Not a lot is known about Chief Boatswain's Mate John H. Riley. A newspaper clipping accompanying the group shows Riley being awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal sometime late in his career. According to the article he received the award from Lt. Cmdr. J.J. Thomas, commander of the Naval Reserve unit 11-5 at the Naval Reserve Training Center in Los Alimitos, California. Best guess is that he is the John H. Riley shown in the SSDI as being born July 21, 1920 in New York, and dying September 5, 1994 in Riverside California which is not too far from where the group originated on ebay.
CBM Riley's full size medals include a bar mounted WW2 group as follows: Named Navy Good Conduct medal with 3 stars, dated 1945; American Campaign medal, Asiatic Pacific Campagn medal, European Campaign medal, and Victory medal. Other full size medals include Armed Forces Expeditionary medal, Navy Occupation medal, and Joint Service Commendation Medal. The bar mounted miniaure medals include Navy Good Coduct, American Campaign, European Campaign, Asiatic Campaign, WW2 Victory , WW2 Occupation, National Defense, Korean Service, Vietnam Service, Korea, and Philippine Liberation. The clutch back mounted mini bar is attached to a labeled card that states "MATSUO & CO. Yokohama".
