it's actually of my grandpa and no one in my family seems to know what the two downward facing chevrons mean. I would love to know!
The downwards-facing chevrons are Overseas Service Bars and indicate that your grandfather served for one year overseas during World War I; each chevron represents six months of service. In World War II, the chevrons changed shape, to horizontal bars. If the soldier served in both World Wars, the chevrons and bars were displayed on the same sleeve at the same time.
For example, this veteran soldier served overseas for a year and a half in World War I.
http://i.imgur.com/zdIgvD9.png
The diagonal stripes on his sleeve are Service Stripes; each stripe represents three years' service with the Army or Army Air Forces, in this case 21 years. A Navy, Marine Corps, and (modern) Air Force stripe represents four years service.
Source:
Which service was he in, and for which country?
Is it a wedding picture? I notice a little bit of white dress and part of what might be a veil. Can't quite tell if there is just an engagement ring in the image though?
Do you have your grandpa's service record; I dare say with a good quality copy of the image someone can identify the ribbons too.
