Here's some info I found/compiled from usmilitariaforum.com: Here's an account from the April 14, 1919 issue of "Greater New York - Bulletin of the Merchant's Association of New York" (Volume 8, No. 15, p. 24) describing the creation and distribution of the Victory Liberty Loan Medal: This is an explaination for this medal from a web site called Check-Six.com (LINK): ...World War I "Victory Liberty Loan" Drive Medal - Made From A Captured German Cannon The Government always needs more money, and the Great War, or "War to End All Wars," was to be no exception. Liberty loans or bonds were sold by the federal government during World War I (1917-1919) to raise money for the war. These were labeled as 'loans,' because they promised interest to the bearer. As one advertisement from the period wrote: "The money to be raised by the Victory Liberty loan already has been spent. It furnished the "'punch'" that won the war and saved the lives of 100,000 of America's bravest boys. It is this unshed blood you are paying for when you subscribe to the Victory Liberty loan." On March 3, 1919, the "Victory Liberty Loan Act" was signed into law. The medals were made from German cannons captured by American troops at Chateau Thierry. These cannons were melted, and the metal roiled into sheets, from which the medals are made, and conferred by the Treasury Department on volunteers in the Victory Liberty loan campaign volunteers. About a half dollar in size piece, the obverse of the medal, exhibits a eagle grasping three arrows in one claw, and an olive branch in the other, flying below the U.S. Treasury Building, and reads "Victory Liberty Loan". The reverse reads: "Awarded - By the U.S. Treasury Department For Patriotic Service In Behalf of the Liberty Loans - Made From Captured German Cannon"....