USMC Dewey For You Viewing Pleasure

[usmedalman]

Allen Menke and I are working on a follow up book to our Specially Meritorious Medal monograph that came out last year. This one is on the Dewey Medal. I thought I would share photos of one of the medals which may or may not make it into the book, but which is quite nice. In its original box and in "as found" condition to Richard J. Heard, a Marine Private on the Raleigh

[Javelin4life]

Beautiful example!  I have a cased example from the USS Boston I can take pictures of if you need.  Thank you for sharing! 

[warguy]

Wow, that is beautiful. I dream of owning a Marine Dewey someday. We can all dream right? Thanks for posting, this was a nice sight on a Saturday morning. 

[Dirk]

Beautiful!!!

[MMcollector]

Thanks for sharing John, fantastic Marine Corps example. Rarely seen.  
 

sign me up for a copy of the new book. 

[aerialbridge]

Good subject for a book.    The Congressional Dewey Medal is not just the biggest US military medal made, now or evermore,  (and the only one by Tiffany & Co) it represents America coming of age as a global superpower 123 years ago.   IMO, for that transcendent history the 1700-some original, named Deweys are substantially undervalued, particularly when you compare them to US coins of similar mintage numbers.  And of that original 1750 or so Dewey's that were struck in 1899, probably less than half survive today.  I would bet no more than 500 are documented to exist (if that).

 

https://www.wearethemighty.com/lists/5-of-the-most-badass-american-naval-quotes-ever/

[katieony]

A beautiful and rare medal...congratulations!

[Kurt Barickman]

A Dewey to a Marine, wow! Thanks for sharing this rare medal.

 

Kurt

[Kurt Barickman]

Which types of ships carried Marine detachments during the SPANAM period and what size were they generally?

 

Kurt

[aerialbridge]

4 hours ago, Kurt Barickman said:

Which types of ships carried Marine detachments during the SPANAM period and what size were they generally?

 

Kurt

 

Kurt,

 

Of the seven warships of Dewey's Asiatic Squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay, the four protected cruisers and the two gunboats carried Marine Guard in the numbers below.   The revenue cutter McCulloch did not carry Marines.  The colliers USS Nanshan and USS Zafiro were part of Dewey's squadron and supported the Manila Bay operation but are not listed in Navy regulations having their crew members eligible for the Dewey Medal and did not carry a Marine Guard.

 

The very few and the very proud-     An original, named USMC Dewey Medal would rate pretty high in any USMC collection, it would seem. Again, these are the original numbers, Lord knows how many are still around 123 years later. 

 

Protected cruisers-

Baltimore-  51

Olympia - 44

Boston-  28

Raleigh-  27

 

Gunboats-

Concord- 18

Petrel- 10

 

Revenue Cutter-

McCulloch- 0

 

[aerialbridge]

Total USMC Dewey Medals awarded-  178 in 1899

 

How many survive to this day?

[Eric Queen]

Incredible medal. Thank yo for sharing it. A pleasure to see. 

 

How does the Dewey compare with the Sampson in terms of number awarded to Marines?

[Kurt Barickman]

Wow, I guess that’s a rare medal by those standards; I would venture very few are in the hands of either families or collectors! 
 

Kurt

[manayunkman]

That’s an amazing medal.

[usmedalman]

7 hours ago, Eric Queen said:

Incredible medal. Thank yo for sharing it. A pleasure to see. 

 

How does the Dewey compare with the Sampson in terms of number awarded to Marines?

I haven't researched the Sampson Metal much, but simply based on the number of ships awarded the Sampson Medal and the fact that battleships like Oregon and Brooklyn carried a larger contingent of Marines, I would estimate at least four or five times more Sampsons to Marines -- maybe even higher.