I finally found my fathers bag of WWII things. First, I think this is the patch from his unit- the 1251st Battalion Combat Engineers

I'd love some help on this one....The one on the righr, there are two of them

He also has an expert rifle pin and two, count em two, good conduct medals. When I tell people who knew my father that, the laugh. The opinion is that he stole those....

He also had a couple of trophys. Some kind of a hat band, a belt buckle and this pin...hope you can read it.

HOW EXCITING! Good for you!

The ribbons are as follows:

European Theatre

American Theatre

Good Conduct

I do not know what that pin is. I defer to someone else....

He had a second ribbon that matched the one you identified as good conduct, so apparently he really did receive two good conducts.... very suprising.

What do the three little stars mean? Are they campaign markers?

the 3 bronze stars are "ribbon devices" for participation in major campaigns.

three stars on an ETO ribbon means that he served in 3 campaigns in the European Theater of Operations. If a vet was in more than 5 campaigns - the bronze stars would've been replaced by one silver star.

Yes, and if there was an arrowhead, it would indicate a beachhead landing.

That pin is a party pin of the NSDAP aka nazi party (I refuse to write it with a capital).

Sort of party day (remembrance) pin of 1934.

Erwin

The first shoulder patch is an Engineer Amphibious Forces Special Brigades Shoulder Patch. This was the patch worn by the engineers that cleared beaches during Amphibious Operations and Assaults.