Bronze Star Medal
Possibility #1- CIB/CMB Conversion
The Bronze Star Medal was initially conceived as the ground soldier's Air Medal. When the finial number of Bronze Star Medals awarded during World War II reached General Marshall's, then Chief of Staff of the Army, desk he was not pleased with what he read. His field commanders did not implement his guidance, as 20 Air Medals were awarded for every Bronze Star Medal awarded, in proportion to combat losses sustained. To rectify this situation, he issued Change 12 to Army Regulation 600-45 in 1947 before retiring to become the Secretary of State.
The current interpretation of this change as appears in Army Regulation 600-8-22 reads:
"Award may be made to each member of the Armed Forces of the United States who, after 6 December 1941, has been cited in orders or awarded a certificate of exemplary conduct in ground combat against an armed enemy between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945, inclusive, or whose meritorious achievement has been other wise confirmed by documents executed prior to 1 July 1947. For this purpose, an award of the Combat Infantryman Badge or Combat Medical Badge is considered as a citation in orders. Documents executed since 4 August 1944 in connection with recommendations for the award of decorations of higher degree than the Bronze Star Medal will not be used as the basis for an award under this paragraph." due to browser settings it is impractical to properly indent this quote, so I used quotation marks
Basically this change awarded the Bronze Star Medal to everyone who received either the Combat Infantryman Badge "CIB", Combat Medic Badge "CMB" or a certificate, commendation or individual citation for meritorious service in ground combat during WWII. This change only applies to World War II, therefore if you received a Combat Infantryman Badge in Korea, Vietnam or a subsequent war you are not covered under this paragraph.
To actual receive the Bronze Star Medal under this paragraph the veteran had to prove that they received the CIB, CMB or provide the Adjutant General with a copy of the citation, commendation or certificate for which he felt entitles them to the conversion. These Bronze Star Medals do not have specific general orders awarding them, as the award authority is the regulation and the original documents that awarded the recipient the CIB, CMB or other documentation. On approval of the Bronze Star Medal under this paragraph is added to the soldier's personnel file and the decoration is presented to the recipient, usually just mailed with a certificate indicating the award of the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service and the name of the campaign and date on which the original award, that justified the conversation, was earned. Click here to see a typical transmittal letter that accompanied a CIB conversion Bronze Star Medal.
A good indication that your Bronze Star Medal is a CIB Conversation is if it is named, and the original recipient was not killed in action. As most decoration presented in the field were not named, unless the recipient returned them to the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot to be engraved after the war. But every CIB Conversation is issued engraved. Therefore the majority of World War II named Bronze Star Medals are either CIB conversations or were awarded posthumously.
If you have the veterans discharged and if they were discharged before 1947 and the Bronze Star Medal is not listed on the Report of Separation but there is physically a Bronze Star Medal present, which is engraved and a CIB or CMB listed on the Report of Separation then this is most likely a CIB Conversion.
Possibility #2-Defender of Bataan
Change 11 to Army Regulation 600-45 in 1947 awarded a Bronze Star Medal to each veteran of Philippines Defense Campaign who served on Luzon and received the Distinguished Unit Citation, now the Army Presidential Unit Citation, during that campaign.
The current interpretation of this change as appears in Army Regulation 600-8-22 reads:
"Award of the Bronze Star Medal may be made to eligible soldiers who participated in the Philippine Islands Campaign between 7 December 1941 to 10 May 1942. Performance of duty must have been on the island of Luzon or the Harbor Defenses in Corregidor and Bataan. Only soldiers who were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation (Presidential Unit Citation) may be awarded this decoration." due to browser settings it is impractical to properly indent this quote, so I used quotation marks
Possibility #3 - Purple Heart Conversion
When World War II began the Purple Herat Medal was occasionally awarded for meritorious service that did not warrant the Distinguished Service Medal, but worthy enough for a commendation. After the creation of the Legion of Merit this practice stop. Recipients of the Purple Heart Medals for Meritorious Service during WWII, could apply to the War Department, Department of the Army or the Department of the Air Force for possible conversation to a Legion of Merit or the Bronze Star Medal, based upon the evaluation of the original recommendation and citation.
Possibility #4-Decoration was awarded by a different command:
During World War II most units commanded by a Major
General serving outside the continental limits of the US, including Alaska and
Hawaii had the authority to award the Bronze Star Medal. Some units commanded by
a Brigadier General also awarded Bronze Star Medals. Because of these facts it
can be difficult to locate the general orders for a specific award. First try
the command that the veteran was actually assigned to. Please note that commands
above divisional level were mainly administrative in nature, meaning that their
component parts, the units under them changed very frequently. So to say; for
example that your father served in the 3rd Army is not very specific as it is
very likely that 2 or 3 million soldiers served under the 3rd Army at one time
or another. You may ask, then who was cited in the general orders of higher
commands. Most of the decorations issued by higher commands were either
decorations that subordinate commands could not issue such as Legion of Merits
and Distinguished Service Crosses and decorations to member of units that were
not organic parts of specific divisions.
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.
I am working to cross reference all my works, but like
everything else it takes time.
Possibility #5-The decoration was awarded years after the action in which it was earned:
As such it is announced in general orders or permanent orders issued years after the war. Try looking in the General Orders of the appropriate Defense Department, department. These general order are currently outside the scope of my work, however someday I will begin to index more modern orders.
Possibility #6-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 #7- 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.
