Nicaragua Medal of Merit

[Kurt Barickman]

Acquired a great USMC officer tunic and one of his decorations listed is the Nic. Medal of Merit when he served there in 1928. Anybody have an idea what this decoration looks like? :think: I thank you in advance.

 

 

Kurt Barickman

[tsakers85]

Could it be this?

 

http://www.medals.org.uk/nicaragua/nicaragua008.htm

 

[0811gysgt]

That last post is the current version. This is the 1920's version that was awarded to:

 

CORPARAL CICERO D. AUSTIN, U.S.M.C. MEDALLA DE MERITO GIVEN BY J.M. MONCADA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA & HAND SIGNED BY THE PRESIDENT. FOR REGONITION OF THE EXCEPTIONAL SERVICES RENDERED TO THE REPUBLIC, MANAGUA, NICARAGUA, 16 OCTOBER 1929.

[Kurt Barickman]

Thanks much for the response. Does anybody have a plastic Wolf Brown of that ribbon?

 

Thanks,

 

Kurt Barickman

[Kurt Barickman]

Also, does anybody think that Wolf Brown would have made one for wear for USN and USMC during WWII? :think:

 

Kurt Barickman

[bobgee]

Also, does anybody think that Wolf Brown would have made one for wear for USN and USMC during WWII? :think:

 

Kurt Barickman

 

Kurt - I have the WWII medal group of a Marine who was awarded the Nicaraguan Military Merit Medal and he has a single, wide, clutchback, no hallmark tag, r/b as a separate insignia which may be a Wolf - Brown piece. The other r/bs are Wolf-Brown. See pic of group below.

Semper Fi.....Bobgee

 

[0811gysgt]

Kurt - I have the WWII medal group of a Marine who was awarded the Nicaraguan Military Merit Medal and he has a single, wide, clutchback, no hallmark tag, r/b as a separate insignia which may be a Wolf - Brown piece. The other r/bs are Wolf-Brown. See pic of group below.

Semper Fi.....Bobgee

 

 

 

Bobgee... Those ribbons are actually Hilbourn & Hamburger Viking Quikset. Nice group. Semper Fidelis -Rocco

[0811gysgt]

Kurt,

 

This is the Wolf Brown 1/2" Plastic ribbon bar for that award.

[shrapneldude]

Kurt,

 

This is the Wolf Brown 1/2" Plastic ribbon bar for that award.

Are you sure that's not the ribbon bar for the (defunct by 1920) Bailey Medal?

[teufelhunde.ret]

Bob, remarkable group you have there - not one but two Nic's!!! What is his background - how did he earn two?

s/f Darrell

[Kurt Barickman]

Nice group there Bobgee. What a great group and thanks for all the help. I saw online a photo of Red Edson who was also a recipient and he wore this decoration at the bottom of his ribbon bars(since it is a foreign award) I can always rely on the people on this forum to get me the help that I need. :thumbsup:

 

Kurt Barickman

[USMCR79]

Bob, remarkable group you have there - not one but two Nic's!!! What is his background - how did he earn two?

s/f Darrell

 

Darrell,

 

I think that the one without the ribbon is a "Campaign" Hat (Cover) emblem for the Guardia

 

Bill

[bobgee]

Darrell,

 

I think that the one without the ribbon is a "Campaign" Hat (Cover) emblem for the Guardia

 

Bill

 

Give the man a cigar! That's exactly what it is. This career Marine was recommended for a Navy Cross in 1927 with a very poorly written citation recommendation. He ended up with a Special Letter of Commendation from the Secty of the Navy instead. Based on this he might have gotten a Silver Star for this later during WWII when regs were changed but there is nothing in his file to indicate any such action was taken to accomplish this.

 

Semper Fi......Bob

[bobgee]

Here's a photo of Col. P.F. Archer, holder of the Navy Cross for service in Nicaragua who was awarded a Nic. Military Merit Medal by Presidente Moncada in 1929. Note that he wears the oversized ribbon bar separately as the last in the rack. Photo circa 1935.

 

[Kurt Barickman]

again, thanks Bob for the photographic evidence on how to place the ribbon :thumbsup:

 

Kurt Barickman

[Dave]

Note that he wears the oversized ribbon bar separately as the last in the rack.

