Which States & Towns Issued WW1 Service Medals?

[bertmedals]

27 minutes ago, mikes militaria said:

Great info Dennis

Thanks. 

[kwc271]

Here is one from Greenville,SC

[bertmedals]

7 hours ago, kwc271 said:

Here is one from Greenville,SC

The Greenville, SC medal is a great one and I think it used a unique design -- no other county or town using the same one.

 

In my opinion though, the best thing about it is the paper glued inside the top cover of the box the medal came in that describes how the medal came about. 

Dennis

[mikes militaria]

A couple new additions:

 

Trumbull County, Ohio. Engraved to Richard Funck.

Village of Melrose Park Illinois with gold star. In an earlier post the gold star is for killed while in the service.

 I don’t have any information about it, maybe someone with info on the gold stars could jump in.

[mikes militaria]

Two medals from Beaver Dam Wisc.

 

One has a normal but later replacement ribbon.

The other has the original ribbon but also has a “Beaver Dam” brooch. The Small book shows no brooch for the Beaver Dam medal so this appears to be added by the recipient.

[mikes militaria]

Anderson County Kansas with a replacement ribbon. It was originally issued with a brooch with “KANSAS” on it instead of a ribbon.

 

The medal to the right is a Hoosick NY. I have no idea if the ribbon is correct.

[bertmedals]

The Hoosick, NY ribbon is correct.

Dennis

[mikes militaria]

Thanks Dennis,  you always have good info. 

[mikes militaria]

Correction,  there has been a review of the call that the Trumbull County Ohio medal is engraved to Richard Funck.  After further review, the call was overturned for Jones instead of Funck.  Thanks to Dennis for catching that one.

[Boy Howdy]

Has anyone seen this medal before?

[bertmedals]

22 minutes ago, Boy Howdy said:

Has anyone seen this medal before?

I have seen three of the Wayland, NY medals before but do not have one in my collection.  It is in the Planck reference.  There were several other towns/counties that used the same medal and had the name of the issuing town/county in the blank box on the reverse like the Wayland medal.  I have one for Sweden, Maine in my collection.  You run into the Hornell DIstrict, NY one pretty frequently.  There are also some similar medals with different obverses that have the name of the town/county stamped on the back.  Loudoun County, VA comes to mind.

 

Nice medal and difficult to find.  Nice pick up if it is yours.

Dennis

[Boy Howdy]

thank you bertmedals

Its a close friends.

[bertmedals]

14 minutes ago, Boy Howdy said:

thank you bertmedals

Its a close friends.

👍

[JimmyBerry2013]

Checking to see if anyone have any Masonic or KofC WW1 medals

[mikes militaria]

I recently found a Beaver Dam Wisc. Medal in better shape than the one I posted earlier. It also has a brooch with a beaver on it. 
It appears that contrary to my previous assumption that the brooch was an add on, Beaver Dam Wisc. seems to have issued their medals with a custom brooch. Anyone have any documentation about the Beaver Dam brooch? 

[BEAST]

On 10/24/2021 at 11:56 PM, Primoris Scio said:

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?

Just ran across your question.  Indiana did not issue a state medal but several counties/cities did.   To the best of my knowledge, Fulton County did not issue a county medal.  Here is a thread on the local medals from Indiana. I believe that these are all of the medals issued in the state of Indiana. 

 

[bertmedals]

As noted in post #50 in this topic, "Some counties//towns/organizations issued lapel pins, badges, rings, cigarette lighters, and so on in lieu of medals".  Here is a service lapel pin I recently picked up that does not appear in the references.

 

WW1 Service Lapel Pin for Daviess County, Misouri.  According to the "History of Daviess and Gentry Counties" page 192, "Gold pins were presented as souvenirs on behalf of the Red Cross to each soldier."  This pin is very finely manufactured in gold and enamel.  It has a Red Cross in the center and a Gold Star, gold overseas service chevron, and the date 1919 below.  It has a screw post and nut.  The nut is marked "The Victory Patented".  The pin measures approximately 3/4 inches wide and tall.  The example I have is on what I believe to be the original card it was attached to when presented.  

 

I do not know how many were presented.  The population of Daviess County in 1920 was 16,641.  Using the Louis Small method of determining the approximate number presented (4.12% of the population served during WW1) I'd estimate about 685 were presented.

 

Below is a picture of the history citation and several of the pin, front and back and the card it came on.

