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Glenn Penabaker 's 1922 Polar Bear Reunion Medal


stratasfan
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Hi, All! thought I'd post this. This is a 1922 Polar Bear Reunion medal that came from the estate of Pvt. Glenn Penabaker, who served as a cook with the 310th Engineers. He never filled his paper out for the top of the medal, so a fellow forum member was kind enough to type out the proper inscription on a nice piece of paper, so that I could slip it in and make it look authentic!

 

If anyone has anything from Mr. Penabaker, I'd love to see photos! Send me a PM!

 

post-151812-0-07822200-1508021686.jpg

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A really neat reunion badge. As it comes to the name frame, I have a VFW reunion badge that has the man's name hand written in ink and mis-spelled. Sometimes these names were filled out in advance so the veteran just had to pick his up off the table. I wonder what my guy thought when he found his badge with the mis-spelling?

 

I bet he wore it for the convention anyway as he kept it for many years thereafter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There was another reunion medal from the same vet, and I did see a photo of it. It also had his name and reg't written on the paper.

 

Here is a photo. I know it was sold recently, but would love to meet up with whoever bought it! I've got some info to share about Mr. Penabaker. Really cool to be able to see the pics, though! This medal below looks like a pinback button on a ribbon. ;)

 

post-151812-0-49883700-1509371639_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

. . . . , check the Polar Bears Website at the Univ. of Mich., Bentley Historical Library.

 

Interesting Medal.

 

I was an associate member of the Polar Bear Association of WW2 Veterans. My Dad was in an artillery battery that was associated with the 337th Infantry Regiment and not the 339th Regiment but I joined the Polar Bears anyway so I could learn some history of WW2.

 

My question: Would the Polar Bear Association for WW1 Veterans be the same as the later Polar Bear Association for WW2 Vets?

 

The reason that I ask is the Polar Bear Association was officially disbanded at their reunion at Gettysburg, PA, in September 2008. The Association disbanded because the by-laws stated that it would automatically disband when the attendance to a reunion would be less than 25(as I recall). That year there was some bad weather and many Vets were sick or unable to travel. That was some 60+ years after the end of WW2. So I'm sure there were some WW1 Polar Bears still living after the end of WW2 and could have attended the same reunion.

 

Link to a webpage on the WW2 Polar Bears: http://user.pa.net/~cjheiser/ct9/339f4.htm

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