Starting with the bottom, on the left is the Korean Service Medal, and on the right is the National Defense Service Medal. Dad earned both of these, but at his death, did not have them in his possession. Brian was able to find them on eBay.
This is the insignia for the 17th Bomb Group. The motto "TOUJOURS AU DANGER" is French for "ever into danger."
This is the description of the insignia, from the printed page 63 of the Air Force Combat Units of WWII and from the 17th Bomb Group web page:
"Shield: Or, seven crosses pattee in pale sable. Crest: on a wreath of the colors (or and sable) a griffin rampant of the first, beaked, fore-legged and winged of the second, and langued gules."
Here's what all that means:
"Or" indicates that the shield is gold in color.
"Seven crosses pattee" means that the crosses are spread over the height of the shield, "in pale sable" means the crosses are black. The seven crosses represent the seven campaigns of the units of the 17th during World War I: Lorraine, Ile-de-France, Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne.
"Crest" (what's above the shield): "on a wreath of colors (or and sable)" means that the wreath is a pair of intertwined ropes, alternating gold and black, on which the griffin is standing.
"A griffin" (symbolic of a menace) "rampant" (rising with forepaws in the air) "of the first" (color, that is, gold), "beaked, fore-legged and winged of the second" (means having a bird's beak, forelegs and wings of the second color, black), "and langued" (having the tongue exposed) "gules" (indicates that the tongue is red).
And this is the insignia for the 37th Bomb Squadron:
Along the top, Dad's Distinguished Flying Cross is at the far left, and his Air Medal is at the far right. He had both of these in his possession throughout his life. Next to the Air Medal, with the blue-and-white stripes, is the United Nations Service Medal.
Next to the Distinguished Flying Cross in the second grouping from the left (next to the Air Force medallion), is the grouping of smaller items pictured below. At the top are the two lapel pins that came with the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross respectively. Below that is the ribbon for the National Defense Service Medal. Just below that is a a single bronze oak leaf that goes with the Air Medal, which means that Dad received an additional citation on top of the Air Medal.
Just below that are Dad's navigator wings from his Air Force uniform. He had a couple of these, one of which he always wore on his Fredericksburg, Texas, Ex-Military Flyers Club hat. Dad told me that after his commissioning as an officer at Ellington Air Force Base in April 1952, he got his brass insignia chrome-plated in Houston for about three or four dollars, so he would never have to polish the wings again.
Finally, at the bottom of this picture are the two silver First Lieutenant bars indicating his rank. The would have been pinned to epaulets on his dress uniform, for example.
In the center of the shadow box is this photograph of Dad in his flight suit, taken in Korea probably in 1953:
Here is how it looks with the case closed - unfortunately, all I had was the phone on my camera, so reflections are bad.
In three more weeks, Dad would have turned 90.
Thank you, brother Brian, for the wonderful job you did on the shadow box!
That is so neat!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Tracy! I will let Brian know.
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