Service Medal Display Case ideas?

[Jack Hutchinson]

My 86 year old Dad just asked for a display case for his WW II service medals - DSC, Silver, Bronze Stars and Purple Heart. Also his theater and combat bars, captain's bars, infantry insignia, etc.

I searched the creek - didn't come up with much for design ideas.

Can anyone hook me up to get the ideas going? Pictures or suggestions. Wouldn't be very large - might be optionally wall hung or set on a shelf, would have shutters over the glass - he doesn't want them actually on display, but wants to take good care of them and have them available.

Naturally I'd like to make something that appropriately honored them (and him).

I'm also wondering about how to set up the backing to support them - he thought they should be pinned to it as they would be to a uniform.

We talked about officer's dress green background - but perhaps gold is more traditional - like the presentation cases? Anyone know the best kind of material?

Thanks.

[Joe Chritz]

I've seen a few but don't have any links handy.

Just wanted to drop in an tell you to buy him a beer for me. Real warriors are disappearing at a rapid rate and the new generation definitely isn't the same.

Joe

[Tom Klass]

I made one( actually two the first was wrong size for medals) for a customer in arizona had the flag case on top and the medals and ribbons on the bottom. Made it in cherry used black velvet for the background of the medals. If you google flag cases some companies have the medals display case to get some ideas. Buy him a beer for me too, more and more are fading away. They were the ones that made this country we could be proud of.
Tom

[Philip Duffy]

Tom, My own case is a basic rectangle, with the divide being the flag-triangle on one side and the ranks and ribbons displayed on the left. I would be great if you could find out his dates for the promotions and have them listed, with the commands he was in at the time. The idea of the decorations, especially that he has so many of an heroic nature might also be show, ie, the Silver Star awarded on xxxxxdate for heroic conduct at XXXXXXXX in the Battle of the Bulge, for instance. I will tell you that you are the last person who could pull this all together and when it is done, I would display it proudly for him and then, at an appropriate time, donate it to the City Library or VFW, or Am. Legion near his home town. Men like him are a rare and treasured breed. Phil

[Bobby McCarley]

Jack,
This is a display I made to honor my father's service to this country. I did not know anything about my fathers war experiences until after he had passed away. My aunt told me about his time in the service. He served under Patton's 2nd Armored Division "Hell on Wheel's" and was a radio operator in a tank. His tank got hit and exploded and was wounded and listed as missing in action for a time. He was found in a hospital in England and was quite shell shocked. He came home from the war and would never talk about his time served.

Whatever display you make for your father's medals, be sure that your father proudly displays it and please thank your father for his service to this country.

Bobby
Louisiana

[scott spencer]

If you type "medal display case" or "flag case" in Google "Images" there will be lots of good examples. Here are a couple of examples that I liked (none are my work). Hope you'll post your project!

[Lee Koepke]

I really like the one on the left that Scott posted above.

Add me to the list of people that would like him to have my appreciation for his Service. As well as his family at home during his Service. The men and women that Serve this Country are truly special. The ones that stand out are AMAZING. Thanks, and best of luck.

[Amy Leigh Baker]

I thought about doing the same for my grandfather. He served 20 years through WWII and Korea. When I was visiting him recently he had all his service medals out and showed me the display case he was considering buying.

Jack, please post any results?

[Jack Hutchinson]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I like the idea of a box with a raised panel lid - there's a triangular one in the center picture Scott posted. I'd likely go with rectangular.

I'm not making much progress on figuring out how to make it simple and get them under glass and mounted on fabric (need to be able to attach clips to the backs of pins) - so I need two removable/replaceable layers between the lid/door and a solid back - one of glass and one of fabric. I've built a few houses, but no piece this complicated and meaningful.

I want to get to elegant and simple, but I keep drawing Rube Goldberg.

Dad's lived with PTSD for 63 years. It's a milestone that he's getting these medals out now. We'd never looked at them together before yesterday evening.

I'll try to get him to agree to include a picture and at least a listing of his unit (101st Airborne I think). Thanks for those enhancements.

