A newsletter for those who value the bits of colored cloth

and similar or associated items made of other materials

intended as awards of recognition in the U.S. of A.

ISSUE No. 9

AUGUST 2018

>>>>>> (This version has been modified and reformatted for compatibility with Webpage display) <<<<<<

PUBLISHED BY

Garreteer Press (formerly Patriot Press) P.O. Box 937, Lompoc CA 93438-0937–Greg Ogletree, Proprietor

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Service Ribbons (bars) of the United States: A Primer

By Greg Ogletree

The origin of service ribbons, often called ribbon bars, is military decorations, medals, and badges—all of which will be referred to hereafter in this article as medals, even though they are distinctly different. Medals have been popular items for collectors in this country since the 1860s when the Civil War prompted creation of what is still our nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. Following that conflict, a number of veteran organizations were established whose members were identified with medals created for that purpose. Medals of fraternal and hereditary societies also became popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and then the federal government created a wide assortment of medals for campaigns in which our armed forces had recently engaged. Within a single generation, military uniforms transitioned from being relatively unadorned to being bemedaled, in some cases heavily. An array of medals displayed on a uniform was appropriate on formal occasions when a dress uniform was worn, but everyday wear was impractical. By the time World War I arrived, the practice of wearing service ribbons had become well entrenched, sometimes with the medals rather than in lieu of them, as some photographs of World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, for example, demonstrate. But before beginning an in-depth discussion of service ribbons, it’s necessary to finish the brief overview of medals in order to introduce some important terms.

Most federal military and civilian medals are made in two sizes, full (regulation) size and half (miniature) size. Generally, the full-size medals are used at presentation ceremonies and worn on parade dress uniforms on formal occasions, and the half-size medals are worn on dinner/mess dress uniforms and/or civilian attire. Officially, the Medal of Honor does not have a miniature version; either the full-size medal or the service ribbon is worn, but unofficial miniatures have been made for collectors, so they do exist. Understandably, no medals at all are worn on combat dress, utility, or other “work” uniforms in the military. Full-size U.S. medals are popular with collectors but their value, especially of the awards for valor, has increased to the point where acquisition has become financially difficult for many. Passage of the Stolen Valor Act (of both 2005 and 2013) has also deterred some from engaging in the hobby and prompted others to leave it. With a few exceptions, the miniature versions are much more affordable but they do not seem to be as desired by collectors, and the author is not aware of anyone who collects the ribbons for miniature medals (to the author’s knowledge, ribbon bars have never been made commercially in the miniature size for U.S. awards, but custom-made mini-ribbon bars have been observed; one such bar is shown in Figure 1). Nevertheless, service ribbons for nearly all full-size awards are both plentiful and affordable, and when properly displayed can make a prize-winning collection. Consequently, the hobby of collecting ribbons seems to be growing more popular. Let’s take a closer look at these.

Figure 1

What is a service ribbon? Because most medals in the early part of the twentieth century had suspension ribbons of distinctive colors and patterns, a small bit of just the ribbon would be easily recognized and associated with the corresponding award. Therefore, a short length of the same type of ribbon used on the medal was mounted on a small bar (usually metal, but sometimes cardboard) and, more often than not, equipped with an attaching device and worn in place of the medal. Over the decades since their debut so long ago, ribbon bars have been made in various sizes and shapes, but most have been rectangular and today the size of nearly all has been standardized. According to the Defense Logistics Agency, the standard size for U.S. military service ribbons is 1-3/8 inches (35mm) wide, 3/8 inch (9.5mm) tall, and 1/32 inch (0.8mm) thick. The service ribbons for nearly all federal civilian awards have these same specifications, as do most state and local awards that are represented by ribbon bars. There have been, and still are, exceptions and those will be discussed later.

What are they made of? The vast majority are of fabric, which is why they are commonly called ribbon bars. The ribbons are most often woven of silk, cotton, nylon, rayon, or Dacron—the trademarked name for polyethylene terephthalate. There is a wide variety of ribbon types. Here’s a list I found online:

Brocade Ribbon - Jacquard with raised pattern often including metallic threads.
Chenille Ribbon - Ribbon with velvety, tufted appearance. Looser weave than velvet.
Corded-edge Ribbon - A ribbon of which the body is silk, and the edge, or the cords on the edge, are of cotton.

