Illustrated is a WW2 Air Medal with elaborate engraving which originated in the 8th Air Force during WW2. It has an upper general legend "For Exceptionally Meritorious Achievement", (FEMA), engraved with flourishes. The lower recipient engraving seems to match the upper style. An article on these FEMA Air Medals appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of the Planchet Newsletter. At that time, seven FEMA examples were known, all of which had unnumbered full wrap brooches. Five of them had engraved recipient details. Two had only the upper FEMA caption, which implied it was engraved on these Air Medals before award.

 

One of these FEMA Air Medals was proven to be a fake, having been falsely engraved to a US Navy KIA airman. It turned out that three of the four genuine named FEMA medals were awarded to members of the 388th Bomb Group, 3rd Air Division, 8th Air Force. Two of the three medals (including Singer's) went to members of the 563rd Bomb Squadron of the 388th BG, one of them being obtained directly from the veteran himself.

 

The fancy FEMA engraving must have had a short life due to its labor and cost, plus the huge demand for Air Medals by the 8th Air Force. One could describe this medal as having "contemporary, theater engraving". Whether or not it could be called "official local engraving", I'll leave to the opinion of the Forum members.

Tom,

Thats a keeper :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

RON

:thumbsup: :drool2:

Here is one of the "unawarded" FEMA Air Medals. According to my notes, this one or one like it was listed in Col. Gleim's medal auction #29 as being from VP43. Later, awarded (and verified) examples like Tom's proved this to be false.

This blank FEMA Air Medal nicely shows how the upper legend was pre-engraved before its award. The faked example in Col. Gleim's Auction No.29 was later engraved in capitalized block letters to a Navy airman killed in the 1942 Aleutian campaign. I also have a blank FEMA Air Medal in my collection, with the identical engraving pattern.

Hi Tom

 

Here is a new example to a 388th Bomb Group co pilot.

 

 

Kurt

This is an Air Medal issued to an 8th Air Force navigator. It came directly from the veteran.

 

A little more info and correction.

 

The medal was received as part of a donation to a small NE Ohio military museum in 2006 by the veterans wife.

Has anyone done research to see exactly what these aviators had done to be awarded these?  Were they just awarded by the 388th BG for having completed their first 5 missions?  Do any of the known examples have any oak leaf clusters?

The 8th AAF ( including the 388th)  awarded AMs for each 5 missions.  They could also be awarded for evading, or for shooting down an enemy plane as well (including gunners). 

 

Kurt 

13 years late but the photo of the AM in #4 appears to me to have had the name removed. 

I've told this story before on the forum, but couldn't find the ancient post, so I thought it might be fun to add it here.

As a kid growing up in Topeka, KS, I had a neighbor who lived across the street named Wendell Ives. Wendell had served in WWII with the Desert Air Force and later was with the 340th Bomb Group when MT Vesuvius erupted, destroying the airfield and most of the planes.  Wendell was a Norden Bomb Sight mechanic during the war, but his peacetime profession was as a jeweler. Wendell used to tell me about engraving medals for his bomb squadron and making pretty good pocket money by doing so. 

 

I am not saying that I think Wendell did the engraving on these, but would say that he was capable of this quality of work. I would not doubt that there were other engravers in theater who might have been every bit as talented as Wendell. My guess is that these were all done by the same hand, but not done in Philadelphia, but somewhere in England. The hand could have been English or American. Whoever it was, they were quite talented.

 

Allan

It was definitely an engraver associated with the 388th BG. Could have been a local English engraver.   Besides the 4 Tom Nier accounted for , I have owned 2 others and seen a couple more. Every single one was awarded to a 388th BG veteran. 

The 388th BG was part of the 3d Air Division, 8th AAF .

On 8/13/2022 at 2:00 PM, dhcoleterracina said:

13 years late but the photo of the AM in #4 appears to me to have had the name removed. 

I think you are right, 

Nice engraving.