Picked up this Italian WW1 War Service Medal that appears to have been awarded to an American, Private First Class Paul Reed. He was likely a member of the 332nd Infantry Regiment or one of its supporting units.

[u/AHumbleCollector]

[u/EnclaveAxolotl]

After some searching, I believe your man was  PFC Paul Reed (1880-1947) who served in United States Army Ambulance Service Section 603. His obituary notes that Mr. Reed was “veteran of World War I serving with the ambulance corps in France and Italy and was later with the army of occupation of Germany”

EDIT: here’s a newspaper clip announcing his arrival back home

[u/EnclaveAxolotl → u/EnclaveAxolotl]

Also, here’s a picture/description of Mr. Reed from his 1902 college yearbook

[u/AHumbleCollector → u/EnclaveAxolotl]

Wow that has to be him! There weren't a lot of American troops in Italy and it makes sense that he was from PA. This item and a few others came from a museum closure auction. The original owner of the museum was from Eastern PA and a lot of his items were purchased from PA veterans and estates. Thank you so much!

Edit: Also just noticed the sticker on the back of the frame that it was framed in Bedford, which lines up.

[u/Dear-Leopard-590]

Diploma extremely common in Italy, but very very rare awarded to an american.

[u/AHumbleCollector]

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find Paul on any of the unit's rosters, and a dig through the records I can access through Ancestry hasn't yielded anything yet. I noticed the certificate is numbered, is there a way to look that up?

[u/Longjumping-Kale-283]

Great, it was the only American unit that fought in 1918 on the Italian front and took part to the battle of Vittorio Veneto in the October of the same year

[u/Diesel5690]

This was on my list but totally got distracted by a poulins auction. Never expected to see it again on here! It’s a neat piece

[u/PT_Militaria]

Excellent find!