Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 #1 Posted August 24, 2008 Having threatened to do this for awhile I thought I would use this Sunday to take the pictures and do the post. I have quite few pictures to post so please hold off any comments until I get them all up. The Coast Guard Good Conduct was first authorized in 1921 and comes in two types. Type one is the larger "gong" type with the top bar and was awarded until right after the Korean War. Type two has a smaller pendant, no top bar, a ring suspension and is generally not engraved. Type I's are the subject of this post. The subsequent award bars are unique in design and will only be seen with CG Good Conducts. A few Coast Guard terms can help date medals and/or identify the man's place or unit of service. The term DIVISION was used prior to the establishment of CG DISTRICTS. These were larger HQ type units that controlled larger areas. Initially divisions or districts were named after places or cities but as the Coast Guard grew they were numbered as larger areas were assigned to them. For example the 7th Coast Guard District covers all of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico; you get the idea. Groups are smaller sub units of Districts. COTP stands for Captain of the Port. CGAS obviously is Coast Guard Air Station. Cutters can be identified either by CGC and the ship's name or just the ship's name without the CGC. If you find a medal to a ship with USS preceeding the name these would be Navy transports that were crewed by the Coast Guard during WW2. Here is an un-named example of the type I medal:
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #2 Posted August 24, 2008 The design of the subsequent award bars are unique to the Coast Guard Good Conduct. On the face will be the unit the man was serving in at the time of the award and engraved on the inside will be the date of the award. The bar snaps in place on the medal ribbon.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #3 Posted August 24, 2008 Here is one of the latest I have a 1953 to the CGC MORRIS
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #4 Posted August 24, 2008 A nice WW2 pair to Victor D. LaPlante of California. Victor was a crewman on the USS Serpens which was sunk by a US submarine in a friendly fire incident with the los of all hands except a handful that were ashore at the time. Victor was one of these luckey ones. I have his other WW2 medals, some photos and his ID bracelet.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #5 Posted August 24, 2008 A nice 1952 Korean War award. The other medals with this group are the Korean War pair and a National Defence.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #6 Posted August 24, 2008 A nice dual service group: Army and CG. The other medals are AMDef, PTO and WW2 Victory. The man served in the army in WW2 and later in the Coast Guard.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #7 Posted August 24, 2008 Dual Service group to a WW1 US Navy sailor with subsequent long service in the Coast Guard. These are unigue in the award dates are engraved on the back of the bars not on the inside reverse.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #8 Posted August 24, 2008 Nice multi bar medal to a WW2 Coast Guardsman who also served in China and the occupation of Japan with the authorization card. He must have been a little bit of a bad boy as there is a three year gap in his Good Conduct awards. I have all his other awards.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #9 Posted August 24, 2008 Close up of his medal engraving, note the date three days prior to Pearl Harbor
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #10 Posted August 24, 2008 Another multi bar to a man that served on the USS Long Beach amongst other ships.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #12 Posted August 24, 2008 Interesting medal with another to the same man with the same award date but a differant unit and engraving style. Possibly a later correction or replacement medal.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #13 Posted August 24, 2008 Another medal to the Shosone from the 1930's
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #14 Posted August 24, 2008 An older medal named to Divisions vice the later Districts
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #15 Posted August 24, 2008 The same medal reverse engraving
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #18 Posted August 24, 2008 A medal to a man that served on a transport as a crewman
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #20 Posted August 24, 2008 A nice 1930's medal to a man that was on two cutters and in the San Perdo Group. The ribbon is shot on this one.
Garth Thompson Posted August 24, 2008 Author #21 Posted August 24, 2008 That's all folks hope you enjoy them. Show me your examples. Garth
usmedalman Posted August 25, 2008 #22 Posted August 25, 2008 Beautiful Coast Guard CGMs. Thanks for sharing the reverse engraving styles. Am I correct that there seems to be no ryme or reason the the various engraving styles? John
Garth Thompson Posted August 25, 2008 Author #23 Posted August 25, 2008 Beautiful Coast Guard CGMs. Thanks for sharing the reverse engraving styles. Am I correct that there seems to be no ryme or reason the the various engraving styles? John John, Your observation is correct. I haven't been able to determine a rhyme or reason to the engraving styles other than the earlier ones seem to be more inclined to the fancy, flowing script. I haven't found one from the 30's yet that exhibits the straight block script of the late 40's and early 50's. That being said there are some later ones with the flowing script. I suspect this lack of standardization comes from the Coast Guard being so small each medal was individually done on order and the type of script used was determined by the engraver. Hope that made sense. The dating on the subsequent award bars is pretty standard straight letter/number engraving i.e. month-day-year XX-XX-XXXX. Thanks for your comments, Garth
coastie Posted August 27, 2008 #24 Posted August 27, 2008 Sorry it took so long but had to dig out my photo files, rather than to take it off the medal board. I about fell over and fumbled my money when the seller said 10 bucks.
USMCR79 Posted August 28, 2008 #25 Posted August 28, 2008 One from my collection with his blue Coast Guard CSC Book Bill
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