Combat Medic Badge
Possibility #1-Decoration was awarded by a different command:
During World War II most
Combat Medic Badges (CMB) were awarded
in the general order of the Infantry Regiment or the independent Infantry
Battalion that the Medic was assigned to. Sometimes they were also issued in the
general orders of the division to which they were assigned. Since the CMB was
not created until 1945, many medics who saw combat in 1942, 1943, 1944 or
earlier in 1945 were no longer serving with infantry units, mainly due to being
wounded, so it is possible to find CMB awarded in general orders of other
commands. Every command seemed to have it's own policy as to how the CMB was to
be awarded as such, some commands did not award CMB's in their general orders.
It is assumed that these commands issued CMB'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 CMB try the general orders for the regiment to which the veteran
was assigned to, 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- Never Awarded or Authorized
According to Army Regulations the Combat Medic Badge can only
be awarded to medics who are actually assigned to an infantry unit. Being a
member of the medical battalion of a division is not enough. The medic much have
beet assigned to or attached to an infantry regiment of independent infantry
battalion. This said, many commands did not follow this guidance and awarded CMB
to medics of engineer units or the medics in tank battalions, etc.... As these
are acceptations to the rule, it is not save to assume just because a veteran
was a medic in combat that they are entitled to a CMB.
The CMB was not authorized until very near or after VE-Day many veterans could have been discharged or transferred before their units had the opportunity to cite those who actually qualified for the CMB.
Possibility #3-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 #4-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 #5- 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.