US Campaign Medals That Are Traceable By Number

[Adam R]

Below is an outline that I put together several years ago. I though the forum members might find it useful. It's based upon original research by the late Col. Albert. F. Gleim.

------

 

Many early American decorations and campaign medals are stamped with a serial number. Sometimes it's possible to use this number to identify the original recipient of the medal, based upon various records in the National Archives. Below is an outline of medals that can be traced to the recipient by serial number. In the listings "#" means that there is no prefix before the number. "No." or "M.No." indicates that the medal must have this type of number prefix in order to be traceable. As an example, an Army Civil War Campaign Medal stamped "No.123" is traceable but one stamped "M.No.123" or "123" can not be traced.

 

Army Campaign Medals - No Army campaign medal with an "M.No." prefix can be traced.

 

Civil War No.1 to No.554

Indian Wars No.1 to No.1927

Spanish Campaign No.1 to No.7800, No.8000 to No.8140

Spanish War Service #1 to #16650

Cuban Occupation No.1 to No.4102

Puerto Rico Occupation #1 to #200, No.201 to No.320

Philippine Campaign No.1 to No.23250, No.23501 to No.25000

Philippine Congressional No.1 to No.6179

China Relief Expedition No. 1 to No. 1228 & No. 1501 to No. 1634

Cuban Pacification No.1 to No.6339

Mexican Service No.1 to No.10000, #10001 to #12529

Mexican Border Service #1 to #34012

 

Navy Campaign Medals - The number in parenthesis represents the approximate percentage of medals that are traceable within the given number range.

 

Civil War #1 to #2396 (75%), 2412 to 2694 (3%)

West Indies/Spanish Campaign #1 to #692 (90%), 726 to 5399 (10%)

Philippine Campaign #1 to #855 (90%)

China Relief Expedition #1 to #253 (80%), #297 to #1153 (5%)

Cuban Pacification #5 to #852 (8%)

Nicaraguan Campaign 1912 #1 to #1495 (9%)

Mexican Service 1911-1917 #11 to #13907 (5%)

Haitian Campaign 1915 #1 to #15 (100%), #78 to #1008 (10%)

Dominican - None

Second Nicaragua Campaign M.No.2 to M.No.853 (66%)

Yangtze Service M.No.3 to M.No.697 (37%), M.No.1872 to M.No.9492 (2%)

 

Marine Corps Campaign Medals - The number in parenthesis represents the approximate percentage of medals that are traceable within the given number range.

 

Civil War #1 to #188 (90%)

Spanish/West Indies Campaign #1 to #1100 (80%)

Philippine Campaign #1 to #1397 (80%)

China Relief Expedition #1 to #609 (80%)

Cuban Pacification #1 to #1600 (90%)

 

Scott Smith recently published partial rosters for the USMC 1912 Nicaraguan and Mexican Service Medals but I don't have the traceable number ranges for these medals.

 

No medal rolls currently exist for the USMC Expeditionary, 2nd Nicaraguan and Yangtze.

 

All of the Army campaign medal rosters were published by Gleim's Planchet Press. All but the Civil War, Indian Wars, Porto Rico Occupation and Philippine Campaign are out of print. No numerical issue records exist for medals issued after 1925.

 

Rosters for the Navy Civil War, Spanish/West Indies and Philippine exist but have not been published. Roster for the China Relief was published by Planchet Press and OMSA. Partial rosters for the Cuban Pac, 1st Nicaraguan, Mexico, 1915 Haitian, 2nd Nic and Yangtze were published by Gleim in the New Medal Letters, reprinted by OMSA in The Gleim Medal Letters.

 

Scott Smith has published rosters for all of the available USMC medals.

[mmerc20]

thanks for the info I certainly appreciate it!

 

Mike

[Doughboy1918]

Yes, thanks from me also. This would be an excellent "sticky" to help other lesser experienced guys like myself. On another note, is there a way to trace other awards such as a silver star?

[Adam R]

Yes, thanks from me also. This would be an excellent "sticky" to help other lesser experienced guys like myself. On another note, is there a way to trace other awards such as a silver star?

 

Forum member Tom Nier has a database of Army Silver Star medals by number for WWII. It covers only a small percentage of the total awards, mainly those awarded prior to mid-1944.