Damask Ribbon - Patterned reversible weave done on a Jacquard loom.
Embroidered Ribbon - Hand or machine stitching is applied over the surface. Threads show on the reserve side.
Gingham Ribbon - Woven of dyed yarns that create a block or check effect.
Grosgrain Ribbon - Tight weave of horizontal ribs (traditionally used by milliners for hatbands)
Iridescent Ribbon - Woven with two different colored threads in the warp and the weft to creating the iridescence.
Jacquard Ribbon - Woven on a Jacquard (shuttle) loom. Includes Brocade & Damask.
Metallic Ribbon - Woven with lurex yarn or metallic threads, now often of plastic not metal.
Moire Ribbon - "Water-marked" pattern.
Ombre Ribbon - A weave starting with one color and usually blending from light to dark but can be many colors.
Organdy Ribbon – Transparent, often with iridescent finish. Can be wired.
Picot Edge Ribbon - Continuous small decorative loops form an ornamental edging.
Plaid Ribbon - Classic Scottish pattern of woven colors in warp and weft.
Printed Ribbon - Ribbon printed on by stamping or inking (foil may be applied), or screen printing.
Ric Rac Ribbon - Trim woven in a zig-zag design.
Rococo Ribbon - Trim made of narrow ribbons woven together to create small "flowers."
Ruched Ribbon - Plain ribbon gathered in the center or on either side to create a puckered or pleated effect.

Satin Ribbon - Satin is a special weave giving the ribbon a glossy surface.
Seam Binding Ribbon - Binding for garments often used in packaging.
Soutache Ribbon - Narrow flat braid often used in upholstery. Ornamental and to conceal seams.
Striped Ribbon - Stripes can be woven in or printed on the ribbon. Very popular for grosgrain and taffeta.
Taffeta Ribbon - A flat weave with a matte finish. Often has wired edge.
Twill Tap Ribbon - Diagonal or zig-zag weave.
Variegated Ribbon - Woven with different colors blending together across the width.
Velvet Ribbon - Woven with a thick, plush pile or napped face.
Wire-edge Ribbon - Woven with a fine wire inside of each selvedge, allowing the shape to be held.

These are not mutually exclusive. For example, a grosgrain (pronounced GROW-grain) ribbon may also be both striped and moired. But many of the terms on the above list are not applicable to the service ribbons which are the topic of this article, so collectors definitely should not try to acquire one of each type! The more common types that collectors should be familiar with include:

Grosgrain, also gros-grain and, rarely, gros grain, is a plain weave corded fabric. Plain weave is basically a balanced form of ends per inch and picks per inch; in other words, a kind of repeated hashtag weave. The term “corded” requires a bit more of an explanation. All weaves have a weft and a warp. The weft is the snaking part of the weave and the warp is the mat-like part. In grosgrain ribbon, the weft is heavier than the warp, creating prominent transverse ribs that create a ribbed appearance. It is called a "corded" fabric since the ribbed weft resembles a fine cord. Grosgrain has heavier cords than in poplin but lighter than in twill. Factories in America started to produce grosgrain silk in the late 19th century. Today, a heavy, stiff ribbon of silk or nylon is typically used. Grosgrain has a very dull appearance with little luster but is very strong. It is a firm, close-woven, fine-corded fabric and today, nearly all fabric ribbon bars are made of grosgrain ribbon. While grosgrain fabric is generally black, it can be many different colors, and grosgrain ribbon comes in a large variety of colors and patterns. The ribbons in Figures 2 and 3 are all grosgrain, but the ribs are more visible on the ribbons in Figure 3.

Figure 2

Moire, less often moiré, but in this country generally just called watered. All ribbons are classified as either watered or unwatered. Watered ribbons (Figure 2) have a wavy (watered) appearance that is usually created by the finishing technique called calendering. Moire effects are also achieved by certain weaves, such as varying the tension in the warp and weft of the weave, or by running the fabric through engraved copper rollers. Watered textiles have traditionally been held in high esteem, preferred by those who consider fashion important, and therefore ribbon bars with watered ribbon may have a slightly higher collector value than those with unwatered ribbon. Nevertheless, in the author’s experience, most ribbon bar collectors don’t really care if a particular ribbon is watered or unwatered, unless they collect variations, in which case they will prefer one of each.

