Thread: More uninspring Miltary commems in the Pipeline

Excuse and and indulge an older gentleman's thoughts regarding the (of late) militaristic themes regarding commems. I grew up in an era where our soldiers were spit upon and labeled as baby killers. The Vietnam era was a dark day in our nations history, and military personnel returned home to find that their service to our nation was unappreciated, unwanted and unwarranted. I, quite frankly, applaud the new found exuberance for our military. May God bless 'em.........

Happy 4th Brothers and Sisters.

It is because of other nations like yours Christian that I object most strongly to these military commemoratives. War is not something to celebrate. You honor your dead and wounded, you honor their sacrifices, and hope that theirs is the last sacrifices needed. I lost friends in the military due to enemy actions, and I honor their memories. I don't want or need a coin to do that for me. I especially do not want a coin commemorating a 5 star general that never fell in battle. Seems we are just glorifying war leaders. I would rather glorify a person who cured polio, or helped the French identify AIDS, or initiated a micro loan program benefiting subsaharan Africa.

Read more: More uninspring Miltary commems in the Pipeline

So you have to die in battle to be worthy of the honor of being on a US coin? Eisenhower was just a 'war leader'? You need to go, right now, to the library and read about the people depicted on the coins.

Originally Posted by green18

Excuse and and indulge an older gentleman's thoughts regarding the (of late) militaristic themes regarding commems. I grew up in an era where our soldiers were spit upon and labeled as baby killers. The Vietnam era was a dark day in our nations history, and military personnel returned home to find that their service to our nation was unappreciated, unwanted and unwarranted. I, quite frankly, applaud the new found exuberance for our military. May God bless 'em.........

Happy 4th Brothers and Sisters.

I hear what you're saying about Vietnam, but I don’t think any have suggested our service men & women aren’t worthy of respect. More to the point is, like our commems, our nation has grown weary (and broke) from fighting protracted wars. Thank God they’re winding down and hopefully we’ll enter a period of prosperity based on solving some significant issues. Maybe then we can commemorate something other than war.

Originally Posted by Conder101

On the rev of the silver doller, who's sword is that she is holding? I certainly hope it isn't hers. A broken sword is a symbol of having been defeated.

True, but isn't it obvious from the "issue context"? She has one foot on a helmet too ...

Also note that, of the five designs for that side, three use this image with the broken sword: http://news.coinupdate.com/wp-conten...er-reverse.jpg With the map of Europe and "ETO" in the background, it would have been clearer but also a little cluttered.

Christian

And to see Mac Arthur without his corn cob pipe my my just to PC for me. Happy 4th everyone

Regardless of where we stand on these issues, I think there is something upon which we (Americans, that is) can agree. That is, all things considered, the U. S. A. is the best place in the world to live.

Because of that, I just want to echo green's holiday wishes on this day. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

I like the program. Wish they would pick the eagles for the reverses. The $5 eagle reverse is great looking. Wish they would do the half dollars in silver. Clad just kills the looks.

The image on the reverse is modeled after the WWII Victory Medal issued to servicemen and women serving in the conflict from Dec 7, 1941 until Dec 31, 1946 (so you could have received the medal and not have served in the war, as WWII was over on Sept 2, 1946 but Truman declared the hostilities over on Dec 31, 1946)


Per Wikipida- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_W...United_States)
The World War II Victory Medal was first issued as a ribbon, and was referred to simply as the “Victory Ribbon.” By 1946, a full medal had been established which was referred to as the World War II Victory Medal. The medal's front depicts Nike standing victorious, holding a broken sword, representing the broken power of the Axis, with one foot upon the helmet of Mars, the Roman god of war, representing the end of the conflict. Behind Nike is a sunburst, representing the dawn of peace. The reverse recalls the "Four Freedoms" speech by President Roosevelt, with a laurel sprig, surrounded by the words "United States of America", and the dates of the conflict, "1941-1945". The edges of the ribbon revisit the multi-colored rainbow ribbon of the Allied World War I Victory Medal. This again honors all the allied nations. The wide red center represents the new sacrifice of blood by World War II combatants. The thin white lines separating the central red band from the outer multi-colored bands represent the rays of new hope, two of them signifying that this was the second global conflict.

Originally Posted by chrisild

True, but isn't it obvious from the "issue context"? She has one foot on a helmet too ...

Also note that, of the five designs for that side, three use this image with the broken sword: http://news.coinupdate.com/wp-conten...er-reverse.jpg With the map of Europe and "ETO" in the background, it would have been clearer but also a little cluttered.

Christian

I appreciate that, but, FWIW, from a US perspective, WWII was clearly not about just Europe. It was a seriously global conflict which Europe only recieved a part of our attention. Maybe that is the most amazing part of US strength that is under appreciated.

Originally Posted by mrbrklyn

I appreciate that, but, FWIW, from a US perspective, WWII was clearly not about just Europe. It was a seriously global conflict which Europe only recieved a part of our attention.

Hence the first "W" in WW. I am fairly sure most people, certainly not in the US only, know about that, even if they don't know many historical details. But what I wanted to point at is that three designs use the same (broken sword) symbol ... If these three were all done by the same designer, that would explain a lot. However, if two or three different people had picked that symbol, I would wonder why.

"PS" -- Ah, had not noticed the background info that LFCfan provided (#38). Now it makes sense.

Christian

Originally Posted by treehugger

Regardless of where we stand on these issues, I think there is something upon which we (Americans, that is) can agree. That is, all things considered, the U. S. A. is the best place in the world to live.

Because of that, I just want to echo green's holiday wishes on this day. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Just out of curiosity per your comment, have you ever lived anywhere else to draw this comparison? I don't mean just taken a holiday for a couple of weeks elsewhere or studied abroad a semester, did a 'tour of duty'. I mean lived anywhere else. I mean no disrespect but it's rather relative to whom you ask.

And I'll add my holiday wishes to those observing the significance of the Fourth of July.

Peace.

Originally Posted by Atarian

Read more: More uninspring Miltary commems in the Pipeline

So you have to die in battle to be worthy of the honor of being on a US coin? Eisenhower was just a 'war leader'? You need to go, right now, to the library and read about the people depicted on the coins.

We have had commemoratives of every war now save for WWI and the ANA is petitioning for that. Why should generals receive higher praise than the grunts who died on their orders?

Btw sir, Ike has already been well commemorated on other coinage. I am well aware of his political career as well.

Happy 4th everyone.

War is not something to celebrate. .

[/QUOTE]
None of these commems are celebrating war, they are commemorating history. Your political views are assigning meanings to the commems that a lot of us don't share.

Originally Posted by medoraman

. The "even worst" part of all of these military themed coins is how the rest of the world judges them. Short of a country like North Korea, we probably have the most military themed coinage in the world. .

There have been 60 or so different subjects commemorated since the 1982 Washington, 14 of them are military related. Is that a huge percentage, considering what effects that the wars we have fought have had on our society? The reasons for the wars and anyones personal political agenda on war should have no bearing on what is, or should be, commemorated. They are commemorating history and not politics.

Originally Posted by medoraman

We have had commemoratives of every war now save for WWI and the ANA is petitioning for that. Why should generals receive higher praise than the grunts who died on their orders?

Btw sir, Ike has already been well commemorated on other coinage. I am well aware of his political career as well.

Happy 4th everyone.

But not yet in gold coinage!