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How
To Obtain Medals for POWs
1. Check out these links for some basic information (very slow
loading for some reason, but keep trying):
Obtaining
Citations for Military Awards
Obtaining
a Veteran's Military Personnel File / Replacement Medals
Alphabetical
Index of Recipients of Major U.S. Military Awards
2. Write or email your state
representative and send him/her your request. This
will put you on the fast track.
A reader had this to say:
The
best thing I can advise is to have all your documentation in order. It
is vital to have some official document stating that the veteran was a
Prisoner of War. I had an original letter from Harry Truman, personally
addressed to my dad. I must emphasize the necessity for documenting
that the vet was a POW. I would also suggest contacting a local VA
office. I worked with their liaison who put me in touch with the county
Marine Veterans, which is a private group of volunteers who help people
with situations like this. They took care of getting in touch with the
Order of the Purple Heart and submitting all the paperwork to the Dept.
of Defense.
Info from Roger Mansell
OBTAINING
POW MEDAL:
Most eligible veterans are in receipt of their
medals. However, you can request replacements if lost. Letter requests
are now accepted. Mail written requests to:
National
Personnel Records Center
National Archives Records Administration
Attn: NCPMA (Army) / MCPMF (USAF) / NCPMN (Navy, USMC, Coast Guard)
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100.
DOD 1348.33M deleted the requirement for any form.
OBTAINING MILITARY RECORDS/DOCUMENTS:
Go to Veteran's
Service Records - This is a simple site now and you
can request records over the Internet.
If you are not the veteran or next of kin, download
form SF-180. This form is needed to make a request for
military personnel records or for requesting replacements for a
veteran's medals. SF-180 is a PDF file which you can print, complete
and mail.
OBTAINING REPLACEMENT MEDALS:
Replace
Lost Medals and Awards - Replacement
medals are issued by the Government ONLY in cases when no original was
issued.
CONTACTING VETERAN
SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS (VSO's) TO ASSIST IN RECORD RETRIEVAL
OR OBTAINING BENEFITS (Honorably Discharged):
Accreditation
Search
NATIONAL PERSONNEL CENTER (St. Louis, MO)
TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
314-538-4218
314-538-4122
314-538-4142
314-538-4144
314-538-4020
NOTE: Peak calling times are weekdays between
10:00 am CST and 3:00 pm CST. Staff is available to take your call as
early as 7:30 am and as late as 5:00 pm CST. (TOLL
FREE NUMBERS)
RECORDS (Mailing addresses):
1. Claims files for pensions based on Federal
military service, 1775-1916, and bounty land warrant application files
based on wartime service, 1775-1855
2. Regular Army enlisted personnel serving from 1789 through October
31,1912, and officers serving from 1789 through June 30, 1917.
3. Records relating to persons who served in the Confederate States
Army from 1861 through 1865.
4. Volunteer service of persons serving during an emergency and whose
service was considered to be in the federal interest, during the period
1775-1902.
5. Morning Reports, pre-1917
6. Unit operational records, pre-1939
7. Unit rosters, pre-1917
Contact:
Archives I Textual Reference Branch
National Archives and Records Administration
Washington, D.C. 20408
(202)-501-5430
1. Morning reports, 1917-1974 (In 1974 the Army
discontinued the use of morning reports and switched to PDC cards. PDC
cards are also in the custody of the NPRC.)
2. Unit rosters, 1917-present, Regular Army
3. Officers separated after June 30, 1917, and enlisted personnel
separated after October 31, 1912 Contact:
National
Personnel Records Center
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
Unit operational records, 1939-1954, and
1954 to present for units which served in Southeast Asia:
Archives II Textual Reference Branch
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road - College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301)-713-7250
Unit operational records, 1954-present
for units which did not serve in Southeast Asia; Organizational History
Files, 1955- 1979:
Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts
Office:
SAIS-IDP-F/P, Suite 201
1725 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202-4102
DSN 327-3377; (703)-607-3377
Organizational History Files,
1980-present:
Organizational History Branch
U.S. Army Center of Military History
1099 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-3402
DSN 763-5413; (202)-761-5413
Unit rosters, 1917-present, Army Reserve:
Veterans:
Army Reserve Personnel Center
ATTN: ARPC-SFR-SSD
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200
Public:
U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center
ATTN: ARPC-IMP-F (FOIA)
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200
Unit Lineages and Honors:
Organizational History Branch
U.S. Army Center of Military History
1099 14th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005-3402
DSN 763-5413; (202) 761-5413
Awards for active duty personnel:
Military Awards Branch
Hoffman Building II, 200 Stovall Street, Alexandria, VA 22332-0400
DSN 221-8699; (703) 325-8699
Awards for veterans:
U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center
Veterans Services Directorate
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5200
Official photographs, 1861-1988:
Still Picture Branch
Special Archives Division
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 713-6660
Official photographs and videos
Defense Visual Information Center
1363 Z Street Center, March Air Force Base, CA 92518-2727
DSN 348-1505; (909) 413-1505
Motion pictures, 1898 to present:
Motion Picture, Sound & Video Branch
Special Archives Division
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 713-7060
Official papers:
US Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks PA 17013-5008
DSN 242-3611; (717) 245-3611
Official US Army publications
Official publications:
US Army Publications Center
2800 Eastern Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21220-2896
DSN 584-2272; (410) 671-2272
Information concerning flags, colors,
streamers, guidons, insignia, & uniforms (AR-840-10):
US Army Institute of Heraldry
9235 Gunston Road, Room S-112, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-5579
DSN 656-4968/4969; (703) 806-4968/4969
US Army Air Forces records:
US Air Force Historical Research Agency
600 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424
DSN 493-5834; (205) 953-5834
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Manual of Military
Decorations & Awards 1348.33
Vol.