Figure 3

Striped. Although solid colors have been used for some awards, two or more colors are the general rule and these usually appear as stripes on the ribbon’s (not the bar’s) long axis (Figure 3A). Ribbons with horizontal stripes (top left in Figure 16) are made the same way as those with vertical stripes but are cut and mounted differently. In this country, these are most often used to represent unit awards rather than individual awards and are usually worn encased in a metal frame. Ribbons that are half one color and half another are sometimes called bi-colors, and although ribbons with three stripes of three different colors are technically tri-colors, in the U.S. the term tri-color usually connotes the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue, all approximately the same width. Stripes are almost always straight but there are a few exceptions, as the ribbon with wavy red stripes in Figure 3B illustrates. The panoply of official colors is broad (around a hundred) so readers are referred to the Wikipedia entry on “Service Ribbon” for a complete list and color chart. This article does not address the various combinations of colors or their meanings, as that is a book-length subject.

Jacquard. Some ribbons have diagonal rather than vertical bands of color (Figure 3C), or they have special design elements (figures), and these are woven on a special machine called a Jacquard loom. Because of this, the ribbons, too, are referred to as Jacquard. Jacquard ribbon can have various yarn compositions and thus is usually thicker and stronger than silk or synthetics. Anyone who has fashioned a ribbon bar by hand with Jacquard ribbon knows how much more difficult the process can be than when using regular ribbon.

Grosgrain. Embroidered. As stated in the description in the list leading off this section, embroidered ribbon has stitching applied to it, usually to add a distinctive symbol or intricate design. Some common examples of embroidered ribbons are the War Department civilian award ribbons and the early Civil Air Patrol ribbons awarded during World War II (Figure 3D). A tell-tale sign of embroidered ribbons is the threads that show on the reverse side.

Printed. Similar in purpose to embroidered ribbons but the symbol, design, or pattern is added by stamping, inking, or screen printing, giving the final product a completely different look and feel. A well-known example of a printed ribbon is the bar for the Medal of Honor (Figure 3E).

Variegated. Variated ribbons contain more than one color, some without clearly defined edges where they are gradually changing (blending) to a different color. Perhaps the best example of variegated ribbon can be found on World War I Victory medals (Figure 1). And a good example of a ribbon with both solid and variegated colors is the Merchant Marine bar shown in Figure 3F. The manufacturing process for this is complicated – and therefore more expensive – so it’s not uncommon to see bars made in recent years use a series of stripes of discrete colors rather than truly variegated ribbon.

All of the bars in Figure3 have corded-edge ribbons, although it is less obvious on some than on others. Again, to summarize, corded-edge ribbon is a ribbon of which the body is silk, and the edge, or the cords on the edge, of cotton. This cotton or cord is either covered lengthwise and all around with silk, or merely on one side of it, or not at all, which latter class is commonly called boyeaux-edge, and the general designation of all kinds, by the trade, is corded-edge ribbons (from a letter dated 1873). Nearly all ribbon manufactured in the U.S. has corded edges.

Figure 4

Ribbon with“boyeaux-edge”

You may have noticed that “boyeaux-edge” does not appear on the aforementioned list of ribbon types. This rather archaic French term for uncorded-edge ribbon alludes to the small intestines because of its long, narrow, tubular characteristics – not a very pleasant association. Today, the preferred term for this type of ribbon is the English word tubular because, as can be seen on the ribbons shown in Figure 4, rather than a series of adjacent ribs, tubular ribbon is one long, continuous “tube” that does a switchback (180-degree turn) at each edge, resembling the curve at the far end of a slide-trombone, but without the space between the upper and lower portions. At first glance it almost gives the appearance of picot-edge ribbon, but a close examination reveals that nothing has been added to the ribbon and the bends do, indeed, form the ribbon’s edges. Because it is much more common in Europe than in this country, this distinctive type of ribbon is often referred to colloquially by U.S. collectors today as “Euro weave.” By the way, the ribbon on the left in Figure 4 was used on the Maryland World War I Service Medal, and the single ribbon on the right displays, from left to right, the patterns for the Army Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, and European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, all in reduced size (narrower than the ribbons used for miniature medals), the purpose of which remains a mystery to this author.

