United States. A Second War & Korean War Group To P/O First Class Kinstler, Operation Crossroads

Includes:

three Groups of Three:

1. Group One: (i) Navy Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Stars: reverse mounted, impressed "JAMES JOSEPH KINSTLER 1946" on the reverse.

(ii) American Campaign Medal.

(iii) Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars.

2. Group Two: (i) World War II Victory Medal.

(ii) China Service Medal.

(iii) Navy Occupation Service Medal.

3. Group Three: (i) National Defense Service Medal.

(ii) Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars.

(iii) United Nations Service Medal for Korea. All three groups mounted to a suspension bar with dual push pin points intact, original ribbons.

4. four Ribbon Bars: (i) Navy Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Stars / American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars.

(ii) World War II Victory Medal / China Service Medal / Navy Occupation Service Medal.

(iii) National Defense Service Medal / Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars / United Nations Service Medal for Korea.

(iv) Philippine Liberation Medal with Bronze Star / Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation / Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.

5. three Identification Tags (Dog Tags): (i) two United States Navy tags stamped "JAMES JOSEPH KINSTLER / 723 39 37 / USN C A".

(ii) one United States Naval Reserve tag stamped "JAMES JOSEPH KINSTLER / 723-39-37 / T/5/43 / USNR A".

6. Bikini Atomic Testing Liberty Cuff Patch: in red, yellow white and blue embroidery on black nylon, measuring 180 mm (w) x 78 mm (h). Accompanied by a research paper. Better than very fine.

Footnote: James Joseph Kinstler was born on January 16, 1926 in Botkins, Shelby County, Ohio, the son of John Kinstler and Nellie Wiseman. He joined the United States Navy (723 39 37) in 1943 at the age of 17 for service during the Second World War. Kinstler would be assigned to the USS Presque Isle, eventually achieving the rank of Aviation Storekeeper Petty Officer First Class (AK1). The USS Presque Isle was initially known as USS LST-678, a LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during the Second World War.

Later, she was converted to a Benewah-class barracks ship as USS Presque Isle (APB-44), named after Presque Isle County, Michigan. USS LST-678 was laid down on April 29, 1944 by the American Bridge Company of Ambridge, Pennsylvania. The ship was launched on June 16, 1944 and commissioned on June 30, 1944. Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, LST-678 proceeded via the Panama Canal and San Diego to Pearl Harbor, which she departed on January 24, 1945 to participate in the invasion of Iwo Jima, with Kinstler as part of the crew. The ship was re-named USS Presque Isle (APB-44) on March 31, 1945 and provided logistic support for the Iwo Jima campaign from February 22nd to March 3rd.

At Saipan, she prepared for the invasion of Okinawa and subsequently participated in a diversionary landing on its southern coast on April 1, 1945, rescuing 188 men from LST-884 which had been hit by a kamikaze. On April 2nd, she was assigned tender, housing, and supply duties. The ship departed Okinawa on July 8th and spent the remainder of the war at San Pedro and Subic Bays in the Philippines. After the end of the war, she was assigned to the Occupation of Japan from September 20, 1945 to February 14, 1946. In July 1946, she participated in Operation Crossroads, the nuclear weapon tests in Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll consisted of the detonation of twenty-three nuclear weapons by the United States between 1946 and 1958. Tests occurred at seven test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air, and underwater. The test weapons produced a combined fission yield of 42.2 Mt of TNT in explosive power. The United States and its allies were engaged in a Cold War nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, to build more advanced bombs from 1947 until 1991. The first series of tests over Bikini Atoll in July 1946 was codenamed Operation Crossroads.

Operation Crossroads consisted of two detonations, each with a yield of 23 kt of TNT (96 TJ). The first test, "Able", was detonated over Bikini on July 1, 1946, dropped from an aircraft and detonated 520 ft (160 m) above the target fleet, however, it was off target, sinking only five of the ships in the lagoon. The second test, "Baker", was suspended under a barge and was detonated underwater at a depth of 90 ft (27 m) on July 25th, sinking eight ships. The second underwater blast created a large condensation cloud (Wilson cloud) and contaminated the ships with more radioactive water than was expected.

Many of the surviving ships were too contaminated to be used again for testing and were sunk. The airborne nuclear detonation raised the surface seawater temperature by 99,000 °F (55,000 °C), creating blast waves with speeds of up to 26 ft/s (7.9 m/s), and shock and surface waves up to 98 ft (30 m) high. Blast columns reached the floor of the lagoon, which is approximately 230 ft (70 m) deep. A third test, "Charlie", was planned for 1947 but was canceled primarily because of the Navy's inability to decontaminate the target ships after the "Baker" test. Charlie was rescheduled as Operation Wigwam, a deep water shot conducted in 1955 off the California coast. Presque Isle was assigned to Task Unit 1.8.3 of Task Group 1.8, which was part of Joint Task Force One.

Her task unit was responsible for delivering dispatches and boat services. The Joint Task Force One itself was formed on January 11, 1946. It followed the basic principles of amphibious task forces used during the war, with the incorporation of the necessity of scientific program. The staff of the joint task force consisted of Army, Navy, and civilian scientific personnel. Presque Isle was decommissioned on April 18, 1947, she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Charleston Navy Yard. Kinstler would also see action with the United States Navy during the Korean War and is credited with having served as well with the United States Naval Reserve. Aviation Storekeeper Petty Officer First Class was awarded the Navy Good Conduct Medal in 1946.

For his Second World War service, he was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal with Bronze Star and the Philippine R

epublic Presidential Unit Citation. Post-war, he was awarded the China Service Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. For his service during the Korean War, he was awarded the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Campaign Stars, the United Nations Service Medal for Korea and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. In addition, in regards to the Bikini Atomic Testing Liberty Cuff Patch, it is in the same style as other Liberty Cuffs, which were worn/hidden inside the cuff as they were not regulation, the tradition ending in the early 70's due to new orders stating that sailors can leave ship in "civies" instead of their "cracker jacks".

James Joseph Kinstler was 19 and a resident of Sidney, Ohio when he married for the first time, Edna Mae Keller, on June 28, 1955 in Indiana. He would later marry for a second time, taking Martha Rose Watercutter (born April 25, 1928) as his wife, on June 24, 1972 in Shelby County, Ohio. He had four children: Debbie (Bill Farrier), Jenny (Frank G. Cardo), Michelle (Woehler) Landers and Linda L.Cardo. James Joseph Kinstler died on January 7, 1973, at the age of 46 in Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio and was buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Botkins, Shelby County, Ohio. His wife, Martha Rose Watercutter Kinstler died on November 27, 2008, at the age of 80 and is buried with her husband.