Hello. The obverse of this apparently medal shows an attractive ancient design with the lettering " American Defense " . On the reverse, I can read : " For service during the Limited Emergency proclaimed by the President on September 8-1939 or During the Unlimited Emergency proclaimed by the President on May 27 - 1941. What historical meaning does it have ? Thank you.. Charles
This was among the series of multi national medals, including even saints, that my seller offered to me . It turned to be a military medal. I feel I need to gift it to an American friend or colleague on the happy new year occasion or whenever I can. Charles
This medal was issued to FDR's declaration of response to Nazi Germany's threat to America in the days shortly after Pearl Harbor, as he pushed to get us to also become involved in the war in Europe, AKA, World War 2. I have a friend who served during this period and WW2 as a crew chief and back up pilot for Lt. General Harmon, who was the Commander of the 6th Army Air Corp and who later the first superintendent of the Air Force Academy in Colorado. My friend is 91 years old and still runs his own construction company. It's great, as a big history buff, to sit, eat and listen to a living history book recount US history, from his first hand experience, several times a month.
=> that's a cool story .... it is awesome having a window back through time (my dear ol' Dad is also 91 and still has all of his wits about him ... he is blind as a bat, but still lives all alone in the house that he built 60 years ago ... the dude is golden!!) Yah, he is 91 and was a bomber pilot in WWII (RCAF) ... he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross ("D.F.C.") => awarded to officers and Warrant Officers for an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy ... so cool He flew a Lancaster Bomber ...
That's wonderful for you and him both! Make the most of your time with him while you can. Get a recorder and let him tell future generations about his time. Your great grandkids will thank you for doing it. My father rarely talked about the war. He died in 1995. He too flew a bomber, an A-20 Havoc in the Pacific theatre during WW2 as part of the Army Air Corps. I found a book recently about his unit for sale on eBay. I bought it to find out more about his unit's action during the war. To my surprise it contained photos of him in his plane, of him with his crew, of him with his entire unit, along with several one on one interviews that were conducted and recorded during the war. It was almost like my dad was with me telling me these stories. You never know what you'll find to share with the kids and grandkids if you keep an eye out.
=> coincidentally, my oldest brother has already done this wonderful task ... and then he went through the tapes and typed-up a detailed record of that weekend's conversations with Dad (he gave us all a copy of his finished work ... it is very cool) => like yourself, I personally have never had a relationship with my Dad where we're talking about his war-time stories (he does "not" offer them up readily), so all of us were very happy when my oldest brother got Dad to talk about those war time tales (priceless)
You are indeed blessed to get this done and to have a brother type it up so when tape recordings are as useless as old Victor Talking Machines your family will still be able to read the stories. It seems that those who fought this war were reluctant to talk about it. I'm not sure if it was they feared bringing up thoughts of lost friends, or they were afraid it would be seen as "being proud" since pride was viewed differently back then. Today's veterans often run with their stories if anyone shows even the slightest interest. I know I've been guilty of that ... the only thing I should be happy about my service time is I made it home in one piece. I like the additional pics.
You may be right about pride. I served in Vietnam and my sons complain I don't tell them about my service there. It is pride that keeps me from talking about that time. I'm not very proud of some of the things I did. I wonder if my father and his generation were not so proud of some of the things war forces one to do, but I'm certainly very proud of my father and in service against the Nazis.
Thanks to all of you for your sincere feelings and souvenirs. Of course I hate war, but maybe sometimes you need to face the sad reality of war in order to safeguard or restore peace, dignity and freedom. Please, I need any address from CT to gift this honorable medal. I'll pay the postage . Happy New Year 2015. Charles
While I sometimes get the impression here on CT that WW2 was something extremely recent, that medal is certainly not "ancient" either. Moved the topic to Coin Chat. Christian
