Legion of Merit
Possibility #1-Decoration was awarded by a different command:
During World War II the lowest proving authority for the Legion of Merit was normally the Theater Commander. There were some exceptions to this rule, mostly to commands that had direct contact with Soviet Forces after V-E Day. Then these commands only issued Legion of Merits to member of the Red Army. Below is a list of Army commands known to have issued Legion of Merit during WWII:
5th Armored Division
8th Division
9th Army
30th Division
65th Division
76th Division
82nd Airborne Division
83rd Division
84th Division
102nd Division
Africa-Middle East Theater
Alaskan Defense Command
Alaskan Department
Army Air Forces
Army Ground Forces
Army Service Forces
Caribbean Defense Command
Department of the Air Force
Department of the Army
European Theater of Operations, US Army
Hawaiian Department
Mediterranean Theater of Operations, US Army
Middle Eastern Theater of Operations
Military Mission to Moscow
Navy Department
North African Theater of Operations, US Army
Persian Gulf Command
South West Pacific Area, General Headquarters
US Army Forces Central Pacific Area
US Army Forces China Burma India
US Army Forces in the Far East
US Army Forces Middle Pacific
US Army Forces Pacific
US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Area
US Army Forces in the South Pacific
US Forces China Theater
US Forces European Theater
US Forces India Burma Theater
US Strategic Air Forces (Pacific)
War Department
V Corps
XVIII Airborne Corps
XXII Corps
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 pages 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-Purple Heat Conversion:
When World War II began the Purple Herat Medal was occasionally awarded for meritorious service which did not warrant the Distinguished Service Medal, but worthy of 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 #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.