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Attributed USMC Philippine Campaign Medal: Wirt McCreary


ggent001
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Wirt McCreary was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. USMC in July of 1899. He served in the Philippines and China with the likes of Smedley Butler and Frederic Wise. It seems he was quite a character. During the China Relief Expedition he was in charge of the USMC supply junks on the Pei-ho River. Both Butler and Wise relate the story of McCreary impersonating an Admiral in order to gain the right-away for the U.S. supply train. McCreary was already an 'old man' in his late 30's and 40's when he came in contact with many young marines who would go on to achieve legendary status. I get the sense from reading mentions of him (especially in the memoir of Wise) that he was something of a mentor to many of the young officers with whom he served. His Philippine campaign medal is #310. McCreary also holds China Relief Expedition #110, Cuban Pacification #538, West Indies #242, and Mil Order of the Dragon. These are the ones I know about. I am still on a hunt for his portrait (next stop Erie PA Historical Society). I hope you all enjoy his medal and paperwork. Geoff

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JCBrownABNPFDR

I was really surprised to find this posting. I wasn't even searching for anything related to the Marine Corps or Wirt McCreary. The attached pictures are of Wirt McCreary's China Relief Expedition Medal. I've owned this medal for approximately 20 years having purchased it during the early days of ebay. I just stumbled across it while browsing and took a chance, The person I purchased it from said they got it at an estate sale in a box of odds and ends,

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aerialbridge

That is very cool and encouraging, to see another medal from a split group show up the day after a posting. And that both are in very good condition with original 110 year old drapes.

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aerialbridge

Looks like the Naval Academy Library has a photo of him in a group from the Class of 1884 in their collection, here's the call numbers.

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Wow, amazing! An unexpected pleasant surprise with my bowl of cheerios this morning. Thanks for sharing the picture of his CRE.

 

Also, thanks for the lead on the portrait !

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to say THANKS so much JCBrown for giving me the chance to keep McCreary's CRE together with his Philippine campaign medal. The possibility (however remote) that broken groups of traceable medals could be reunited is one of the main things that attracted me to medal collecting. Needless to say I am thrilled. Here is the pair together:

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Geoff, you lucked out. Here's a photo of Wirt to go with his (your) medals.

 

 

Amazing, thanks so much!

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aerialbridge

Geoff, Glad to help preserve the history and add some skin to this great pair of USMC medals that you have. Here's a couple more photos of Wirt McCreary and a couple of classmates at the Academy, both who went on to become flag officers, with interesting history. Seated is Josiah Slutts McKean, standing at right is Charles Peshall Plunkett.

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aerialbridge

Vice Admiral Josiah Slutts McKean, U.S.N. Ret. United States Naval Academy (USNA) class of 1884, commissioned as an engineer, served in the Spanish-American War, transferred to the line in 1899. Naval War College (NWC); held various assignments in surface ships; Commanded USS Arizona (BB-39), 1918; Duty, Naval Headquarters Washington, 1919. Commanded: BATDIV 7, 1921-1923; SCOFLT (Scouting Fleet), 1924-1926; 11th Naval District, 1926-1928, after which he retired.Admiral McKean received both the Navy and Army Distinguished Service Medal, 1918/1919, which at the time were the highest awards of the Navy and Army. He died at 87 in 1951.

 

Here's an interesting coincidence, McKean was my great-uncle's CO during the several months in 1918 when he was attached to Arizona, and you copied his records for me awhile back in St. Louis at NARA! It really was a small world with regard to the Navy during the 19th century and first part of the 20th century.

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aerialbridge

Charles Peshall Plunkett, Rear Admiral,United States Navy USNA Class of 1884, veteran of the Spanish-American War, during which he commanded both USS North Dakota and USS South Dakota and had served as Director, Target Practice and Engineering Competitions for the Navy Department before the United States entered World War I.
In July, 1918, he assumed command of the 5 Naval Railway Batteries in France. under his direction those mobile units of 14" battleship guns supported French and American armies from 6 September until the Armistice. Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service during the war, he later commanded Destroyers, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and served as Chief of Staff, Naval War College; President, Board of Inspection and Survey; and as Commandant, New York Navy Yard and the 3d Naval District. Retiring in 1928, Rear Admiral Plunkett died in Washington, D.C., 24 March 1931.

 

And when in DC, you can see one of those amazing World War I flat car Naval Railway Guns at Anacostia, by where the destroyer USS Barry used to be docked until a few years ago (sadly).

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FrankEaton01

I've no desire to part with it, but here's Wirt McCreary's West Indies Campaign #242, issued for his service as a naval officer during the Spanish American War. However, since he was a Marine officer when he applied for the medal in 1908, he received the USMC issue. It turned up on eBay in 2002-03, along with his Cuban Pacification and Philippine Campaign. The photos were poor, and the medals weren't described as being numbered. I don't remember the China Relief or Order of the Dragon being available from the seller, so it's nice to see the CRE turn up. He was certainly a character, as evidenced by his extensive USNA demerit list on Ancestry. Thanks to ggent001 for posting and aerielbridge for the photos.

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It just keeps getting better:) Really great, thanks for sharing his West Indies medal Frank Eaton. And thanks for sharing the really awesome photos with history aerialbridge. Since we are on the topic of his naval service I'll share something from his very sparse Navy file which was insanely difficult to locate at the archives. Early files such as this are not entered into the NARA database and must be searched or manually in their holdings. In any case, I noticed that both his USMC and Navy files are missing a lot of documents. I am hoping some of the missing docs were placed in his pension file at the veterans bureau and hopefully I will hear back from the V.A. at some point in my lifetime. He died in 1913 so I think that his medals were placed in storage at that time and may account at least in part for them being in such nice condition after all this time. Here is an extract of his naval service:

 

 

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aerialbridge

Fascinating research, Geoff. Very neat to see the collaborative effort to preserve the medals and the history. The three medals that have been documented are in good hands. Maybe the Cuban Pac. that should be out there with a collector after the last known sale 20 years ago, and the Order of the Dragon will one day turn up.

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  • 1 month later...

Geoff, You have provided an excellent example of research and background information of the medals and the veteran who earned them.

Thanks for posting.

John

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