Original U.S. WWII Outstanding Medal & Ephemera Group of Air Force Major General Charles F. Born with Engraved Distinguished Service Medal & Legion of Merit and Phenomenal Tailor-Made Ribbon Bars - Records of Military Service

Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Group. This is the unprecedented medal and ephemera group of Major General Charles Franklin Born, who served roughly 30 years in the U.S. Army and later the U.S. Air Force. Graduating from West Point in 1928, Born served with multiple units in the pre-war period, and went on to hold multiple commands during World War II, including the 5th Bomb Squadron, 9th Bomb Group. He later served as Operations Officer and Deputy Commander of the entire 15th Air Force in Europe from 1943-1945. He was instrumental in the creation of the Air Force after the war, and was commander of CrewTAF from its inception until his retirement in 1955. The group consists of his medals, including his officially engraved DSM and LM, his foreign awards, a great deal of insignia and theater-made ribbon bars, and some phenomenal ephemera. 

Born’s Distinguished Service Medal citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General Charles Franklin Born (ASN: 0-17143), United States Army Air Forces, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations and Training (A-3), and Deputy Commanding General, FIFTEENTH Air Force, from 1 November 1943 to 7 March 1945. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of General Born and his dedicated contributions in the service of his country reflect the highest credit upon himself and the United States Army Air Forces.

This outstanding grouping consists of the following:

- Born’s officially engraved Distinguished Service Medal in the original presentation case with the ribbon, spare length of ribbon for the brooch, and pin. The medal is rim-numbered 8665. This is an unprecedented medal to find hand-engraved.
- Born’s officially engraved Legion of Merit with Two Oak leaf clusters in the original presentation case with the ribbon and pin. An outstanding example.
- Born’s Original British Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Medal in its original presentation vase by Garrard & Co., Ltd. These are extremely rare on their own, and this one is in gorgeous condition.
- Born’s Yugoslavian Order of the Partisan Star 1st Class in its original presentation case with the ribbon. It appears there were originally other ribbons included, but there is only one left. This was only awarded 627 times, and only 37 TIMES TO FOREIGNERS.
- Born’s French Croix de Guerre 1939-45 with Palm leaf in its original case. There is a 2nd medal which does not have a case.
- Born’s Distinguished Flying Cross in its original presentation case with ribbon and pin, not engraved.
- Born’s first Legion of Merit in the original presentation case, not engraved.
- Born’s Air Medal in the presentation case, not engraved.
- Five OUTSTANDING tailor-made ribbon bars with every ribbon embroidered with gorgeous details. There are several photos of Born in this grouping and online that show Born wearing some of these exact ribbon bars! The latest of the ribbon bars has the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with OLC, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with OLC, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign medal with one campaign star (RARE), the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign medal with four campaign stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the WWII Occupation medal with a plane device, the Air Force Medal for Humane Action, the French Croix de Guerre 1939 with palm, and the Order of the British Empire. There is more research to be done on his Medal for Humane Action! All of these ribbon bars are meticulously embroidered and are outstanding in every regard.
- Born’s Original 1934-dated Air Corps ID Card, at the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Rare document to find!
- Born’s bullion Yugoslavian Pilot’s wings badge, great construction. Presented to him just as they were by several other countries.
- Born’s 6 bullion overseas stripes on green backing.
- Born’s custom-made set of Argentina Pilot’s wings with CHARLES F. BORN in the enamel. This is an outstanding and one-of-a-kind set of wings.
- Born’s set of Uruguay Air Force pilot’s wings.
- An unidentified set of foreign pilot’s bullion wings given to Born with a crown. Small mark on the back. This may be Brazilian as Born mentions being awarded Brazilian Pilot’s wings.
- Born’s three sets of Sterling Command Pilot wings (star and wreath), two pinback and one later butterfly pinback. 
- Born’s two bullion Command Pilot wings on tan cloth backing.
- Born’s smaller mini bullion Command Pilot wings. 
- Born’s set of Senior Pilot wings, pinback. 
- Born’s General’s stars, including four false bullion Brigadier General stars (3 pinback and one screwback), six smooth Brigadier General stars, two mini Brigadier General stars ,five small Major General star sets, and two large Major General star sets. 
- Various other bits including an American Legion Medal, American Defense Service Medal, WWII Victory Medal, two Visor Cap Eagles, and a standard 6-place ribbon bar with some of the aforementioned ribbons. 
- Binder of original documents including Born’s official Military Services record, 9 pages detailing all of the work he conducted during his time in the military. It also notes every award he received with his own added annotations. Also in this binder are documents with his awards listed, an envelope with small pieces of paper listing every award he received, and several printed photos of Born and pages from his Wikipedia, along with Wikipedia pages of the awards he was awarded.
- Born’s West Point ‘28 Class medal and 28 Armband.
- Two West Point uniform buttons and some small West Point pins.
- Small bag of various buttons, collar insignia, pins from Born’s uniforms. 
- Small bag of U.S. Officer collar insignia from Born’s uniforms.
- A personal wallet monogrammed CFB on the interior, empty.
- Very small Air Force ROTC pin.
- Small Sterling Silver FLIR Texas wings in case. 

After moving the 9th Bomb group to strategic bases in South America, he was appointed Air Operations Officer for the Caribbean Sea Frontier and employed Army, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft in anti-submarine warfare. He later handled anti-submarine warfare in the Trinidad sector, being awarded the Legion of Merit for the first time in June 1943. He was then assigned as Operations Officer, 12th Bombardment Command, Northwest Africa Strategic Air Forces. During this period, Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle was Born’s immediate superior. In November of 1943, Born was assigned Operations Officer and Deputy Commander of the entire 15th Air Force, a command he would hold until April 19th, 1945. During this period, Born was responsible for the successful employment of this powerful force to aid in bringing the war in Europe to a successful conclusion. His immediate superior during this period was Major General Nathan B. Twining.

Upon returning to the U.S. in April 1945, Born was assigned as Acting Chief of Staff and Operations Officer of the newly formed Continental Air Forces, commanded by General H.H. Arnold. This command included all Army Air Corps units based in the United States, and he was responsible for the training of replacement crews and units for the combat theaters. In March of 1946 he was assigned command of the newly activated 15th Air Force, being promoted to Major General. He later assumed command of the Tactical Air Command in 1947, shortly thereafter being assigned as Commander of Lackland Air Force Base, a training center for the newly formed Air Force.

In 1949, Born was assigned to the U.S. Air Forces of Europe and aided in operating the Berlin Air Lift, and was instrumental in the success of that mission. In 1951, he returned to the U.S. and was appointed Operations Officer of the new Air Training Command, and was responsible for the expansion of training command during the Korean War from 13 bases to 43 bases. In 1952 he commanded Luke Air Force base in Phoenix, Arizona, and in 1953 was appointed Commander of the Crew Training Air Force, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. During his time in CrewTAF, he was responsible for roughly $2 Billion in capital investment in building CrewTAF bases across the country, which ended up covering nearly 8 million acres of land. His responsibility during this period was the complete management of CrewTAF nationwide.

On October 31st, 1955, Born retired from the Air Force as a Major General. Awards he received include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster. Born was also a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and recipient of the Yugoslavian Order of the Partisan Star 1st Class, of which only 37 were ever awarded to Foreigners. We also found reference that Born was made a Knight of the Order of Bath, but we couldn’t find anything online to support this.

This is an outstanding and truly unprecedented General’s medal grouping that is worthy of being professionally framed all together. Comes ready for further research and display!