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Which States & Towns Issued WW1 Service Medals?


Bugme
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That San Francisco medal just typifies the era, simply beautiful!

 

What is the third one down?

 

Cheers!

 

Syd

 

Third one down is the great state of New Hampshire. Yeah, the SF one is very nice...simple yet elegant.

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What is the number on the WWI State medal, some are name traceable

 

Bill

 

 

I've always been curious about that........what numbers are traceable, and how do you do it? (If you're willing to share.) ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
CNY Militaria

As promised, shown in this photo is a NY WWI medal and NY Mexican Border Service medal.

 

Also, WWI City of Oswego medal, and named Rochester City medal.

i_346.jpg

i_348.jpg

i_350.jpg

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  • 12 years later...
Primoris Scio

Is there a list for the states that created a WW1 service medal?  Were all of the soldiers from that state eligible for the state medals?

 

I know the following states have one:

Connecticut

New York 

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Maryland

 

Did Indiana issue a WW1 state service medal?  I have seen some of the counties issued one, is there a medal for Fulton County, Indiana?

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mikes militaria

Funny you should ask. It just so happens that while I was taking pictures of my US Victory Medals I took a few others.


The top row is Virginia county, city and town medals. Virginia didn’t issue a state medal that I’m aware of.

 

Second row. Rhode Island. I didn’t know this existed until I got this one. I don’t know anything about it. The dates on the back are 1918 to 1920 which seems strange. But there it is.
 

 State Medals second row: Rhode Island, Missouri Federal Svc and National Guard, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oregon.

 

Bottom row: Pennsylvania Federal Svc., PA National Guard, Connecticut (2), Washington D.C. (2), Delaware, New York (2 and a mini) and Wyoming (2).

 

These are all that I know of. There plenty of Forum members that know more than I do.

 
 I have an old out of print book by Louis Small called “The WW1 Service Medals Issued By States, Counties, Cities and Towns.” It’s a paperback book. Looks like it was printed on a copy machine. But has a good listing of most local medals. I was lucky to find one. It is missing Delaware, Pennsylvania NG , PA  Fed Svc. and Rhode Island. It has Missouri listed but doesn’t list Fed Svc or National Guard. Just Missouri. It doesn’t give any info on criteria for receiving the medals. Just that they exist. I believe a person just had to be in the Military during the war. There is another book out there, I don’t remember details about it.  Small’s book has a list, state by state, of City, County and Town Medals and how many were issued. It’s not a complete list, I have a few that are not listed in his book.
 

 Be careful, once you open that can of worms of local medals it could get out of hand. I’ve been to rehab a few times but I keep buying more. I’m thinking about posting them, whether a new post or to an existing post, I haven’t decided yet.

2727D439-228B-42B4-88B9-B2586BE7D532.jpeg

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Primoris Scio

Mike that is a special collection very nice, please feel free to post more of your collection.  There are too few examples of the state medals available, but some of them are even better than the Federal versions.

 

Here is my City of Elmira, Chemung County, NY medal - IMO it is one of the best designs:

 

Chemung County - Elmira Town - WW1 Service Medal.jpg

Chemung County - Elmira Town - WW1 Service Medal - Reverse.jpg

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1 hour ago, warroom1 said:

State of taxes has this one.

il_570xN.1170907792_gcg6[1].jpg

il_570xN.1768609633_bjsd[1].jpg

The Texas Cavalry Medal was issued to Non Federalized (Not eligible for a Victory Medal) State Guard Troops that guarded the Mexican Border during WWI. This medal only was issued to State Guard Troops

 

Bill

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LOL I call it Taxes. I was there for 23 years. The property taxes are outrageous. 

 

As far as State issued medals I asked before...crickets... Maybe some one will list them. States not City and Counties. 

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Primoris Scio

warroom that is fantastic!  So awesome that you have them, this display alone requires a book of research!

 

Here is my NY WW1 Service Medal:

 

720784640_NYWW1ServiceMedal.jpg.ebfaf4d88f180f4aeed14c952c4353bc.jpg

317612833_NewYorkStateGreatWarServiceMedal-Reverse.jpg.c2f9f2b5c7729ec2ef1f2282dda9001f.jpg

 

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mikes militaria

Warroom , I knew a guy from Dollars Taxes, sorry I can’t help myself. I’m glad you guys liked the state medals. 268th CA, the second post in this thread has a few state medals.

 

Flashlarue, do you have a picture of the Arkansas state medal? I’d like to see it.

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Primoris Scio
22 minutes ago, 268th C.A. said:

As far as State issued medals I asked before...crickets... Maybe some one will list them. States not City and Counties. 

Some of the states left it up to the city or county to supply medals, Indiana seems to be one of them. 

 

New York had state, county and city awards, and it would not surprise me if NY supplied the most soldiers for WW1.  The 27th, 42nd, 76th, 77th Divisions and 369th Infantry Regiment drew heavily from the NY state population, it makes sense that there would be more medals offered from that state's local communities.

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mikes militaria

A close up of the differences of the PA Federal Svc and National Guard medals. The keystone has a star on the obverse of the fed. The National Guard has “PNG”. On the reverse the fed has a “US”  and the guard has “28”. On the outside perimeter on the fed says PA Federal Service, The guard medal says PA National Guard.