Dennis

[Sumserbrown]

On 11/3/2021 at 1:49 AM, bertmedals said:

Mike, Everforward, et al.,

I'll jump in here on the WW1 Virginia medals.  I use Richard Planck's book as my guide because I think it is the most comprehensive and then work in Louis Small's book to fill in the gaps.  I think I have a near complete collection of the Virginia medals as shown in the picture below.  Based on Planck's book I'm missing only the Virginia Sons of the American Revolution medal.  There are also a couple I would like another example of so I can display them front and back which I like to do in my displays.  I also include the organization medals including the service medal for the Richmond Howitzers which served in WW1 as Battery A, 111th FA, 29th Division.  For good measure I have included 2 examples of the 29th Division WW1 medal which is not technically a Virginia medal per se since the division included National Guard units from Maryland, New Jersery, Delaware, and DC as well as Virginia.  I, too, have seen references to several other Virginia medals including Fleetwood, but have not seen any corroborating evidence of their existence.  I would certainly like to see any others that Forum members may have in their collection.

 

If the labels in the picture are not legible please speak up and I'll post a list.

Dennis

 

 

Hi Dennis,

that's a fantastic collection of the Virginia WWI medals, but it's no wonder I am struggling to find them on the market when people like you are buying two of each so that they can display them front and back!! :-)

Only joking of course, good luck to you with it.

best wishes

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sumserbrown]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:35 PM, mikes militaria said:

I recently found a Beaver Dam Wisc. Medal in better shape than the one I posted earlier. It also has a brooch with a beaver on it. 
It appears that contrary to my previous assumption that the brooch was an add on, Beaver Dam Wisc. seems to have issued their medals with a custom brooch. Anyone have any documentation about the Beaver Dam brooch? 

 

Small estimates 329 were issued and he has the medal type and ribbon correct, but doesn't mention the brooch, so I can only assume that when researching his book, he only saw a version without the beaver brooch. For example, perhaps by that point the ribbon had frayed and the medal had come away from the brooch.

Rob

 

 

 

[Basic Rifleman]

I couldn't find this one from Victor, New York anywhere in this 15-year-old thread (or anywhere else online for that matter). It's currently listed on eBay right now. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165706725214

 

I figured I'd post it here for posterity just in case it isn't purchased by a forum member.

 

 

On a side note, does anyone know if there's a list for WWI Maryland Service Medals or was there just the State Issued one as referenced in this thread?

[bertmedals]

Good idea to post it for posterity -- thanks for that.  I wish I had thought of it!

 

The Victor, NY medal is listed in the usual references so it was known to exist.  Since the town had a 1920 US Census population of on 945 people there probably weren't many of them presented, probably no more than 50.  Small's estimate is 39.

 

Maryland medals listed by Planck are: 

Anne Arundel County

Baltimore National Allied Exposition (an event medal, I believe)

Baltimore Nest No. 3, Order of the Orioles

Boonsboro (this may have been more of a welcome home badge as opposed to a medal)

Brunswick

Frostburg

Hyattsville

 

Dennis

[bertmedals]

6 hours ago, Sumserbrown said:

 

Small estimates 329 were issued and he has the medal type and ribbon correct, but doesn't mention the brooch, so I can only assume that when researching his book, he only saw a version without the beaver brooch. For example, perhaps by that point the ribbon had frayed and the medal had come away from the brooch.

Rob

 

 

 

Rob,

Richard Planck lists the medal in his book and describes it being with an "ornate BEAVER DAM top bar".  He also uses a picture of one with the bar on the cover of his book.

Dennis

[bertmedals]

6 hours ago, Sumserbrown said:

 

Hi Dennis,

that's a fantastic collection of the Virginia WWI medals, but it's no wonder I am struggling to find them on the market when people like you are buying two of each so that they can display them front and back!! :-)

Only joking of course, good luck to you with it.

best wishes

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob,

Thanks very much. My experience is that you have to cast a wide net to find these medals.  It is particularly difficult to assemble complete sets for individual states.  There are many people who do that so there is a lot of competition.  I have also found that to get the rare ones you need to be fast on the trigger to get them.

Dennis

[Sumserbrown]

12 minutes ago, bertmedals said:

Rob,

Thanks very much. My experience is that you have to cast a wide net to find these medals.  It is particularly difficult to assemble complete sets for individual states.  There are many people who do that so there is a lot of competition.  I have also found that to get the rare ones you need to be fast on the trigger to get them.

Dennis

 

Let me know if you ever see another Newport News medal, it's one of the Bastian Bros variants that I am still missing.....

thanks

Rob

[bertmedals]

7 minutes ago, Sumserbrown said:

 

Let me know if you ever see another Newport News medal, it's one of the Bastian Bros variants that I am still missing.....

thanks

Rob

I'll let you know.  I like the Newport News medal in particular because the Victory Arch on the obverse is still standing.  There are only a few of the town and county medals that feature buildings or other structures in their designs.