Krulak, who served as Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999, was awarded his badge while serving as the Deputy Director, White House Military Office, from 1987 to 1988. In addition to the Presidential Service Badge, Krulak wears two other badges on his left breast pocket: the OSD Identification Badge (top) and JCS Identification Badge (bottom).

Figure 17: Lt. Commander Graham S. Stowe, USGS.

Figure 16: General Charles C. Krulak, USMC.

Figure 17 shows Lt. Commander Graham S. Stowe, U.S. Coast Guard, on duty in the White House on December 24, 1998. Stowe received his badge (number 15921) for service as President Clinton’s Military Aide from 1997 to 1999. Commander Stowe’s accompanying certificate is at Figure 15.

Figure 18 shows Commander Bradford E. Ableson, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy, wearing the Presidential Service Badge. From 1996 to 1999, he served as President Clinton’s chaplain at Camp David, Maryland, and received badge number 15990 and its accompanying certificate on July 1, 1997.

Conclusion

Today’s Presidential Service Badge began in 1960 as a white-and-silver breast badge for a select group of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in the White House. Figure 18: Commander Bradford E. Ableson, USN.

Vol. 54, No. 2 11

Shortly after its creation by executive order, however, the badge was redesigned and reestablished as a blue- and-gold Presidential Service Badge. In 1967, President Johnson extended eligibility to Coast Guard personnel serving him in the White House. Finally, in 1992, President Bush greatly expanded eligibility to cover an even larger number of uniformed personnel--some of whom rarely set foot in the White House. Nonetheless, it remains an extremely rare award:

1- although hundreds of men and women wear the badge at any time, their numbers as a percentage of total U.S. armed forces is very small--less than 1/10th of one percent; 2- as those who are awarded the Presidential Service Certificate receive a serially numbered certificate and identically numbered Presidential Service Badge, each badge is unique; and 3- as current U.S. medals, decorations, and badges are not numbered, much less linked to a particular certificate, the Presidential Service Badge is doubly unique.

The author thanks fellow OMSA member Bill Emerson for his invaluable help in preparing this article.

CHELSEA MILITARY AN UES

Buying & Selling

Campaign and Gallantry Medals British and Foreign Militaria.

N13-14 Antiquarius 131-141 Kings Road

Chelsea, London SW3 4PW

Tel/fax: +44 (0)207 352 0308 email: richard @ chelseamilitaria.com website: www.chelseamilitaria.com

Quarterly lists available. Send $2 for complimentary copy.

In the News

New Medal for Korea Vets Could Take A Year

Stars and Stripes reports that Department of Defense

officials say it could take about a year to design, fund

and issue a new medal for troops who served in South

Korea after the war. The Korea Defense Service Medal -

authorized in the 2003 Defense Authorization Act - will

be issued to service members who completed tours of

duty in South Korea, or adjacent waters, after July 28,

1954, when the military stopped issuing the Korea War

Service Medal. The medal was authorized after former

soldier John Maclean told Congressman Etton Gallegly

(R-Calif.) he was fed up with years of"lack of recognition

and respect" for the time he spent in South Korea. There

have been 40,000 reported armistice breaches since 1953,

according to U.S. Forces Korea. And more than 1,200

service members have died on peacetime duty, including

two U.S. soldiers killed by axe-wielding North Koreans

in 1976. According to a news release, the sheer number

of anticipated recipients makes it difficult to estimate

how long it’ll take to identify, notify and award the

KDSM. "We were the forgotten warriors of the forgotten

war," Maclean told Stars and Stripes. "We deserve this

$1.50 medal."

Submitted by Alex Bendyna

OMSA News

International Seminars at OMSA Conventions

The international seminars are back and we need speak- ers. In addition to the UK/Commonwealth and United States seminars, participants at the OMSA conventions can learn about other countries’ orders, decorations and medals.

We have had superb speakers at OMSA 2002, and OMSA 2003 looks just as promising. We are already looking for speakers for OMSA 2004 and beyond. Please contact Vicken Koundakjian (OMSA 3503), the international seminars’ coordinator, to discuss topics and dates. (e- mail: vickenandpaula@sympatico.ca). Share your knowledge and your expertise - that is what our hobby is all about.

