Spanish War and Mexican Border Service Medals

After looking at last week’s post and what I was going to do this week, I decided to re-pair the medals I posted last week with two new ones that seemed to make more sense together. Sorry for the repetition, and thanks for the loves and comments people made on last week’s post before I deleted it.

In July 1918 a number of new medals were created, including the Army Spanish War Service Medal and Mexican Border Service medal. The reason for creation of these two medals was to recognize units of the Army which had performed homeland defense in the United States. The use of a sheathed sword on the front of the medal was to symbolize service not connected to combat. Only the words on the tablet and ribbon stripes are changed. These were designed by the firm of Bailey, Banks and Biddle, who also produced medals under government contract.

The Spanish War Service Medal was awarded to Army personnel on active duty during the war, as well as National Guardsmen who had been federalized for military service but had not been deployed. It was not awarded to soldiers eligible the War with Spain Campaign Medal in my other post. The period of eligibility was 20 April 1898 to 11 April 1899. (From when Congress authorized President McKinley to use military force, until the peace treaty went into effect.) The number stamped on the rim is “25923”, likely indicating early 1930s manufacture. The type of pin or “brooch” used here is the style used from about 1920 through about 1940.

The Mexican Border Service Medal was awarded for service patrolling the border by the Regular Army and National Guard between 1916 and 1917. During the Mexican Revolution, President Wilson deployed large numbers of Regular Army soldiers and federalized National Guardsmen to counter cross-border incursions by bandits and guerillas. The number stamped on the rim is “62068”, likely indicating very late manufacture before the use of serial numbers was abandoned in the years leading to WWII. The other ribbon on the accompanying ribbon bar is for the WWI Victory Medal, a fairly common combination. The ribbon mount came with the medal and seems to date from the same period.

Many medals can be traced back to an individual by the number. Unfortunately much of the list has been lost or not recorded, and these medals cannot be traced.