86th Infantry Division Tennis Match Medal

[MBS]

I've had this medal in my collection for some time. As you can see it is an award for the 86th infantry division singles champion tennis match. I purchased this from a flea market in which it was in a box of misc. insignia. So the dealer had no information on where it came from.

 

From time to time I have pulled it out and tried to research who the recipient may have been. Needless to say I haven't had much luck turning up any information. According to my research the 86th arrived in the Philippines August 1945. They were then inactivated December 30, 1946 on Leyte, Philippine Islands. So sometime in 1946, prior to their inactivation, they had sport matches. The medal itself is well made and hallmarked by Crispulo Zamora Co. This company is also known to have manufactured DIs for various units in the Philippine Islands.

 

If anyone has any addition information to share I would greatly appreciated it. I would imagine that some history and photographs may exist of their time in the Philippines and I would love to discover the name of the winner of this medal.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Brent

[patches]

The only way we can think of finding out about this medal is if you can lay your hands on Divisional newspapers from the period, most divisions had them, especially during the immediate post war occupation period. Here it might be mentioned in an article. But this is a tough prospect to be sure, I don't even know where you could begin to look, Ebay I suppose, and all the militaria dealers in their Paper and Ephemera sections.

 

We were also going to suggest seeing about their Division association, but it seems it's Offline and Out of Order.

 

See

http://www.86blackhawkdiv.org/

 

Too bad the guy didn't have his name engraved, that would of been of immense help.