If it's even barely worthy I will post a picture. This is an intimidating forum for the moderately-talented. On the other hand I always enjoy seeing the work of the member-craftsmen.

[Kent Cartwright]

Jack:

Wow, what a awesome project you have been tasked with! As a 101st vet myself (Iraq) I would love to hear some of the stories he could tell. As an officer, we were expected to learn by heart much of the history of our battalion. I still remember most of it. Even with my own modest experience, I still look up to the guys from WWII. These guys were in the thick of it, against a well-equiped and well-trained foe.

For my dad's display case, we used a red felt background and I think that looks the best. However, since your dad was an infantry captain, you may want to consider an "infantry blue" (baby blue to most everyone else) background, but it may look funny.

We used a foam posterboard material for the backing, and most of the insignia, rank, infantry insignia and theater ribbons simply pushed onto the backing. We did not use the backing holder as the foam posterboard held the insignia pretty securely. The medals were trickier, as they use a pin system. We ended up hot-melt glueing them onto the backing. Based on what you want, that is not an option. Maybe glueing a small material tab onto the backing that the medals could each be pinned to might do the trick.

If you can find out the battalion he was with (it would look something like 3/502nd or 1/187th) we could probably find the unit crest to include in the case. Unit patches should be easy to come by too, and they look cool :cool:
You can find unit patches, unit crests, and extra medals/badges/tabs at rangerjoes.com. They are great people to work with, and their prices are not bad.

Good luck!!

Kent

[Mike Cutler]

Jack

A very moving project to build. That's for sure.

The awards that your father has are individually something to be greatly admired and respected. That he has that specific combination of awards deserves something beyond ordinary respect.
He must have been one hell of a soldier.

Good luck with the project. Be sure to post some pic's when you're done, if it's okay with your Dad.

[jeremy levine]

Jack

A very moving project to build. That's for sure.

The awards that your father has are individually something to be greatly admired and respected. That he has that specific combination of awards deserves something beyond ordinary repect.
He must have been one hell of a soldier.

Good luck with the project. Be sure to post some pic's when you're done, if it's okay with your Dad.

The above really sums it up. Best of luck

[Alan Greene]

Jack, A picture of my display case is below:

The dimensions are 27" high, 24.5 wide and 3" deep.

As a First Sergeant (USAF) I put together a lot of these for retiring members. We always got their input on what they wanted and did everything in our power to do that. We did try to use replacement medals that we purchased unless the individual actually wanted his/her specific medals in the case. One of the reasons behind that you covered by saying he wanted to be able to close the case. The other reason is that at times it is very possible that the person may want to show the actual medal to a family member (Grandchildren come to mind) and when you have them mounted behind glass it becomes difficult to get to them, as well as complicating the mounting process. You can purchase medals, rank insignia etc. from quite a few places on the Internet, some of them pre-made in the correct order and precedence that are almost immaculate. The other trick is that we never folded the flag. It was placed around a piece of hardboard a bit smaller than the glass display area so that we display the flag with the stars correctly positioned. The backing support was covered by Kent with the foam board. We used dark blue felt like fabric because it usually showed of the medals and insignia better (plus Air Force right:)). We also cut off all of the pins and hot melt glued everything to the fabric. If I can answer anymore questions feel free to PM me. Also after having said all of that what your Grandfather wants trumps everything else.

Please pass on to your Grandfather my, and my families heartfelt appreciation for his service and sacrifice.

[Jerry Todd]

Check this one out.
easy to build.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=2681
Jerry Todd

[jeremy levine]

HUTCHINSON, JONATHON
Synopsis:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Jonathon Hutchinson, First Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company F, 313th Infantry Regiment, in action against enemy forces on 14 September 1944. First Lieutenant Hutchinson's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, Third U.S. Army, General Orders No. 252 (1945)

[Dewey Torres]

Jack,
I am a Navy Senior Chief in my spare time (when I am not woodworking). ;)These are often referred to as :
Shadow Boxes

Try a Google search for Military Shadow Box.

