Medal of Honor Archie van Winkle

In Belgium I bought this Medal of Honor of Archie van Winkle. It is not the piece that was awarded by president Truman but a replacement one.

Futher more I saw some pictures of mr Van Winkle's MOH taken at the occasion of the Medal of Honor Memorial Dedication being held at the University of Washington in 2009. This MOH can not be the one presented by president Truman for it has a different system to attach the award, the box with ribbon is surely from a later period and the ribbon is not the same as presented in 1952. So the recipients had more then one MOH.

www.usmilitariaforum.com
Stingerwooten

Last remark is the sticker on the case. It reads USAMC. That's incorrect. But the label is old and of the correct period and has a finger print on it. It was properbly left when the label was attached to the box. Even in the British War Museum I have seen uniforms with the ribbons upside down and labels at the wrong medals (or otherwise).

In this case I contacted the Congressionel Medal of Honor Association in september 2013. I asked them about the whereabouts of the medal and if it perhaps was stolen. They where very kind to mail me that they will start an investigation. Till this moment I have not heard from them.

 

Update december 2018: A number of leading medal experts in the US, Europe and Canada are unanimous in there opinion that the medal is a fraud with the purpose to deceive. Also the well respected OMSA in the US stated that: "This is certainly not an original issued Medal of Honor. It is made to deceive."