C.D.Bledsoe USN - Page 2

Panzermacher · #11 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 06:02 PM

Over the last couple of days, I have been talking with my Dad about this Memorial thread. I even showed him what was posted here and his Picture. I was over at his house this weekend digging for old family photos, when he offered me up these......which I never knew had kept.
(He also allowed us to dig out his uniform case and take pics too See GI-rene's thread in the Uniform Forum)

Yes, these are his actual Discharge papers and the envelope they came in. The first one has his commands (Ships), and the list of Awards he is Authorized to wear. He never has collected them.

Panzermacher · #12 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 06:06 PM

The Next set...more separation papers. Hope you all enjoy....He was proud to offer them up for folks to look at and see them.

The last 2 snaps are of Him and some shipmates in Marsailles, And I scanned the back so you can see what he wrote. We found this while searching for some other items....Pics of which I will post shortly.

Edit: The child in the picture was an orphan....I guess it was the thing for sailors to "Adopt" these street orphans and feed and clothe them while they were in port. The child was one of many my dad said he and his shipmates "adopted" in Europe. I wonder how these kids made out today?

lufttiger · #13 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 06:09 PM

Your dad did good in keeping that stuff and not throwing it away.
Its a part of his life he can share with you, very nice.

Panzermacher · #14 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 06:10 PM

Finally, A letter I would guess all departing Servicemen got at war's end.

cyberia · #15 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 09:08 PM

Cool stuff, Chuck. Your lucky to be able to have those things to look over.

Jim O · #16 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 09:12 PM

Great, irreplaceable stuff.

Panzermacher · #17 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 09:46 PM

Thanx guys, Dad would appreciate it...

gi-rene · #18 (**permalink**) March 18th, 2008, 11:19 PM

Excellent Scans dad!

TRDG · #19 (**permalink**) March 20th, 2008, 02:33 PM

Thanks Panzermacker, I really love all the effort involved with your dad you on getting these up and out here!!

Cheers, very good!!

Tom

KG_Panzerschreck · #20 (**permalink**) March 28th, 2008, 01:28 PM

Nice story.

Its also very nice to have all those records as well.

If you ever want to get those medals, awards and ribbons for your dad i know a great source and have used it myself. Check out this site -

Medals of America Online - Home Page

They have everything you could need and if you want to put together a high quality awards case displaying your dads awards and medals they will do all the work for you. Check out the beatiful examples they have on their website. Also, since WWII, several different parts of the military have been retroactively awarded medals, they can help you with that too. I dont know if your Dad is in one of those groups or not. The only two i can remember off of the top of my head are - All Marines who saw combat in WWII were awarded Bronze Stars, most dont even know about this, and all Army Combat Medics were awarded Bronze Stars, same as the Marines, most dont know. I know there were others, but i cant remember them. Its worth taking some time and checking out their site.

Just so you know you do have to pay for the medals. If you order them through the military they will be free but it will take forever to get to you. I have been waiting for eight years for my dads replacement medals, lol.