Below is a link to a big outfit the Navy uses in VA Beach and may have some ideas:

http://www.shadowplaque.com/

Dewey

[jeremy levine]

HUTCHINSON, JONATHON
Synopsis:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Jonathon Hutchinson, First Lieutenant (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company F, 313th Infantry Regiment, in action against enemy forces on 14 September 1944. First Lieutenant Hutchinson's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
Headquarters, Third U.S. Army, General Orders No. 252 (1945)

Silver Star
Hutchinson, Jonathan HQ, 79th Infantry Division, G.O. No. 160 (1945)

[Jack Hutchinson]

He'll be here tomorrow. I'll check on his unit. I was wrong about 101st. He was in the 79th Infantry Division which included the 313th 314th and 315th Regiments. They were part of the Third Army in Sept '44

His name is spelled Jonathan Hutchinson. He was a 1st Lieutenant in '44. There were 13 WWII DSCs in the 79th Division according to Wikipedia -

I remember reading the citations when I was a kid. Don't know whether they exist anymore.

Okay - where did you find that, Jeremy? Thank you.

And thanks for the other leads - With that help I'm getting a design developed.

[Jack Porter]

Jack, I'm in the process of planning a similar project to give as a gift to my father for fathers day. His father who served in the Big Red 1 in WW2 and was awarded a purple heart, bronze, and silver star while fighting through north africa passed away a little over a year ago. As I am only planning a flag display case, I also wanted to honor his medals with the case. I am thinking of a silver name plate to honor the silver star, purple heart inlay, and also to include magnolia to represent his southern heritage (born in and lived in MS and LA) and am still trying to find an appropriate wood to represent the life he built with his family in the northeast.

Just a few ideas that I could think of that might help.

Good luck, I can understand how important it must be to you that this project comes out as you envision.

[Thom Sturgill]

When I decided to replace my Viet-Nam medals I went to a company called U.S. Medals. (usmedals.com) The have several shadow boxes and also all of the other normal uniform items like shoulder patches, rank insignia, etc. They have a mounting service and show many examples of layouts (good for ideas).

Use a piece of foam board cut to fit the shadow box and glue the fabric to it. I used some Khaki material that looked military, but red or blue velvet would work too. Mount the medals, insignia, and a brass plaque with his name and service data on the fabric/foam board. The plaque could also mount on the outside. If you can get detailed descriptions of the citations print them out and place it behind the foam board. Some family member may come across those in years to come.

[jeremy levine]

He'll be here tomorrow. I'll check on his unit. I was wrong about 101st. He was in the 79th Infantry Division which included the 313th 314th and 315th Regiments. They were part of the Third Army in Sept '44

His name is spelled Jonathan Hutchinson. He was a 1st Lieutenant in '44. There were 13 WWII DSCs in the 79th Division according to Wikipedia -

I remember reading the citations when I was a kid. Don't know whether they exist anymore.

Okay - where did you find that, Jeremy? Thank you.

And thanks for the other leads - With that help I'm getting a design developed.

I got them here, a great site full of great heros like your father.
http://www.homeofheroes.com/valor/1_Citations/index.html#Distinguished%20Service%20Cross

http://www.homeofheroes.com/valor2/SS/2_WWII/indexes/army/Army-H.html

[Jack Hutchinson]

I got them here, a great site full of great heros like your father.
http://www.homeofheroes.com/valor/1_Citations/index.html#Distinguished%20Service%20Cross

http://www.homeofheroes.com/valor2/SS/2_WWII/indexes/army/Army-H.html

Yeah - that's him. 79th Division 113th Regiment F Company.

Thanks - he's coming around on putting a bit more into the display. We've a number of good pictures from Belgium and Germany in '44 and '45 as well as more formal ones in dress uniform.

[Jody Malinich]

Jack,

Anything I can do to help you out let me know as I make about 30 boxes a month and have designs that I haven't even made yet.

Jody

[jeremy levine]

Any updates on the display box ?