My grandfather‘s WWII wings

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He was a tailgunner on B17 bombers flying out of England.

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He was a badass.

Great story. Grandfather flew on Miami Clipper. Any idea what B-17 he flew on?

That is really awesome.. Thanks for sharing.

Ribbons are not a specialty of mine or anything, and I often have to look them up. Veterans on the other hand can read them a mile away. They tell where a man has been, stationed and what he has gone through.

I had to research a moment, and I absolutely love deducing things of this nature.. and here we go.

Yes. Those are Gunner Wings. And of course the Tail gunner was not the most favorite spot on the b-17. Usually they were the first person hit so that the German could continue to attack the aircraft from behind.

Unless I am seeing things. The Gunner wings are too different shades of color. So I would speculate that he worn one pair on his Summer Khaki Uniform (the darker pair) and he wore the lighter pair on his winter Olive Drab uniform. (But I am not sure on that as I thought all wings were silver)

Left - Air medal ribbon with two oak leaf clusters. Means he won the air medal three times.
Air Medal - Heroic or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight...

Center - American Campaign Ribbon. -
The American Campaign Ribbon is a United States military award given to service members who performed duty in the American Theater of Operations during World War II between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946.

Right - The European-African-Middle East Ribbon with two Bronze stars.
EAM Campaign Ribbon recognizes U.S. military personnel who served in the European, African, or Middle Eastern Theater during World War II.

And with the Two bronze stars means that he was awarded the ribbon three times and got the ribbon three times for serving in any of the Campaigns in the region.

Most likely for serving in Air Combat in N Afrika, Sicily and into England in the Bombing of Germany.

I could very well be wrong and I would appreciate any Veterans speaking up and correcting me...

But those little items speak so much. Do you have the rest of his uniform? Any pictures?
I would enjoy for you to post his name and allow us to research him and discuss it.

What most collectors do with items such as this is a shadow box kind of thing which we call a grouping. We group all artifacts of one individual that we have for a total display, and it basically tells a the tale of the person who wore and won the awards.

Like a picture, Rank Chevrons, over seas service bars, etc. to go with these.

I would assume that your Grandfather was an enlisted man as most Tail gunners would be.. Young,,, Slim build.. (to fit in the tail gunners seat) and the fact that he didn;t talk about it very much also is an indication that he was there and seen some stuff. WWII vets were notoriaous for saying that if a person talked about the war a lot, they didn;t see much action, and if they never said a word, then they saw a lot.

So much from so little.

Again. Vets.. Please sorrect me if I am wrong.

Thanks for sharing. I enjoy this.

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And he wasn’t in the ball turret so he wouldn’t have seen anything from underneath the plane.

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Well, gosh, Junior. OP says he was in a ball turret in a B17, which is UNDERNEATH the GD plane. Why try to big time something you know dick about relative to a nice story about a wartime badass and pics of 80 year old badges and insignia?

Pic for your attention

My great uncle down the line was enlisted Army passed away June 6 1944 I have the last letter he wrote to his sister that morning…will find and post it!

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Someone actually downvoted this.

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Likely someone scrolling down on their phone accidentally tapped the DV button without intending to.
I did this a while back on another topic. Could not figure a way to correct the error.

Thanks to him for his service to county and defending our county with honor.

Someone downvoted this. Found the nazi!