INDIANA WWI COUNTY SERVICE MEDALS

[BEAST]

Several years ago, after finding Richard Planck's book State, County, City and Organization Medals for World War One, I began trying to find examples of each medal known for the counties of Indiana. While I am not yet finished, thanks to forum member Fred Borgmann, I can present here examples of the 14 known medals. There is one medal believed to exist (Marion) but no examples have been found. When I say known medals, there is no definitive list. Maybe by going through the county records for each county, it may be possible to determine if they placed an order with a vendor or not. I have included descriptions from newspapers or other publications when they have referenced their local medals. I hope to keep documenting these medals and will update this thread as more is learned.

 

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[hirsca]

Very nice! The War Department and I were born and raised in South Bend (St. Joseph County) and have that medal. Thanks for posting all of those. Al.

[teufelhunde.ret]

These are some unique medals and likely very hard to find?

[BEAST]

These are some unique medals and likely very hard to find?

Thanks! The scarcity depends on the population of the city/county and the number of citizens who served.For example Planck shows that St. Joe county had 103,304 of these medals made while German Township only had 3,389 medals.

[BEAST]

Very nice! The War Department and I were born and raised in South Bend (St. Joseph County) and have that medal. Thanks for posting all of those. Al.

Al, I think St. Joe county has one of the most beautiful of the service medals.

[hirsca]

Al, I think St. Joe county has one of the most beautiful of the service medals.

 

Agreed!

 

103,304 medals made? Certainly St. Joe County could not have had that many WW1 Veterans could they? The medal that we have, like yours, is not engraved. I wonder if it was up to the recipient to have the medal engraved?

 

Anyway, thanks again for the great post.

 

Al.

 

[BEAST]

 

Agreed!

 

103,304 medals made? Certainly St. Joe County could not have had that many WW1 Veterans could they? The medal that we have, like yours, is not engraved. I wonder if it was up to the recipient to have the medal engraved?

 

Anyway, thanks again for the great post.

 

Al.

 

Al, That's an interesting point as, according to one source, 7,001 citizens from St. Joe County registered for the draft. As there was no regulation for issuing these, I wonder if it also includes citizens who were involved in the war effort.

 

I believe that most of the counties left the engraving up to the recipient. The only two counties that I have seen consistently engraved have been the city of Evansville medal and Delaware county. However, I haven't seen a large sampling of all of these medals.

 

I see my mistake now, the number referred to by Planck is the 1920 population census number for a particular county. So the 103, 304 mentioned was the population of St. Joe county in 1920. He provides this as a guide to the scarcity of the medals.

[hirsca]

Al, That's an interesting point as, according to one source, 7,001 citizens from St. Joe County registered for the draft. As there was no regulation for issuing these, I wonder if it also includes citizens who were involved in the war effort.

 

I believe that most of the counties left the engraving up to the recipient. The only two counties that I have seen consistently engraved have been the city of Evansville medal and Delaware county. However, I haven't seen a large sampling of all of these medals.

 

I see my mistake now, the number referred to by Planck is the 1920 population census number for a particular county. So the 103, 304 mentioned was the population of St. Joe county in 1920. He provides this as a guide to the scarcity of the medals.

 

BEAST--so, if the population was 103,304, did Planck indicate how many medals were made? Thanks again, Al.

[Fred Borgmann]

Nice work Erick!! I wish we could get one of these lists started for all the rest of the states. Fred

[BEAST]

 

BEAST--so, if the population was 103,304, did Planck indicate how many medals were made? Thanks again, Al.

 

Al, He doesn't have the numbers for the counties. I will check to see if Indiana has a breakdown by county of how many citizens served.

[BEAST]

Nice work Erick!! I wish we could get one of these lists started for all the rest of the states. Fred

 

 

Thanks Fred, couldn't have done it without you!

[hirsca]

Thanks! The scarcity depends on the population of the city/county and the number of citizens who served.For example Planck shows that St. Joe county had 103,304 of these medals made while German Township only had 3,389 medals.

 

Beast---do you know what county the medal from German Township is from? The reason I ask is that St. Joseph County is one of many counties in Indiana that has a German Township in it. I would not think that the German Township medal you show would have come from St. Joe County since the county had issued their own. Thanks, Al.