed in the infamous fire of the 1980’s. There have since been enormous and ongoing efforts to restore records as able from not only the burned out remains of records but cross referencing other record repositories to make as close to original databases and records as once existed.

As MSgt Steve Sweeney listed, the link: http://www.Archives.gov access is the best place to check.

That being said, Fold3.com and even such genealogy websites as ancestry.com have phenomenal resources and may have references or one liner citations that would help....or perhaps some other family member had access to the record and made a copy....there is a slim chance also that there may exist a society or effort that has created a repository for the Air Medals. I believe I have seen where the Silver Star and perhaps the Bronze Star have a website where you can now check if someone has one or not (in theory).

I wish you the best in your quest. I was fortunate to visit with and talk to my Great Uncle Ludwig before he passed to at least hear his story...no citations, just medals he showed me, same ones he had been telling people of since his time in the Army back in 1944.

www.Archives.gov

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Jul 3 at 2019 12:41 AM

2019-07-03T00:41:09-04:00

When my wife's Dad got his Bronze Star with no "V", I had us petition Army through NPRC in St Louis, one of the director's staff asked Army, the general orders listing him among various awardees for decorations were found, Army count award the "V" directly, as it didn't start till Nov or Dec 45 after WW2 ended, though they noted the heroic svc listed in the citation, and said they'd send us a few "V" devices, which, of course, never showed up through the House mil/vet staff at the local Congess House office. The VA, though, allowed the "V" to add to the Bronze, which had accidentally been omitted from his VA headstone. So, that being said, there might be general orders for your uncle's Air Medal that NPRC could ask Army or USAF, more likely USAF to try to find, call 86-NARA-NARA, ask to be transferred to or a call back from the NPRC director's staff, look up the NARA leadership page, the BOARD director is listed on it, we've called NPRC many times for such records on family, they're most helpful. Send Privacy Act (PA) forms to all three Congress offices, tell the mil/vet staffs at the local ofcs the story, don't call the DC ofcs, they just do policy, not casework. Submit an NPRC NARA eVetRecs Java applet electronic request for all his admin/personnel and clinical med/dental records, if you want both sets, you can get them, you just need to ask for both explicitly, you can see if he was wounded at all to see if he's be allowed a Purple Heart, you can also ask for a duplicate burial flag, and duplicate decorations, with a reassess to see if any were due that weren't given. Ask explicitly to have Army and USAF queries for the general orders for the Air Medal, give the plane and mission date, Army might have the material in old USAAF records, though that was all likely transferred to USAF, though ask for both svc s to search, one should have the genl orders listing him, sign and date the rEfeRees printout, fax it back, you have to send a faxed it emailed scanned signed and dated request, the rEfeRees online submission can't be after on till NPRC gets that, don't lose the request number of you're gonna be stuck starting over, all the NPRC operators in their switchboard can do is check your request number, you should get a letter from NPRC in a week or two that they got the request, then you'll likely need to wait a cpl of months for anything they initially find in their reference cores, if they have to query Army or USAF, that'll take longer, obv, the 1973 fire at the old NPRC bldg damaged only Army stuff, so if his stuff was still with Army it might be been impacted, if it was sent to the gaS At files, it likely wouldn't have been, so call the NPRC director's staff as I'd said, or the NARA mgmt on that till free phone line, and/or have the NARA and/or Congress mil/vet staffers get you a call back from the BOARD director's ofc, you can get NPRC senior staff emails, and send stuff to them and the Congress ofcs, once you get the PA forms sent in, we've done that also many times, if you wanna chat more, just lemme know, no rush, whenever you want, trust me, that's def how it's done to get what you want, ask also for a copy of his color discharge certificate, the Air Medal award certificate, and the presidential condolence letter normally sent after a vet is lost as well, OK?

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jul 3 at 2019 1:16 PM

2019-07-03T13:16:37-04:00

MSgt Neil Greenfield the certificate likely came with the medal. There may be a copy in the NPRC archive. Perhaps the Navy could reissue the certificate based on the archive evidence. I'd get what NPRC has then reach out to the County Veteran Service Officer in your relatives area and see what resources they have to get a new cert.