32FE14FE-2661-44DA-8770-D96B526ECCDE.jpeg

9125AE79-3D2A-4640-8F85-5E6BD6B187F3.jpeg

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mikes militaria

I have a copy of Louis Small’s medal book. 1990. He has 180 New York local medals listed. Massachusetts is next with 132 and Pennsylvania with 119. I have a couple medals from a few states not listed in his book. Texas has 2 listed. Alto Texas issued 45 medals. Foard Texas issued 184 medals. That’s it in Small’s book. There is another book out there, I’ll see if I can find the name and author. There are also “Welcome Home” medals given by some towns.

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13 hours ago, mikes militaria said:

Funny you should ask. It just so happens that while I was taking pictures of my US Victory Medals I took a few others.


The top row is Virginia county, city and town medals. Virginia didn’t issue a state medal that I’m aware of.

 

Second row. Rhode Island. I didn’t know this existed until I got this one. I don’t know anything about it. The dates on the back are 1918 to 1920 which seems strange. But there it is.
 

 State Medals second row: Rhode Island, Missouri Federal Svc and National Guard, Maryland, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oregon.

 

Bottom row: Pennsylvania Federal Svc., PA National Guard, Connecticut (2), Washington D.C. (2), Delaware, New York (2 and a mini) and Wyoming (2).

 

These are all that I know of. There plenty of Forum members that know more than I do.

 
 I have an old out of print book by Louis Small called “The WW1 Service Medals Issued By States, Counties, Cities and Towns.” It’s a paperback book. Looks like it was printed on a copy machine. But has a good listing of most local medals. I was lucky to find one. It is missing Delaware, Pennsylvania NG , PA  Fed Svc. and Rhode Island. It has Missouri listed but doesn’t list Fed Svc or National Guard. Just Missouri. It doesn’t give any info on criteria for receiving the medals. Just that they exist. I believe a person just had to be in the Military during the war. There is another book out there, I don’t remember details about it.  Small’s book has a list, state by state, of City, County and Town Medals and how many were issued. It’s not a complete list, I have a few that are not listed in his book.
 

 Be careful, once you open that can of worms of local medals it could get out of hand. I’ve been to rehab a few times but I keep buying more. I’m thinking about posting them, whether a new post or to an existing post, I haven’t decided yet.

2727D439-228B-42B4-88B9-B2586BE7D532.jpeg

Mike is correct on the states.  Douglas Boyce in his comprehensive book "State Medals for War Service" also identifies a state medal from Colorado and a possible variant for Rhode Island.

 

My set is pictured below as follows (left to right and mostly front and back)

Row 1 -- Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland (I have one for the revesere but not yet in the frame), New Hampshire

Row 2 -- Transmittal letter for Missouri, Missouri National Guard (NG), New York, New Jersey, North Carolina

Row 3 -- Missouri Federal, New York Field Service

Row 4 -- Oregon, Pennsylvania NG, Pennsylvania Federal, Rhode Island, Wyoming

 

Each state had different criteria and several interpreted the qualifications broadly including veterans who were from the state, veterans who entered the service in the state, etc.

Dennis

 

20211025_153852 3.jpg

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Sorry, I was typing faster than I was thinking.  Oklahoma also issued a medal.  Boyce's book has the details.  I've only seen 4 of them but unfortunately lost all the auctions!

DD

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Primoris Scio

Great addition Bert!  When you get time can you please provide some closeups of those medals so we know what it should look like?  There is no hi-res magnifying feature for the photo.

 

According to your list there were only 14 states that offered their own version of their medals?  

 

mikes militaria provided me with this image below showing a few (15) Indiana counties gave out their own medals, and there was no statewide award.  Is this how the rest of the states handled it?

368627559_IndianaCountieswithWW1ServiceMedals.jpeg.438757fa60a74de865aaea3fd5c58ad5.jpeg

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23 minutes ago, Primoris Scio said:

Great addition Bert!  When you get time can you please provide some closeups of those medals so we know what it should look like?  There is no hi-res magnifying feature for the photo.

 

According to your list there were only 14 states that offered their own version of their medals?  

 

mikes militaria provided me with this image below showing a few (15) Indiana counties gave out their own medals, and there was no statewide award.  Is this how the rest of the states handled it?

368627559_IndianaCountieswithWW1ServiceMedals.jpeg.438757fa60a74de865aaea3fd5c58ad5.jpeg

Yes.  States, counties, towns/cities, organizations all made their own decisions on whether to issue medals and if so, the design, qualifications, etc.  I believe it is generally accepted that there were over 2000 different state, county, town/city, and organization medals produced for WW1 service.  That number seems to constantly increase as new ones that are not in the references are discovered.

 

Some counties//towns/organizations issued lapel pins, badges, rings, cigarette lighters, and so on in lieu of medals.  Some communities presented more than one type of medal as well.  Ususally this means they issued a medal or something else to men/women who registered or signed up for the military or some other war service organization and a different one to veterans when they returned home.

 

I'll try to get some pictures soonest.  Best thing to do is invest in the references and search the forum for the many posts that have been written about these medals.

Dennis

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