US Victory Medal Eligibility?

[HistoryHouseCat]

Hello, I have a question regarding who was eligible for the US Victory medal? Why I ask is because I FINALLY found reference to one of my relatives' WWI service. He joined the US Army on 4 Aug, 1918, went to Camp Jefferson, Missouri (I guess for training?) then was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps at Camp Meigs in Washington DC. He was there until he was discharged on 24 Dec. 1918. Would he have been eligible for the Victory medal or any other medals, even though he never went overseas and only served for a few months? Thank you so much for your help!

Edited 22 September , 2019 by HistoryHouseCat

[4thGordons]

Here are the official regulations regarding eligibility.

I believe 1 day of active Federal Service was sufficient to be eligible.

Chris

Edited 22 September , 2019 by 4thGordons

[HistoryHouseCat]

Chris,

Thank you for verifying that my relative would have been eligible. I am now trying to track through the family if it was ever received, and if so, was it passed down.

 

If you don't mind I have a few more questions regarding the VM:

 

Did the U.S. send the medals out automatically, or did one have to request it?

Other than the box with the paper listing clasps, were any documents sent as well?

Does the U.S. keep record of VMs that were awarded, like the British do with Medal Index Cards?

 

Many thanks,

HHCat

Edited 28 September , 2019 by HistoryHouseCat

[4thGordons]

To be honest I do not know for certain but

1) I believe they were sent automatically to all those eligible

2) I have seen several sets "as delivered" and none contained anything else

3) Not as far as I am aware - as US medals are not named and as eligibility was far broader I suspect this is unnecessary. There might be records at a state level for men who were previously members of the NG but I do not recall ever seeing lists of victory medal entitlement as it was essentially universal.

 

I am happy to be corrected on all of the above,

Chris

[Keith_history_buff]

Captain Hamilton Vaughan Bail served in the US Army in WW1. He wrote to the War Office to see if he was eligible for any British campaign medals, and was rebuffed. This is recorded by a surviving Medal Index Card (WO 372/1/174200).

There are two records of particular interest on Ancestry that pertain to Bail (03-Feb-1892 - 27-Aug-1997). Firstly, the "New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919" gives a potted history of his service, confirming that he never left the USA. Secondly, being an officer and a New York resident, "New York, Record of Award Medal, 1920-1991", his Victory Medal is confirmed, as is a Mexican Border Service Medal award, too.

[4thGordons]

44 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

There are two records of particular interest on Ancestry that pertain to Bail (03-Feb-1892 - 27-Aug-1997). Firstly, the "New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919" gives a potted history of his service, confirming that he never left the USA. Secondly, being an officer and a New York resident, "New York, Record of Award Medal, 1920-1991", his Victory Medal is confirmed, as is a Mexican Border Service Medal award, too.

 

Yes these are the sorts of STATE records I was referring to.

If he served on the Mexican Border it is likely he was a member of the NY NG.

 

I wonder what led him to apply to HM Govt also? was he a Doctor by any chance (a number of US Drs served attached to British units and were eligible) but if he never left the US this seems odd!

Chris

[Keith_history_buff]

When I first came across the "New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919", I was surprised to see mention of specific battles. It later dawned on me that this was to document the various clasps for the Victory Medal. One such example is the card for Lieutenant Ralph Ellsworth Ladue 

[Keith_history_buff]

There's a number of MICs from American, French, Belgians asking if they were entitled to medals. The response is usually no. If you did not serve in HM Forces on a permanent establishment basis, and not as a member of allied forces on detached duty, then no entitlement.

As I understand it, Americans serving under French command were entitled to the Medaille Commemorative de la Guerre, so perhaps it was assumed that there could be an entitlement to a British War Medal. The Americans that I have seen cards for, they seem to have trained with and fought alongside the British at Hamel, and the like.

There are, in addition, those men of the US Army Medical Corps who had served as civilian contract surgeons prior to the entry of the US in the war, serving in the Harvard Medical Unit and similar humanitarian organisations. They have entitlement to the BWM as civilians, but any service thereafter in the U.S.A.M.C. does not result in any eligibility for British campaign medals. 

[Keith_history_buff]

13 minutes ago, 4thGordons said:

I wonder what led him to apply to HM Govt also? ..if he never left the US this seems odd!

Chris

 

Yes, it really stuck out when I came across this.

I was also surprised to read that, unlike the War Office rules for the British Army, that the Victory Medal was eligible to US Army personnel who served during the war, regardless of serving in Europe or not.

[4thGordons]

I wonder - was he an ex-pat Brit?

19 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

As I understand it, Americans serving under French command were entitled to the Medaille Commemorative de la Guerre, so perhaps it was assumed that there could be an entitlement to a British War Medal. The Americans that I have seen cards for, they seem to have trained with and fought alongside the British at Hamel, and the like.

There are, in addition, those men of the US Army Medical Corps who had served as civilian contract surgeons prior to the entry of the US in the war, serving in the Harvard Medical Unit and similar humanitarian organisations. They have entitlement to the BWM as civilians, but any service thereafter in the U.S.A.M.C. does not result in any eligibility for British campaign medals. 

 

This is really interesting to me (although maybe not the OP - sorry)

 

The author of a set of edited letters I published a few years ago was an AFS Ambulance Driver who was absorbed into the US Army when the AFS was militarized in late 1917 but served exclusively with French Units (and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French -as an individual not a unit award for his actions on the Marne) has a US Victory Medal (and CdG, and AFS medal) but no sign of the Medaille Commemorative de la Guerre....I suppose perhaps you could not be eligible for a VM from two countries?

 

The local divison here (illinois so the 33rd Division who were at Hamel and Chippily Ridge etc) might be some of those to whom you are referring - I would be very interested in seeing some of their names to see if I can trace them in local sources.

 

Chris

[Keith_history_buff]

Hi Chris,

Hypothetically, a combatant ought to have received only one VM. Saying that, though, I am aware of a man whose family moved from London to Paris, and he followed suit. He joined the French Foreign Legion, but later joined the British Army. He became a Chelsea in-Pensioner, and his medals are on display in the museum. He had both a French VM and a British one. (John Francis Delpiano)

 

Here is a list of some of the Americans who requested medals from the War Office, and a few "others". You can download the data as a *.csv file, as not all of the captured data is "enabled" to appear on the website:

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/community/4779

Based on some notes that I took, the following had correspondence addresses in Illinois

Abel	Davis	69 West Washington Street Chicago Illinois USA
Frank N	Fitzsimmons	454 Wrightwood Avenue Chicago Illinois USA
Robert G	Howie	US Army Camp Grant Rockford, Illinois U.S.A.
Frank M S	Johnson	American Legion, Rock Island, Illinois
Elmer G	Lindroth	2nd Inf Fort Sheridan Illinois USA
Carl G	Somnitz	4738 Grand Boulevard Chicago Illinois USA

 

Hope this is of interest.

Thanks

Keith