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Veterans' Day is a week away. Why not post something from your collection?


aerialbridge
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You've got time. You don't need to be a good photographer or writer, just make the effort. If you've been sitting on the fence and just watching stuff from other guys' collections for months or years, why not show some of your own? The sky won't fall down, Mongol hordes won't invade and your collection won't evaporate. Honor a vet whose medal(s) you are caretaker of. So, pick a title and start a post. Try it, you'll like it. Really.

 

 

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AB.

 

Sadly, many if not most collectors here are not going to post their better medal groups, for fear some distant cousin of the recipient,

searching the Net, wants their family medals back.

 

 

Wharf

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Ahoy, Wharf,

 

Well that's good news that it's not the Mongol hordes, breachers of keeps or boarders with cutlasses that are keeping collectors who lurk but never post, from doing the latter. And we know it's not like they don't enjoy looking at medals or they wouldn't be reading this, right? Even Zachariah and his cadre like looking at medals when they come orienteering here. And let's give benefit of the doubt that the lookers but never posters aren't just too lazy or incredibly busy to lay a few medals on the kitchen table and pull out their phone. Amazing medal(s) cry out to be photographed, so they're already photographed, if just for insurance. So, it must be as you say, "If (not when) the family comes a callin'". Good grief, man, that's the easy one. Mrs. Nancy Reagan said it best in three immortal words, the first being "Just" and the last "no". Said politely but firmly. The possibility can be offered that when the mortal stewardship draws to a close, the contact information may be kept for a possible succession. Or it may not.

 

You may recall, on a posting of what I believe was a rather historic Sampson medal that I did a few years ago with no attempt to conceal the identity, about a month or so ago the great-grandson of the recipient found and replied to my post. Thereafter, there was no awkward exchange of "How did you get my great-grandfather's medals?" Whether the question was asked or not, the answer would be freely given. "I bought them." And that means I own them. In a forum full of collectors, I doubt I would be seen as the "bad guy" for not immediately coughing up the medals that I own. And if I was, frankly, it wouldn't matter to me, since apart from the ownership, I'm the one that honored the service, did the research and told the story. Shared DNA has nothing to do with that. In the post I referred to, what followed was a welcome exchange where the great-grandson posted some photos and gave more information to make my post about his great-grandfather's medal even better. But wait, there's more. The grandson, who had joined the forum to reply to my post, even started his own post and shared previously unpublished scans of his grand-fathers, very historic, posthumous Purple Heart, earned as the captain of the first submarine lost with all hands during World War II. That's a Win -Win for collecting and preserving history, if ever there was. Zach, if you're reading, how do you like them apples as far as what some of us collectors and writers do to honor service?

 

I look at it as an opportunity, not something to fear or dread, if the family "comes a callin'" on one of the many posts I have done and stories I have told, to honor the service of a deceased veteran. So assuming bona fide ownership, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself". To paraphrase TR, as far as those who share their collections by posting and those who do not, "The credit belongs to the collector who actually posts scans of his collection, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know the pride or satisfaction of sharing." And Wharf, you are one of the posters who shares, so thanks, even if you do hold back some of your top drawer medals for the reason you stated. ;) What if there were a forum to post, and nobody posted, just looked? Thanks to all who have taken the "courageous" step, free of whatever unspoken fears, to post some of their medal collections here. And to more of the same in the future.

 

Good Veterans' Day to all who wore the uniform.

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I've been on a WWI kick for the past several years due to the 100 year anniversary this last November. I had two uncles that served, one enlisted at 31 years of age the other at 18. The younger went overseas and served in the Advanced Section, Service of Supply. The older stayed stateside and was stationed at Fort Omaha at the Balloon School. That rekindled my interest in US Victory medals which had sat for a few years due to no new additions in the collection. The reminder of Armistice Day this weekend caused me to bring out a couple engraved Victory Medals which don't quite fit the norm as what we typically see. Rim engraved medal can be difficult to photograph but these two were easy.

 

We, as collectors remember and remind others of the service and often the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters in uniform.

 

G2

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Today is Veteran's Day. Take the time to thank a Veteran for their service. Today, I would like to thank these Veterans who are honored as part of my GOD DUTY COUNTRY Veterans Display:

 

John B. Goodman Sr WWI WIA (gassed)

John B. Goodman Jr WWII

John B. Goodman III WWII KIA

Maria A. Goodman WWII USAAF Civilian Worker

Elizabeth A. Goodman WWII USN Civilian Worker

William R. Goodman Korea (father)

Robert L. Goodman Korea

Roger W. Goodman Vietnam

Joseph Lucker WWI

William M. Byrne WWI

William J. Byrne

Phil A. Manix Civil War

Phil A. Manix WWII WIA (not reported)

John William Manix WWII

Thomas Parker Revolutionary War

Virgil V. Parker WWII WIA KIA

Frederick A. Briard Civil War

Richard A. Mauritson WWII

Lynn W. Mauritson Vietnam

Marvin J. Braun Korea

Randall W. Yamanaka

Charles K. Singer WWI

Donald C. Singer WWII

Frederick E. Edgecombe WWII

 

Put a green light in a prominent location so all can see. It's called Greenlight A Vet. We might not recognize a Veteran, but when they see it they know that a nation recognizes them for their service. SALUTE! Happy Veteran's Day.

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Thanks to all who are posting your medal and photo tributes here. Powerful images and appropriate for this Veterans' Day when we remember our forefathers and uncles. A hundred years ago, my great-uncle Ed made it back from over there. I met him a few times before he died in '73. From ancestry.com I was able to piece together that he was drafted into the Army and after boot camp at Camp Pike, Arkansas, he shipped overseas on May 8, 1918 from Hoboken, NJ aboard the transport USS America as one of the "Camp Pike April Replacement Draft" troops. He was an infantryman with the 2nd Division, 23rd Regiment, 3rd Battalion, K company in France. He was wounded in action and awarded one of the initial, hand-engraved Bailey, Banks and Biddle Purple Hearts to Word War One Army wounded in the early 1930's. Whereabouts of that and his Second Division Victory medal are sadly unknown. Ed returned to the US on April 19, 1919, as a private first class in the "St. Aignan Casualty Co. 3429 Minnesota" with his unit being the 248th Military Police, sailing aboard the SS La Lorraine from La Havre, France. Following the war, he worked as a building painter, making his home in St. Paul, MN where he met and married his wife, Marie, who died in the mid-1950's. They had no kids. By the 60's when I met Uncle Ed, he was living with a few of his widowed or spinster siblings in a house on Selby Ave. in St. Paul. I'd give an "eye toof" to see his medals. But at the least, I intend to find out all I can about his service with the Second Division, which battles he would have been in, wounded, Purple Heart record, etc. And I continue to look for a good match from a period WWI dough-boy photo to crop in the boots and leggings for this photo.

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