Figure 5

There are, in fact, two different types of ribbon bars, those with fabric (discussed above) and those without. Technically speaking, the non-fabric bars aren’t really ribbon bars, but the term is still commonly used anyway. Most non-fabric ribbon bars are made of either plastic (Figure 5 shows examples of painted ribbons, and Figure 9 is an example of ribbons that used colored plastic), especially popular during World War II, or more recently, enameled metal (Figure 6). An example of metal ribbon bars that most collectors are familiar with is the American Red Cross longevity bars that were awarded from 1949 to 1981 (second from left, below). Also, most police and fire department awards are enameled metal ribbon bars, primarily because of their durability (unlike the military, many police officers do wear ribbon bars on their work uniforms). It should be noted that with few exceptions, metal ribbon bars are not worn in lieu of a medal; rather, they constitute the only “hardware” element of the award (there may be a certificate, citation, or letter also, but only rarely a medal). No further mention will be made of metal ribbon bars.

Figure 6

Construction of ribbon bars has evolved considerably since the first half of the twentieth century. Early bars merely had a short length of ribbon wrapped around a backing of either metal or cardboard and then glued to the backing and/or sewn by hand-stitching the two ends of the ribbon together. Obviously, these were difficult to mass-produce. Eventually, better methods of manufacture were developed that did allow mass production. This will become evident as we progress through the remainder of this article.

Methods of attachment have also evolved. Some of the earliest ribbon bars had small metal rings attached to them (Figure 7) so the bars could be sewn to a uniform using needle and thread looped through the rings. This attachment method was rather permanent, allowed the unsightly attaching mechanisms to show, and therefore proved unpopular and rather short-lived.

Figure 7

During World War II, some ribbon bars were made with no attaching mechanisms at all. One example is the bars awarded for Civil Defense (CD). These bars were made by wrapping the ribbon around the plate and stitching the two ends together by hand, drawing the ribbon taught against the plate (Figure 8). (The bars in Figure 10 also show this stitching technique, but they have pins.) Ribbon bars made this way, that is with no attaching mechanism, were usually sewn directly to a uniform, but sometimes a small safety pin was used as an attaching device. Also shown in Figure 8 is the small cellophane envelope that was used to protect the CD ribbon bars prior to presentation. It’s said the bars were sometimes awarded to the recipients without even removing them from the packages. With no integral attaching mechanism, this is not really surprising.

Figure 8

Other ribbon bars, also made during World War II but of Bakelite (Figure 9) rather than fabric, came with safety pins already attached!

Figure 9

Ultimately, integral catch-pin mechanisms of various types were used (spring and swivel are shown in Figure 10), and today prongs (sometimes called spurs) with clutch-type fasteners (Figure 11) seem to represent the state of the art. Ironically, we’ve nearly come full circle because most fabric ribbon bars today are of the slide-on type, with no integral attaching mechanism. The bar, per se, is made so that it can be slid onto either a pin-back or a pronged mounting plate if only a single bar will be worn, or onto a long mounting plate when multiple ribbon bars are worn. The long mount, often with multiple tiers for multiple rows of ribbon bars, contains the prongs.

Figure 10

Figure 11

Continuing on the topic of construction, some ribbon bars made during World War II have the ribbon sealed in rigid plastic and the only metal used was for the pin and catch. These were one result of the metal shortage during the war. One of these is shown on the far left in Figure 12. As can be seen, these had a tendency to warp and after the war ended nearly all were removed from uniforms and replaced with “new and improved” products.

