Now all roads lead to France and heavy is the tread
Of the living; but the dead returning lightly dance.
Edward Thomas, Roads

Thursday, December 10, 2015

The U.S. World War I Victory Medal




5 comments:

  1. Curious that the Army Institute of Heraldry doesn't mention the Citation Stars, which could be affixed to the Victory Medal ribbon. These were awarded for a citation in General Orders. In 1932 the Silver Star Medal was established and made equal to the Citation Star, so those recipients could request a Silver Star to replace the Citation Star if they so chose. Howeveer, not all did so; I have seen WW2-era photos where the individual still has Citation Star(s) on the WW1 Victory Medal.

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  2. Interesting, but perhaps you could mention that this is only the American version of the WW1 Victory Medal.

    Every one of the Allied nations issued their own version to celebrate their allied victory, with common elements such as the rainbow ribbon, the text "The Great War for Civilisation", a winged victory figure etc. It's fascinating to see the local variations for countries like Japan, Siam, Greece, etc.

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    Replies
    1. Good point. I adjusted the title so it's clear it is the U.S. Medal, but that's as much as I can do with this graphic.

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  3. The State of Pennsylvania issued a Victory medal to its National Guard Division at the end of the war, with a different medal hanging from the standard ribbon.

    It is bronze in high relief, it has William Penn in armor side view in the center- says "Pennsylvania National Guard" scrolled around the upper rim and says "World<>War" at the bottom with a keystone at the bottom bracketed by the words and "PNG" on the keystone.
    On the back is an American eagle flying right center over some rolling countryside below on the horizon with what looks like a burning French village to the left in the background and an American flag drapped at the bottom around another keystone with "28" on it.

    This was for the boys of the 28th NG Division. In WW1 they were called by Pershing his "Iron Division" after their feats at the 2nd Marne Battle in July - actions overshadowed by the 3rd Rock of the Marne ID next door but just as important.

    When I was a child ( early 1950s) there were three silvery bars in the box: "Meuse-Argonne" was one I remember- they have disappeared over the decades- but we still have the medal and ribbon in the original box.

    The box it is in is stamped Jos K Davidson's son's Inc 210 S 19th Street Philadelphia USA. This medal belonged to one of my family members who was in the 28th.

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  4. Mr. Patton's comment on Dec. 10 mentions Citation Stars. I may have one of those with my father's Victory medal for his service in Siberia. Can someone point me to a Web site that shows Citation stars? If so, post here and I will follow up. And thank you.

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