My father-in-law, whom I only met a few times before he died in 1999, was a WWII vet. Neither my mother-in-law or my wife have a lot of background on his service as he didn’t like to talk about his service. All I know is that he was wounded in combat, captured by the Germans but patched up and released (possibly due to his German-origin surname). Recently, his widow was cleaning out a bunch of old things and came across his Purple Heart medal. In the case were a few other patches and pins that I would like to identify. Is there a good resource on the web (or can someone here) that will allow me to determine what they signify?
Serving in Europe during WW2 and captured by the Germans? Probably he was in the U.S. Army. Start here: Awards and decorations of the United States Department of the Army - Wikipedia
That wiki article is very poor. That is certainly not all of them. This one is a bit better.
At the minimum I suspect he had the European Campaign Medal, probably a WWII victory medal, possibly an Army of Occupation Medal. He would have been eligible for, but probably never received, the POW Medal since it was retroactive back to 1917 but it was not authorized until 1985.
The Institute of Heraldryis also a good source for patches and other distictive unit insignia. The page I linked to has links on the bottom to all the unit patches. You have to slog through all of them to find the right one. You can narrow it down if you know what type of unit it was. Try to descibe what you have and I might be able to help you.
You can also request a veterans records.
I came in to mention the Institute of Heraldry. My mom used to be a researcher for them and I have all her reference books (but they are in storage and I’m in Kabul). IoH is the place to start.
If you post photos we almost certainly will be able to help.
Thank you for the link. It looks like he has the following ribbons:
NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL
GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL
EUROPEAN-AFRICAN-MIDDLE EASTERN MEDAL (with two stars attached)
More suprisingly, he also has the following ribbons:
VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL (with 3 stars attached)
REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL
Neither my wife nor my mother-in-law ever mentioned service in Vietnam.
I checked the Army and Infantry sections (where I believed he served) but didn’t find a match. Following Paul in Qatar’s suggestion, I took a crappy picture of the patches (and one pin) here.
As I say, I never heard of his service in Vietnam. Also, all these ribbons and medals were crammed into the Purple Heart case and evidentally thrown into a box and stored in the basement until recently.
I can get you some of the low lying fruit:
The patch with the trident (upper row, far right) seems to be the unit insignia for the 97th Infantry Division, part of Patton’s command.
The blue bar with the wreath and rifle is the Combat Infantryman Badge - i.e. he served where he was in a combat zone and was where the fighting was.
That last item, bottom row, right, seems to be a ‘hash mark’ representing four years of service.
On the computer I am on I can not see photobucket links. A couple of clarifications. The Combat Infantryman Badge is not just for seving in a combat zone. You have to be in the Infantry. You could be standing next to an Infantryman in the same circumstances and he would get a CIB and you wouldn’t if you are not in the infantry branch.
Diagonal hash marks are for 3 years of service. Horizontal hash marks are for 6 monthsin a combat zone.
The stars on his campaign medal denote participating in two campaigns within the theater. Those campaigns are:
Egypt-Libya 11 Jun 42 - 12 Feb 43
Air Offensive, Europe 4 Jul 42 - 5 Jun 44
Algeria-French Morocco 8-11 Nov 42
Tunisia 12 Nov 42 - 13 May 43
Sicily 14 May 43 - 17 Aug 43
Naples-Foggia 18 Aug 43 - 21 Jan 44
Anzio 22 Jan 44 - 24 May 44
Rome-Arno 22 Jan 44 - 9 Sep 44
Normandy 6 Jun 44 - 24 Jul 44
Northern France 25 Jul 44 - 14 Sep 44
Southern France 15 Aug 44 - 14 Sep 44
Northern Apennines 10 Sep 44 - 4 Apr 45
Rhineland 15 Sep 44 - 21 Mar 45
Ardennes-Alsace 16 Dec 44 - 25 Jan 45
Central Europe 22 Mar 45 - 11 May 45
Po Valley 5 Apr 45 - 8 May 45
Antisubmarine 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45
Ground Combat 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45
Air Combat: 7 Dec 41 - 2 Sep 45
Unless he was a career military man I doubt he was in WWII and Viet Nam. If he was in that long I would suspect he would have more awards than that. I suggest you search for his military records using the third link I gave you. It should be very simple for a family member to get them but it is a matter of public record and anyone can request under FOIA.
Scrolling through the shoulder patches again, I find that the other two are for the 83rd Infantry Division.
Is it common to serve in two different divisions during WWII?
Someone who was wounded (or maybe if the were captured and released) would probably find themselves in the repo depo (replacement depot). They would be sent to whatever unit needed them. In the book Band of Brothers a few of them recounted leaving the hospital early against orders to rejoin their unit rather than chance being placed somewhere else.
Try to let us know if you find out anything else, I’m curious. But since you are averaging .14 posts per day I guess we might not hear from you. 
I’m the quiet type… 
My wife doesn’t know of his service in Vietnam, but it would have been before she was born though (he was over 50 when my wife was born, and she is an only child). She doesn’t know how he would have come into possession of the ribbons - no other member of his family served there (although he did have two brothers serve in WWII).
Next up for questioning, my mother-in-law.