WW II memorial box saved

[72 usmc]

WW II memorial box saved

 This is a nice Military awards and Internment flag, WW II, shadow box from the WI, 32 Infantry Division. Red Arrow men. I was at an antique store and they were going to break up a Wi, WW II vets provenienced memorial box for the book, wood box, cloth flag, ribbon set and Bronze star. I purchased it to keep the items together. 60 bucks They are from a WW II, combat vet that went from Sgt to Major. Major Ronald Mc Cann, born 17 March 1922 and died 12 Feb 1966. He was in the So. Pacific in New Guninea and the Philippines and ended his service in the Cuban missile crisis, got out in 1963. 127 infantry regiment 32 infantry Division in WW II. Bronze star & two purple hearts. The purple heart is not in the collection. Sgt Mc Cann died back in 1966 so its most likely gone. The Bronze star has his name on it. His name is also in the book, and his exploits.

I just had to save it- and keep it complete as gratitude to a fellow vet. Call me a fool, but I hate when guys bust up sets to get top buck  from collectors and just do not care about historical significance of these combat vets. The Major is buried at Oak Hills cemetery in Watertown, Wisconsin.

 

Looks like the PH has 2 OLC's . Wounded 3 times

I looked at the box more closely and both the Bronze star and the Purple heart ribbon have oak leaf clusters indicating subsequent awards - possible 2 bronze stars ?, wounded 3 times? and the solid blue ribbon also has two oak leaf clusters. I believe the solid blue ribbon is a US Army Presidential Unit citation ribbon with subsequent awards - three times. His Asiatic Pacific campaign ribbon also has 3 bronze battle stars and the Philippine liberation ribbon has two battle stars so thats a good number of different conflicts in WW II. This is on the ribbon set in the upper left hand corner.  With the death of so many WW II veterans their stuff is getting tossed out by the kids who mostly are anti war Vietnam period kids that are older goofs now that do not save anything historical.   

I was unable to locate a DD 214 or any info on just where he served and what specific battles he fought in. I am unsure if a non family member can get a copy of a soldiers DD 214. I have his full name and service number. Ronald Terrence McCann -serial number 20647798. It would be interesting history to have. To go from enlisted to officer and with so many battle stars in WW II, this Wisconsin kid must have had some iron balls. A real ground pounder. His tomb stone is the flat bronze military type with BSM&1OLC-PH&2OLC at the bottom covered with grass. I generally try to save USMC stuff. Any active duty Army guys that have access to DD 214 records? Can you help document this Major? His son is gone and the soldier & his wife are also gone. This item came from the son's wife who is in her 70s and getting rid of things. If the antique dealer goes back he said he would ask if any other other items survived and she would sell. His son must have kept this stuff when his dad died.

So talk about luck! I went back to the older wife that sold the box to the store and she gave me his numbered purple heart that was missing.  I placed it back into the case.

I was told this : If the Veteran was discharged more than 62 years ago, you can order a copy of their military records. So I am out of luck. After display at the school I hope to get this set to the Wi vets museum in Oshkosh or SHS. It will not be sold.

I am going to use this in our middle schools Veteran Day display we set up with my old junk. It will look great in the case on display. It will be good to have some info on the Red Arrow men. The old Blues get more use on display than when I had them in my locker on base.

[Kenny Andrew]

That's a great story USMC, glad you saved the items and found the purple heart. I have edited your post to remove the white background by individually copying each paragraph and reinserting the photos, please double check to insure I have edited it correctly and not missed anything out. 

 

[72 usmc]

 Sorry and thank you for the help. I am not sure why it came out white.

[Kenny Andrew]

I think when you copied it, it had some coding which made the background white. I recreated your post into one of my posts then deleted your posts content including the coding. I then edited your post with the text and images and it worked fine. Just one of these glitchy things that sometimes happen.