1 - General Information, Medal of Honor, and Defense/Joint Decorations
and Awards
Vol.
2 - DoD Service Awards – Campaign, Expeditionary, and Service Medals
Includes Eligibility Requirements for PRISONER
OF WAR MEDAL (PWM)
Vol.
3 - DoD-Wide Performance and Valor Awards; Foreign Awards; Military
Awards to Foreign Personnel and U.S. Public Health Service Officers;
and Miscellaneous Information
PURPLE HEART (PH): Eligibility
Requirements: Eligibility Criteria:
(c) After December 7, 1941, to a Service member who is killed or dies
while in captivity as a prisoner of war (POW) under circumstances
establishing eligibility for the POW medal pursuant to section 1128 of
Reference (f), and section 15, Enclosure 3, Volume 2 of this Manual,
unless compelling evidence is presented that shows that the member’s
death was not the result of enemy action.
DEFINITIONS:
POW.
A detained person as defined in Articles 4 and 5 of the Geneva
Convention (Reference (aw)) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of
War of August 12, 1949. In particular, one who, while engaged in combat
under orders of his or her government, is captured by the armed forces
of the enemy. As such, he or she is entitled to the combatant’s
privilege of immunity from the municipal law of the capturing state for
warlike acts that do not amount to breaches of the law of armed
conflict. For example, a prisoner of war may be, but is not limited to,
any person belonging to one of the following categories who has fallen
into the power of the enemy: a member of the armed forces, organized
militia or volunteer corps; a person who accompanies the armed forces
without actually being a member thereof; a member of a merchant marine
or civilian aircraft crew not qualifying for more favorable treatment;
or individuals who, on the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up
arms to resist the invading forces.
Related articles
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_purpleheart_eligibility_100608w/
More POWs now eligible for Purple Heart
By William
H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 7,
2008 13:12:48 EDT
An expansion of eligibility criteria could result
in retroactive awards of the Purple Heart to prisoners of war who died
in captivity and were previously deemed ineligible for the award, the
Pentagon announced Monday.
The revised policy allows the retroactive award of
the medal to qualifying prisoners of war from Dec. 7, 1941, forward. An
estimated 17,000 former service members could be affected by the
change, according to the Pentagon’s Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel
Office.
The Purple Heart is awarded to service members who
are wounded or killed in combat, an international terrorist attack,
during overseas peacekeeping duty, while held as a prisoner of war or
while being taken captive.
But the services’ award criteria previously
excluded the medal for those who died in captivity if it could not be
proved they were wounded or killed by enemy action, Pentagon
spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said.
The revised policy presumes that service members
who die in captivity as a “qualifying prisoner of war” died as the
“result of enemy action,” the result of wounds incurred “in action with
the enemy” or as a result of wounds incurred as a “result of enemy
action” during capture, unless there is compelling evidence to the
contrary, Lainez said.
The policy revision, “reflects the feeling that
the conditions and circumstances of capture and captivity are difficult
to document and that for those service members who die in captivity,
the department should presume enemy action,” Lainez said.
Prior to making the change, the Pentagon consulted
with representatives from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the
Military Order of the World Wars and the American Legion, all of whom
said they support the awarding of the Purple Heart to prisoners of war
who died while in captivity, Lainez said.
Posthumous awards of the Purple Heart can be made
to the deceased service member’s representative, who should apply to
the appropriate military service.
Each military department will publish application
procedures and ensure accessibility by the general public, the Pentagon
says. Family members with questions can contact the services. Army:
Military Awards Branch, (703) 325-8700; Navy: Navy Personnel Command,
Retired Records Section, (314) 592-1150; Air Force: Air Force Personnel
Center, (800) 616-3775; Marine Corps: Military Awards Branch, (703)
784-9340.
Missing Medals Acts
http://missingmedals.wordpress.com/
- The object of the Missing Medals Act is to correct the present-day
Army policy that prevents a number of WWII vets (especially AAF) and
the next-of-kin of deceased vets from obtaining the full complement of
awards and decorations that are due these of the “Greatest Generation.”
Related:
Missing Medals
http://www.wabi.tv/news/35045/missing-medals-part-1
*** Let
me know if you find anything out of date or that needs
correction. Thanks! ***
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