Figure 12

While pin-backed bars are sometimes still issued with their corresponding medals today, more and more bars are of the convenient slide-on type. The three principal styles of slide-on bars are shown above, to the right of the pin-back. From left to right, the first was a cut of ribbon encased in a hard-plastic shell that was shaped sort of like a C-clamp so that it could be slid onto a metal mounting bar. These were totally devoid of any metal. Next was a bar that contained a single piece of metal that both provided a flat backing for the ribbon and held it in place because the upper and lower ends of the metal were doubled over, crimping the ribbon ends. The current construction method is shown on the far right. Two separate pieces of metal are used. One is “ ”-shaped (sometimes called the u-channel component) to act as a backing for the ribbon, and the other is a flat plate used to wedge the ribbon into place and also to provide added strength to the bar. Both pieces are slotted so that appurtenances (metal devices) may be attached to the ribbon bar. The lack of this accommodation was one of the drawbacks of the hard-plastic bars shown on the left, meaning that appurtenances had to be glued on, which was not only a messy process but also not always permanent (they tended to become detached).

Returning to the topic of plastic-covered ribbon bars, those illustrated in the next image (Figure 13) show a technique that was once quite popular. The ribbons were covered with a thin layer of cellophane that was either glued or crimped on the back side to hold it in place. There were several problems with this method: the covering was easily scratched or ripped, it became discolored with age, and it sometimes came loose.

Figure 13

Figure 14

Figure 14 shows a number of ribbon bars mounted in a rather cumbersome acrylic-and-metal casing that was designed to completely encase ribbon bars to protect them. As can be seen, the casings were designed for single or multiple bars. Because of the non-uniform appearance of such contraptions, use of these was very brief; in fact, in short order their use was specifically prohibited in the regulations that governed the wear of service ribbons and other accoutrements (e.g., “Ribbons shall not be impregnated with preservatives which change their appearance, or have any transparent covering”). Besides, the plastic that was used for a period of time to cover many ribbon bars (for example, those pictured in Figure 15) worked just as well for protection purposes and without all the heavy, bulky metal and super-thick plastic that often, especially when viewed from an oblique angle, did a better job of obscuring a ribbon bar than it did of displaying it!

Figure 15

Turning our attention now to non-standard sizes, let’s first discuss some terms. When describing ribbon bars, official documents often use the term "width" to mean vertical measurement from top to bottom of the bar. In normal parlance the term "width" means the horizontal and "height" means the vertical measurement. However, official papers also use the term "width" in describing horizontal measurement, e.g., of suspension ribbons. Bureaucratic/governmental terminology has never been praised for its art, much less its accuracy. In view of this, normal parlance will be used here: width or wide = horizontal left to right measurement; and height or high = vertical top to bottom measurement. As mentioned previously, standard height today is 3/8-inch, and standard width today is 1-3/8-inches. The ribbon bar on the right in Figure 15 is of the standard height and width. Clearly, the other two are not. And the ribbon bars in Figure 16 obviously are all of different lengths. As incredible as it may seem, there are even more of other lengths that are not shown! The most frequently asked questions on this topic are “Why so many different sizes?” and “When were they used?”

Figure 16

The best answer to the first question is that it just took a long time to standardize the sizes of all the various ribbon bars, many of which initially used exactly the same ribbon as was used on the corresponding medal for suspension of the pendant. When those medals were made, they were intended to be hung on a uniform or around a neck so there had been no thought of a separate ribbon bar, much less a row of ribbon bars. Therefore, early rows of ribbon bars were almost always one-piece custom-made contraptions that attempted to present a more or less uniform appearance.

What follows borrows heavily from a monograph by the late Paul H. Till (1942-1995), a military historian and collector of medals. These are U.S. ribbons of non-standard sizes:

Navy Medal of Honor 1861 and Army Medal of Honor 1862 ribbon has a dark blue band across its top that is 7/8-inches wide, and the vertical red-and-white-striped lower portion is 15/16-inches wide. Belden describes it as "one inch wide."

Army Medal of Honor 1896 ribbon is 1-1/16-inches wide, despite the official description of 1-inch.

Navy Good Conduct Badge (“Nickel Cross”) of 1869 has a tri-color ribbon 7/16-inches wide. Belden describes it as being “one-half inch in width."

Navy Good Conduct Medal, 1870s. The blue-white-red striped ribbon had a width of 1-5/16-inches. In the 1880s this ribbon was replaced by a red ribbon of the same width, which after 1900 was used for its ribbon bar before the dark plum ribbon was adopted.

Legion of Merit, Commander Cravat (neck ribbon) is 1-15/16-inches wide. There is a standard height and width ribbon bar for this decoration (which is bestowed only on non-US personnel), but it is not a strip of the cravat ribbon.

