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Sampson Medal with Six Bars, Navy Cross Group


kanemono
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Here is a group to Lieutenant Karl Rundquist who was born in Kristianstad, Sweden, on May 7, 1870. He served on various merchant ships, including a three-masted schooner smuggling arms into Haiti during one of many Haitian revolutions. On the return journey, the ship with a cargo of log-wood for New York encountered a severe winter storm. Rundquist spent the night at the helm and suffered severe frostbite when his hands froze to the ship’s wheel. The ship made landfall at Nantucket where he was taken to the Marine Hospital. He was a patient for a month while his hands healed. After being released from the hospital, Rundquist traveled to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he enlisted in the United States Navy aboard the USS Receiving Ship Vermont on January 30, 1893. Rundquist served aboard the USS New York, the flagship of Admiral William T. Sampson's North Atlantic Squadron, during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on July 3, 1898. This battle resulted in the complete destruction of the Spanish fleet. After the war, Rundquist was one of the divers who investigated the explosion which sunk the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. While serving on the New York, he received the Navy Good Conduct Medal dated May 17, 1899. He served aboard the USS Brooklyn, flagship of the Asiatic Squadron, and participated in the China Relief Expedition from July 7 to October 12, 1900. For his service in China, Rundquist received the Navy China Relief Expedition Medal. Rundquist also received the Sampson Medal with six bars to the USS New York, the Navy West Indies Campaign Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the Navy Cuban Pacification Medal, the Mexican Service Medal and the World War I Victory Medal with a minesweeping bar. Along with the Navy medals, Rundquist received the Silver New York State Conspicuous Service Cross 1917-1919. At the end of World War I, Rundquist had advanced through all of the different grades of a United States Navy enlisted man. He became a warrant officer in 1903, a chief warrant officer in 1909, an ensign and lieutenant (jg) in 1917 and a senior lieutenant in 1918. Rundquist commanded several vessels before, during and after World War I. Lieutenant Karl Rundquist was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic efforts sweeping mines from the North Sea at the end of the First World War. His citation reads:

The Navy Cross is awarded for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service while in command of the USS Heron, engaged in the important and hazardous work of clearing the North Sea of mines.”

Lieutenant Karl Rundquist retired from the United States Navy in 1926. He died at the Hotel Osborne in Paris, France, on February 17, 1928.

 

 

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This is really something Dick. Never get tired of seeing pieces from your collection. Super.

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Dick.....magnificent...you are ridiculous in the best possible way. It is like going to a masters level history course every time I read the historical details of your groups

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Brian Dentino

All I can do is echo the other comments here and say that this is another amazing and historical grouping Dick. Truly you have a museum for a collection!!! Thanks for sharing another gem with all of us here!

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Amazing group! And the history behind it is just icing on the cake. Also, fun to read the story because my grandfather immigrated from Kristianstad in 1912.

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Fantastic group and research. So great to see complete groups like this which have not been picked apart. Congrats!

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aerialbridge

The sailor whose USS New York Sampson, USS New York GCM, West Indies, and WWI Victory w/Escort bar, I own, was also a New Yorker (Long Island) and undoubtedly knew your man well, as both were rated Gunner's Mates on New York during the war, Rundquist a GM1c and Rosloof a GM3c. It's interesting how the engraving style on the GCMs are different while only 8 months apart. Rosloof's GCM is #3721, is Rundquist's anywhere near that number range?

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  • 2 years later...

Karl Rundquist is my great-great grandfather and these medals and sword were in my mother’s house when she was a child. I’d love to talk more about how you acquired these items. In the attached image you can see him wearing many of these. 

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