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USMC Yangtze Service and 1932 Soochow Creek medals to Pvt. Richard K. Ford

Adam R

By Adam R,
in ATTRIBUTED MEDAL GROUPINGS

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Adam R

Adam R

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I started preparing the following intending only to put it in the “For Sale” section of the Forum. However so much work went into it I decided to also post it here in the medal section so that it can stay on the Forum permanently.

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USMC Yangtze Service and Soochow Creek medal pair belonging to Pvt. Richard K. Ford. The Yangtze is numbered on the rim “M.No. 2097” and has the original ribbon and brooch. The Soochow is engraved on the reverse “R. K. Ford Co. F. 2ND BN.” and has an old replacement solid yellow ribbon without brown center stripe. The Soochow appears to have been gold plated after it was engraved, as the gilt is also in the grooves of the engraving.

 

Starting with the USMC muster rolls on Ancestry.com I was eventually able to identify “R.K. Ford” as Richard King Ford, who was serving in Company F of the 2nd Battalion in 1932. When I examined his service file in St. Louis it confirmed the issue of the Yangtze Service Medal by number, so I knew that I had found the correct Marine. The Yangtze Service is the only medal Pvt. Ford was issued by the military. He did not earn a Good Conduct Medal due to some disciplinary problems.

 

Richard Ford (who was originally from Seattle, Washington) had two enlistments from 1927 to 1935; his first enlistment started when he was only 14! (He lied about his age.) During this time he served in China from May 1928 to June 1930 and September 1932 to Jan 1935. He was with Co. F of the 2nd Battalion for one year starting in September 1932. This fits with the 1932 date on the Soochow Creek Medal.

 

Shown below are some of the pages that I copied from Ford’s file in St. Louis which document his Marine Corps service.

post-10651-0-36064000-1353788547_thumb.jpg

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