Combat Infantryman Badge

Possibility #1-Decoration was awarded by a different command:

    During World War II most Combat Infantryman Badges (CIB) were awarded in the general order of the Infantry Regiment or the independent Infantry Battalion that the Infantryman was assigned to. Sometimes they were also issued in the general orders of the division to which they were assigned. Since the CIB was not created until 1944, many infantryman who saw combat in 1942, 1943 or earlier in 1944 were no longer serving with infantry units, mainly due to being wounded, so it is possible to find CIB awarded in general orders of other commands. Every command seemed to have it's own policy as to how the CIB was to be awarded as such, some commands did not award CIB's in their general orders. It is assumed that these commands issued CIB's in their special orders. I currently do not have access to the special orders to confirm or refute this theory.
    To locate the orders for a CIB try the general orders for the Regiment to which the veteran was assigned then try the general orders of the division to which the infantry unit as assigned, then try the special orders of those two commands. If this search proves fruitless then it can be a long hard road to find it, as it could have been issued by almost any command, commanded by a field grade officer or above.
    The command listed on a veterans Report of Separation is the unit in which they were assigned to when they were discharged. Many times this was different for the unit that they served in combat.
 

Possibility #2-The decoration was awarded years after the action in which it was earned:

    As such it is announced in generals issued beyond the scope of this particular work. Try looking in the General Orders of the appropriate Defense Department, department.

Possibility #3-The general order issuing the decoration is missing from the files at the National Archives:

    Please consult the web page for the book you purchased, to see if any general orders were missing. Just because there are missing general orders does not prove that the claimed decoration was actually issued. Try locating a copy of the veterans discharge to see if it has the general order number listed after the decoration.

Possibility #4- There may be an error in the spelling in the original document or error may have occurred while transcribing the information from the original source:

    Statistically the transcription error rate is 5%, I try my best to reduce the possibility of errors, but they do occur.

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