Was wondering if any of the regulars were ever promoted or awarded a medal of some sort?? You would think after five years of killing krauts somebody would earn a new bar or a stripe.

By Rose Ann Schrock (Carbine) on Unrecorded Date:

It is never really made very clear if any of the characters ever get any medals or not, but several promotions are evident. For example, Kirby rotates from private to corporal, Caje is showed as a private, corporal, and seargent, and, of course Hanley was promoted to Lt. after D Day.

By Rick Yoshida (Flyboy) on Unrecorded Date:

I think Saunders was wounded enough times to qualify for bushel of Purple Hearts. But of course he usually said its just a scratch..I'll be fine.

By J.J. Fowler (Panzertrak) on Unrecorded Date:

I think Saunders probably qualified for a P.O.W. medal too, but of course he always escaped to fight another day.

By Rose Ann Schrock (Carbine) on Unrecorded Date:

Hanley got some medals. On A Day In June, all he has is the Good Conduct Ribbon (much to Saunders' amusement!). On a later episode, The Quiet Warrior, Lt. Hanley has four medals when he wears his class A uniform in England. As far as I know, Hanley was the only character with evident medals given after D-Day.
Rose (Hazelnut)

By Dana Eugene Creasy (Deecee322) on Unrecorded Date:

Regarding medals for combat soldiers in War Two; a lot depended on the major command you were assigned to. For example, Seventh Army and then Third Army, both while under George Patton, required all soliders to wear ties, helmets and all decoration they were entitled to anytime not actually involved in combat. His officers, however, were required to were ties nearly all the time. Many units, however, left the wearing of individual decorations optional. In fact, several famous general officers rarely wore any of the decorations they were entitled to, especially the "I was there" class (campaign ribbons, etc.)as they viewed them with disdain considering even the rear-echelon chairborne commando (known in a future war as "REMFs") were entitled to them. Saunders, however, when visiting London to deliver the money for the deceased solder to the orphanage wears the most prized of all combat solider's decorations, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, as well as the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon with at least one battle star, a Purple Heart Ribbon and what appears to the American Defense Ribbon, all of which jive with his character's history as having served in North Africa, as well as been around awhile. Individual soldiers were free to decline the award of a Purple Heart and many did so, considering their wounds "just a scratch". For the record, I believe the only promotion actually depicted was the advancement of William G. Kirby from Private to Private First Class. While Caje was referred to as assistant squad leader or acting squad leader many times, I never saw him wear corporal's stripes or any other rank than PFC. Same goes for the other regulars in the cast. Normally, though, Hanley would've been promoted to First Lieutenant after six months of "satisfactory service" during the war period, and although the show lasted five years, it was never clear that any episode occurred after the January-February 1945 time frame (snow being depicted in several episodes). If he was promoted shortly after D-Day, he should've been promoted around late January or early February '45. Also, policy dictated that certain promotions (senior NCOs and commissioned officers) would be reassigned to another unit upon advancement, hence they would've had to leave the show. Maybe that's why nobody ever was promoted, not that they weren't deserving of it... they probably would've been assigned to Garrison's Guerillas or Hogan's Heroes or the Rat Patrol as their new unit... less fun and games!