Posted 9 years ago
Militarist
(296 items)
Los Angeles Examiner WWI War Service Medal. This is one of those fortunate medals that fits into several collecting areas. Other than a lapel button this is the only known (to me) WWI service medal from Los Angeles. It is also a newspaper item which is another actively collected field. I know of at least two other news papers that issued similar medals with General Pershing’s portrait; Chicago American and Dayton Daily News. This bronze 31.5mm medal is suspended from a bronze “WAR SERVICE” brooch without a ribbon. The reverse is inscribed “PRESENTED FOR SPECIAL SERVICE BY LOS ANGELES EXAMINER”. I am not sure what “special service” meant but I suspect it covered everything from bond sales to military service. The medal was made by Whitehead & Hoag of Newark, NJ.
I am always amazed at the variety (State, city, local and NOW newspaper) of these WW1 Service Medals.
Not one I have seen before!
scott
Thanks Scott and agh. I have been collecting these since the mid 1960's. In that time I have seen state issues for war service (civil war to Desert Storm) and peace time like national guard awards. Same for local issues by cities, towns and counties plus private issuers like all kinds of companies, associations and societies, religious groups and even family members. My book on Wisconsin medals lists over 250 military medals and Wisconsin is not a large medal issuer. State like NY, NJ, PA, Conn, etc. could bury Wis. in medals. A couple of OMSA members are doing a book on just the State and local WWI medals which I am sure will end up listing several thousand medals. Also keep in mind that many of those medal types exist in next of kin versions too.
I have one that was issued to my grandfather from the City of San Francisco, CA.
on the front it says "San Francisco To Her Warrior Sons" 1919
That's great Tom! It's good to see one still with the original family. By the way it should be suspended from a brooch without a ribbon. Both medal and brooch are .900 silver which is unusual for a large city issued WWI medal. It probably is also named.
I've also had an interest in these local issues, but always felt a bit overwhelmed at the notion of collecting them due to the sheer number and lack of reference material. I'm glad the reference part is being addressed.
It is a vast field and most collectors like myself start by collecting it all and end up specializing in one or two states or just one war. Here is a list of books on state and local medals that I know of:
Awards & Decorations of U. S. State Military Forces by Ogletree
State Medals For War Service by Boyce
Medals For Service in Mexico and on the Mexican Border 1911-17 by Margrave/OMSA 2012
State, County, City and Organization Medals for World War I 3rd revised edition by Planck 1995
Revised Comprehensive List of World War I Service Medals Issued by States, Counties, Cities & Towns by Small 1990
Decorations & Medals of Colorado by Cook & Knowles 1970
Military Medals, Awards and Service Medals of Iowa by Lewis 1976
Military Awardsof the State of Minnesota by Williams 1988
The Military Awards of the Garden State (New Jersey) by Till 1985
New Jersey’s Civil War Medals by Wiegand & Eisert
The Military Awards of the Empire State (New York) by Till 1989
Wisconsin’s Military & Civil Medals and Decorations by Borgmann 1987
Wisconsin’s Military & Civil Medals by Borgmann 2013
Militarist, I posted the service medal
Thanks for all the posts and info on this thread.
My father recently passed away and I found 3 similar medals in his belongings. As he was born in 1934, I must assume that these came from HIS father (or one of my other grand relatives) who must have received them in recognition of delivering newspapers during WW1.
These medals look the same as the picture above, except that the reverse side text reads: "PRESENTED FOR DOING MY BIT DELIVERING THE DAYTON NEWS DURING THE WORLD WAR 1917 - 1918". There is also a tiny inscription at the bottom identifying the manufacturer, "W & H co. Newark NJ". (I love the "doing my bit" line - it is so 100 years ago.)
I grew up just outside of Dayton, Ohio, so these are an interesting find. Also, they reference the "Dayton News", not the Dayton "Daily" News, which has been the name of the newspaper for as long as I can remember.
I was trying to learn more about these service medals and what they might be worth to a collector. Feel free to contact me if you have any interest and/or additional information. Thanks.
Thanks! The Pershing medals design was a basic design used many times with changes to the text as needed. Most collectors limit their collecting to certain cities or states or to a topic like news papers. My guess as to value would be $25-50 depending where and when it is being offered for sale.