The Merchant Marine Combat Bar, whose sole emblem is a ribbon bar, at first in 1943 was 2 inches wide. By the end of 1944, it was reduced to standard width. Early World War II Navy Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon bars are found 2 inches wide (top left in Figure 16), but these may have been commercially sold examples rather than official issues.

Though they are decorations of civilian origin, the Treasury Department’s Gold and Silver Lifesaving Medals until at least the early 1940s were awarded to U.S. armed forces personnel. The ribbons and ribbon bars of the 1882-1949 types of these decorations officially were 2 inches wide. Ribbon bars are found in widths ranging from 1-27/32 to 2-3/32 inches (those on the right side in Figure 16); that’s a variance of a quarter-inch! As with the bars for ribbon-suspended awards discussed below, these bars were pieces/strips of the suspension ribbons.

Some of the ribbons for the four special Spanish American War maritime awards may have been used for ribbon bars. Unlike most U.S. ribbons, these four have unbound edges. It is reasonably certain that the ribbon of the West Indies Campaign (Sampson) Medal was made into ribbon bars and probably that of the Battle of Manila Bay (Dewey) Medal also. Whether the ribbon of the Specially Meritorious Service Medal (Cross) was is less clear, and whether the ribbon of the Revenue Cutter’s Cardanas Medal of Honor, which was also used for its Relief of Whalers Medal of Honor, is not known to the writer. This ribbon is very similar to that of the Dewey Medal. The Sampson and Dewey Medals each have 1-9/16-inches wide ribbons, although a leading early reference describes the latter being 1-1/2-inches. Unlike the 1/2-inch high Navy ribbon bars that came into use about 1913, the Sampson and Dewey Medal (and possibly the other two) ribbon bars were approximately 3/8-inches high. The Specially Meritorious Service Medal ribbon is 1-17/32 inches wide and that of the Cardanas-Relief of Whalers Medals is 1-1/2 inches wide.

The 1904-type Army Medal of Honor had a 1-1/8 inches wide ribbon and ribbon bar (Figure 3E and also in Figure 16). The same ribbon was adopted for the Navy Medal of Honor in 1913. Starting late in or shortly after World War II, the standard 1-3/8 inches width ribbon bar has been issued. Until the end of World War II, the Medals of Honor had a suspension ribbon (plus optional wear 1-1/8 inches wide cravat ribbon without pad). This was followed by a cravat ribbon with 1-inch wide x 3/8-inches high pad. Since 1945 the shape of the white-starred cravat pad has changed, and its size has increased to 1-5/I 6 inches high x 1-9/16 inches wide in the 1970s for all three services’ styles of medal.

Figure 17

The initial Army campaign medals authorized in 1905-1906 had ribbon bars with the standard width and a quite short 1/4-inch height (see Figure 7). Some state awards used this size also, for example New York’s award for Spanish-American War service (Figure 17). The initial Navy-Marine Corps campaign medals authorized in 1908 also had the standard width but slightly taller 5/16-inch high ribbon bars.

Strangely, in 1913 when the Army and Navy unified the colors/patterns of the Medal of Honor and the medals for the campaigns in which they had both participated, for some reason they did not adopt the same height for their ribbon bars. Further, both services altered the heights of their ribbon bars. The Army increased its bars to the (now) standard 3/8-inch height. The Navy increased its bars to 1/2-inch in height and retained this height until several years after the end of World War II. Ironically, the Navy-Marine Corps China Service Medal 1937-39 had a 1/2-inch high ribbon bar, while its China Service Medal (Extended) 1945-57 had the standard 3/8-inch high ribbon bar.

Exactly when did the “tall” Navy ribbon bars get phased out? The reduction to “standard” height was approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 30 April 1948, but continued wear of the larger ribbons was allowed until October 1951, at which time wear of the 3/8-inch size became mandatory.

This was not the end of divergences, although thereafter they were not so much inter-service as intra-service and primarily confined to the naval service. The Navy Cross and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal each started with a 1-1/2 inches wide ribbon, later reduced to the standard width. The Fleet Marine Corps Reserve Medal of 1939 had a 1-1/4 inches wide ribbon. When the award was changed to the Organized Marine Corps Reserve Medal later that year by deletion of the word "FLEET" from the pendant’s obverse inscription, the ribbon of the new medal was the standard 1-3/8 inches wide.

