Can anyone identify these dozen ribbons on my dad’s uniform? For added difficulty, the photo is B&W. I think the top-right is a Good Conduct ribbon, and the bottom-right is for Korean Service.
Very difficult without the colors. The bottom center looks like Expert Pistol Medal. The next row up in the middle is probably a National Defense ribbon, with the one following it being the Korean Service Medal. The one after the pistol ribbon may be a foreign country award of some sort, as I don’t believe there are any American ribbons lower than that. The first ribbon in the second row from the top looks like it might be either a Meritorious Unit Citation or a Meritorious Unit Commendation; it could also be a Presidential Unit award. Bottom row first ribbon looks like the United Nations Service Medal, which would make sense if he was in the Korean War. Second row, first ribbon looks like the Navy Occupation Service Medal. I think you’re right about the Good Conduct Medal. That means the ones before it are more heavyweights. But without the colors, it’s tough to tell what they are. The first ribbon in the top row could be a Meritorious Service Medal. One of those could easily be a Combat Action Ribbon.
Scratch that comment about the Presidential Unit Citation. Wrong stripes.
Was your dad also in WWII for any time? Cuz otherwise the Occupation Medal doesn’t work.
You can try to compare them to these and see if you can figure it out. They’re listed in order of precedence, which would run left to right, top to bottom on you’re dad’s uniform. Your dad was enlisted before becoming an officer? Looks like he got 3 good conduct awards? That’s what we call 12 years of undetected crime! 
Was he LDO?
Don’t mean to be nosy - I’m just interested in the paths people take from enlisted to officer. I was a NESEP myself, but that program ceased to exist in the early 80s, I believe.
I put his ‘salad bar’ into a shadow box after he died. It’s in his sea chest in the storage unit, though.
I found this image.
He did say something about being on a pistol team.
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation? (That’s the one I thought was Korean Service, as it has the yin/yang thing in it.) But if that’s the case, it seems to be in the wrong position.
Dad retired in '68 after 20 years. That would mean he joined the Navy in '48. Before that he was in the Army for one stint. I’m not sure about the date. 1945 or 1946? How long was an enlistment then? I think he said he ‘spent two years in the Army and 20 years in the Navy.’ ISTR him saying something about ‘WWII Occupation’.
He was Combat Aircrew in an AEW Skyraider during Korea.
He told me a story about cruising off the coast of Vietnam (CLG-5 USS Oklahoma City) and that gunners spent $25,000 shelling a water buffalo – which was unharmed. I don’t see a ribbon for that.
Thanks for the explanations.
Not so. He would just have had to serve in Germany, Japan, etc., at some point during our occupations. Hell, IIRC, you could get it for serving in West Berlin at any point.
I don’t know. Here are his insignia. I think the star means ‘line officer’, but I don’t know if that’s Limited or Unrestricted. He came up from Enlisted, and didn’t attend college; but he did go Back East for education for his commission (OCS?).
1st row right, definitely Good Conduct Medal with two bronze stars (12 yrs).
3rd row center, definitely National Defense Service Medal.
4th row center, definitely Navy Pistol Marksman.
1st row left, probably Navy Commendation Medal.
1st row center, probably Navy Achievement Medal.
Between the Good Conduct and the National Defense are probably various campaign and expeditionary medals.
Do you have his DD214 discharge papers? It will list all his awards.
ETA: His insignia indicate Lieutenant. The good conduct medal is an indication he was enlisted for at least 12 years.
If he retired in '68 and was on a cruise off the coast of 'Nam, then he should have the Vietnam Campaign ribbons on there somewhere. I was operating from the Korea info.
Good catch. They don’t give GCMs to officers, as I recall.
I’m fairly certain he became an Ensign in '56. Are GCMs transferable? Even then, he wouldn’t have been 18 until the end of 1945, so he couldn’t have joined the Army before then. (He tried in 1941, but they weren’t letting 14-year-olds in.) Perhaps I’m mistaken about his commission date.
If he earned them, he can wear them, regardless of when he got them.
I’m not sure but it may have been possible to enlist at 17.
Also, after squinting at the photo some more, I think there’s a star on what I’m taking to be the Navy Achievement Medal, which means he was awarded two.