12 JOMSA

Three Special AEF Shooting Prizes

William K. Emerson

The US Army introduced a new series of smaller shooting prizes in 1903 that ultimately resulted in medals of several different designs which were awarded into the 1920s. A summary of these awards was published in the December 1997 Journal. Since that time more information has come to light on three unique prizes the Army presented only in 1919.

Shortly after the defeat of Germany, some troops became part of the new Third Army, the U S Army of Occupation, with headquarters at Koblenz, Germany. Most US troops stayed in France, and once the armistice was signed, they were ready to return to the United States. To occupy the troops’ time, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) headquarters sponsored many different athletic contests. A reading of the Stars and Stripes from the first half of 1919. details the many "keep busy" activities. One of the major events was the 1919 AEF shooting contest. The Army held the matches at D’Auvours Rifle Range, near LeMans, France, from May 5th to 20th, and these rifle and pistol contests were the sole AEF matches held in accordance with the Army’s Small Arms Firing Manual. AEF Bulletin No. 7, February 10, 1919, as amended by AEF Bulletins No. 25, March 28, and No. 29, April 7, 1919, detailed the matches.

The AEF included US Marine Corps units and also in a few cases, individual marines assigned to army units.~ Marines competed and ultimately won some of these US Army awards. Rifle and pistol competitions naturally formed the major part of the largest small arms match hosted by the US Army. Under the Small Arms Firing Manual rules, enlisted men competed against each other, and the top shooters received gold, silver, and bronze prizes. A second list, drawn up by score, ranked the officer competitors. Those officers who had scores equal or greater than enlisted men receiving medals also received gold, silver, or bronze medals?

The results, announced in AEF General Orders Number 82, May 25, 1919, listed in paragraph 2 the names of 21 enlisted men and 8 officers who received gold rifle prizes, the 60 men and 20 officers awarded silver rifle prizes, and the 100 men and 39 officers earning bronze rifle prizes. For the pistol events, paragraph 3 listed 12 gold for enlisted men and 12 for officers, 35 silver for enlisted men and 30 for officers, and 60 and 25 in bronze.

General Orders 82, paragraph 4 listed the winners of the automatic rifle competition. In this match all personnel receiving medals were enlisted. The sole gold medal went to Private E Kramer, 6th Marines; silver medals went to PFC Thomas Smith, 47th Infantry and to Sergeant Howard Burdett, 2nd Corps School; and the five bronze medals went to Private Frazer Bramblet, 144th Infantry; Corporal Henry Jackson, 142nd Infantry; Corporal R. J. Ellis, 30th Infantry; Corporal Guy Sparger, 324th Infantry; and Corporal K. E. Brown, 143rd Infantry.

While some collectors are familiar with the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) "leg badge" given in the 1920s and 1930s, that design was not created until 1923.3 The question arises, what did the AEF 1919 prize look like for the automatic rifle? Because so few were given and they are not illustrated in any government document, until now it has been almost impossible to tell. A newspaper article discusses presenting the medals shortly after the match, so one might assume a special ptanchet was not struck.4

In researching the history of the 1919 BAR prize, initially

the design was not clear, but the author was able to track

down descendents of some of the medal winners. The

descendents of Sergeant Howard Burdett, who placed

third, said that Burdett told them he complained that after

all the practice and the contest’s first day his shoulder

was black and blue, but his seniors goaded him into

completing the contest. Burdett won one of the two silver

medals, but it was later stolen?

After some effort, the author was able to obtain one of the five 1919 bronze awards for the BAR from the son of Corporal Guy Sparger of the 324th Infantry Regiment. Rather than the expected standard brooch as used on the rifle and pistol prizes, impressed with oAoEoFo, for the individual automatic rifle contest, the AEF engraved a special brooch with AUTO RIFLE and attached a standard rifle planchet. The prize given to Guy Sparger, who placed 7th overall, is shown in Figure 1. This is a unique brooch that differs from all the others given as part of other AEF, Departmental, Divisional, and Army level shooting prizes. These other brooches indicated the level and the geographic area of competition, such as Army, Division, Philippines, Northern, and the like. The new change resulting in the BAR brooch allowed General Pershing or others to present medals to all individual match winners at the May 1919 contest. This was the only time the Army awarded this design for the BAR. The AEF match introduced an automatic weapon

Vol. 54, No. 2 13