This listing is from Treasures of the Past

War Emblems!

Have you ever gone into a cemetery and wondered what the different war emblems meant?  I have noticed that in doing cemeteries some of them you can't read the writing on them but if you are familiar with the shape you can usually figure out what war the person was in.  I have found on occasion that some of the war emblems put out for people are not in that person's lifetime.

 

War of 1776	War of 1812	Confederate 1861 - 1865	Veteran
G A R 1861 - 1865	Indian Wars 1817 - 1898	Korean United Nations War	Mexican War 1846 - 1848
Regular or Peace Time Army	United Spanish War Veterans 1898 - 1902	Vietnam Veteran	Universal Veteran
	World War 1	World War 2

 

 

The following is a list of abbreviations used on tombstones.

 AFC - Air Force Cross, for extraordinary heroism

AM - Air Medal, for meritorious achievement in flight

ANC - Army Nurse Corps., Army nurse

ARCOM - Army Commendation Medal, for meritorious achievement in combat/noncombat service

BSM - Bronze Star, for heroic/meritorious achievement

CSA - Confederate States of America

DFC - Distinguished Flying Cross, heroism/achievement in flight

DSC - Distinguished Service Cross, heroism in military operation

DSM - Distinguished Service Medal, meritorious service to government in "a duty of great responsibility"

GAR - Grand Army of the Republic

GS - Gold Star, each subsequent award of the same decoration, a Silver Star denotes 5 Gold Stars earned

LM - Legion of Merit, meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding service for citizens of other nations

MexBor - Service on Mexican Border 1916-1917

MOH - Medal of Honor, for conspicuous gallantry at risk of life in action

MSM - Meritorious Service Medal, outstanding noncombat achievement

NC - Navy Cross, extraordinary heroism with military operations against opposition

OLC - Oak Leaf Cross

PH - Purple Heart, for wounds/death resulting from opposing an armed force

SAW - Spanish American War veteran 1898

USAAC - U S Army Air Corps

USNRF - U S Naval Reserve Force

USCT - U S Colored Troops

USS MAINE - Crew member of USS Maine when it sank in Havana harbor in 1898

WAAC - Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 1942-1943

WAC - Women's Army Corps 1943-1945

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