 

 

Crikey! That's not the only thing that's oversized! Check out them massive Colonel's birds! :w00t:

[bobgee]

Kurt - The Banana Wars era and the USMC are a passion with me. Thought those also interested in Nicaraguan decorations to Marines might enjoy seeing this certificate. This Marine aviator was awarded the Military Merit Medal in 1932 as a result of his work during the Managua earthquake. He was at the time the C.O. of VJ-6M.

 

 

 

[bobgee]

Here's a shot of some other medals etc. in the collection.

 

Semper Fi.......Bobgee

 

[teufelhunde.ret]

NICE grouping Bob! Did he start out as an enlisted pilot (I see the WW1 Victory)? Did he go on the serve in WW2? s/f Darrell

[bobgee]

NICE grouping Bob! Did he start out as an enlisted pilot (I see the WW1 Victory)? Did he go on the serve in WW2? s/f Darrell

 

Thanks, Darrell. "Hoke" as he was called had an interesting career. He was an officer in the Ohio N.G. in 1917/18 and then transferred to the USMCRFC for training as an aviator in July 1918. He got his wings in June 1919. He flew everything in the inventory; served in Haiti, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua and was a Squadron Commander on two occasions. He participated in a well-publicized endurance flight in a DH-4 in 1923. He failed promotion for First Lieutenant initially and later, in 1936 was passed over promotion to Captain and was retired......presumably for being overage in grade! I suspect skeletons in his closet! Little is known of any post USMC activities. Group also has all his Flight Logs and hundreds of photographs.

Semper Fi......Bob

[bobgee]

Thanks, Darrell. "Hoke" as he was called had an interesting career. He was an officer in the Ohio N.G. in 1917/18 and then transferred to the USMCRFC for training as an aviator in July 1918. He got his wings in June 1919. He flew everything in the inventory; served in Haiti, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua and was a Squadron Commander on two occasions. **He participated in a well-publicized endurance flight in a DH-4 in 1923. He failed promotion for First Lieutenant initially and later, in 1936 was passed over promotion to Captain and was retired......presumably for being overage in grade! I suspect skeletons in his closet! Little is known of any post USMC activities. Group also has all his Flight Logs and hundreds of photographs.

Semper Fi......Bob

 

**Found this on the Marine Corps Aviation Website which details the endurance flight:

 

Lt. Ford Rogers led another dramatic flight, involving two DH-4s flying round trip from Santo Domingo to Washington, St. Louis, and San Francisco, and then back to Washington and Santo Domingo. This flight, including engine changes on the way back to Washington, took two and one-half months and 127 hours of actual flying time. It demonstrated the skill of Marine pilots and the technical competence of Marine mechanics

[Adam R]

Here's a USMC Navy Cross group with Nicaraguan Merit Medal that I bought many years ago. Sadly, it's unattributed. Presumably it's to an officer, since the group is bar mounted for wear and there's no Good Conduct Medal.

 

Starting with the list of Second Nicaraguan Campaign Navy Cross recipients in Blakeneys, using a process of elimination I narrowed it down to about a dozen potential officers. The only way to lock down the identity of the exact recipient is to confirm the numbers on the two campaign medals. I requested all 12 files from St. Louis under FOIA but none of the responses (which varied widely in content) contained a document which showed campaign medal numbers. However some of the other information that I received allowed me to scratch a few more names off the list of potential recipients. I'm now down to about eight names but it will have to wait until my next trip to NPRC to try to narrow it further.

 

(BTW, I re-ribboned the group, as the original ribbons were thrashed or missing completely.)

[0811gysgt]

Kurt,

 

Here is one from my collection. I came with the Marines ribbon bars and Rifle/Pistol expert badges. The award box that it comes in is great.

[USMCRECON]

I have a miniature Medal of Merit somewhere. I don't have a full sized medal but have a couple ribbons for it. Top pic shows two ribbon bars that have the Nicaragua Medal of Merit ribbon on them. In the top one, the Medal of Merit ribbon is fraying. In the bottom one, the other Nicaragua medal ribbon has come loose on the bar. Under them are several segments of the Medal of Merit loose ribbon. The bottom pic shows the Nicaragua Medal of Merit as part of a ribbon bar sewn directly to a uniform.

 

 

[Kurt Barickman]

Wow, please tell us about that tunic :w00t:

 

Kurt Barickman