Earlier in this treatise, mention was made of the Navy Good Conduct Medal’s 1-5/16 inches wide red ribbon of the early 1900s. By the 1920s the color of the ribbon had changed to dark plum and its width widened to the standard 1-3/8 inches. The Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal ribbon from 1896 to 1960 was 1-1/4 inches wide. (After the Second World War a standard 1-3/8 inches wide ribbon bar was sold to permit mounting with other ribbon bars without having any of the backing slide holder show.) In 1960 the ribbon was widened to the standard width. While the Corps was widening its ribbon, the Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal was narrowed for the period 1923 to 1960 to 1-1/2 inches wide. In 1960 it narrowed again to the standard.

It should be noted that not all standard size ribbons appear standardized because of the metal frames used to surround unit decorations. While the Air Force uses frames of the same overall dimensions of standard-size ribbon bars (because their unit awards are worn together with individual awards), both the Army and Navy use larger frames that make their unit awards 1-7/16 inches wide x 1/2 inch high. Nevertheless, the center cloth (ribbon) parts alone are of standard ribbon bar width and height.

While on the topic of ribbon sizes, it should be pointed out that some ribbon aficionados collect cuts, sometimes called swatches, either instead of, or in addition to, ribbon bars. While the widths of these can vary, depending on the award and when the ribbon was made, the various heights that were listed in the preceding discussion are all moot since the height will depend solely on where the scissors made the cut when the swatch was separated from the longer length of ribbon. These “longer” lengths are usually either a roll or a 6-inch cut from a roll, the standard size sold to those intending to replace the suspension ribbon on a medal. Most cuts in a collection are about an inch long, sometimes longer and occasionally shorter. Cuts shorter than an inch are difficult to convert into a ribbon bar, so it’s advisable to keep them at least that length so they will be desirable to ribbon bar collectors should a collection be offered for sale.

Since the subject of value has surfaced, let’s explore that a bit more. Unlike some medals, ribbon bars are never serially numbered or engraved with recipient information and therefore generally do not have a documented provenance. However they do occasionally contain manufacturer’s information, sometimes on the ribbon bar itself and other times on associated metal plates and/or mounting hardware (Figure 18).

Figure 18

But this does not increase the item’s value because ribbon collectors generally could not care less who made a ribbon bar. However, what some ribbon bars do occasionally have that their corresponding medal does not is a metal device (called an appurtenance) attached to the front that may differ from the device attached to the suspension ribbon of the corresponding medal, giving the ribbon bar and device a unique status that makes it highly desired by collectors who like to have the complete array of all of the various components of an award (full-size medal, miniature medal, service ribbon, lapel pin and/or rosette, any appurtenances, the presentation case and/or box these came in, and even the certificate and/or citation that may have accompanied the award). Having all the award elements can significantly increase the value of an award.

And speaking of “all,” collectors whose goal is to have all the awards of a specific branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, or for the really ambitious collectors who want the awards of all five branches, they have no recourse but to collect service ribbons too because a growing number of our military’s awards are now represented by a ribbon bar only—there is no corresponding medal. The reasons for this trend are numerous and beyond the scope of this paper.

In conclusion, there’s one other reason that collecting ribbon bars rather than medals may have a special appeal: they’re actually worn! And awards that are worn can assume a significance that those in a dresser drawer, or even displayed in a shadow box, will never have. Sadly, it is not unusual for the recipient of a medal to have worn it only once, when it was presented, and then never again. This was the case for the author, who retired from the United States Air Force with a number of medals. As incredible as it may sound, the regulation-size medals pinned to the uniforms of Air Force recipients are not authorized for wear except by Honor Guard members. But service ribbons are sometimes worn so often that they need to be replaced periodically! This fondness of ribbon bars is not unique to the author, or even to Air Force members. For example, the story is told of a World War I Army Medal of Honor recipient who, over the years, had come to view the small blue ribbon bar with white stars as the real award, because it was what he had most frequently worn. And there’s something to be said for collecting militaria that is so highly valued by its recipients! v