On the Previous Page (Bottom Right) Is the Reverse of the First Class Medals
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The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America of the third class is in green enamel. As customary with other Chinese medals, the first class badge has three small stars on the top group of rays of the eight-pointed base star, the second class badge has two small stars, and the third class badge has one small star. The first class badge has an elaborate cloud-like design for attaching to the ribbon, the device for the second class is simpler, that of the third class is simply a ball and a ring. Also on the previous page (bottom right) is the reverse of the first class medals. The reverse has only the Chinese characters for First Class War Participation A4erit Medal on the top, and the maker mark for Made by Yung Zheng Zhi in Chinese seat form in the bottom. A screw is used to hold the base star and the central medallion together. Shown at the left is an illustration of the reverse of the second class medal. It has the characters for Second Class War Participation Merit Medal on the top, and the maker mark for Made by Lao Tian Li, again in Chinese seal form, in the bottom. Both makers were Chinese, and were used commonly by the early republican government to make many of its awards.24 The reverse of the third class badge Order of the White Eagle, Second Class (reverse) has the characters for Third Class War Participation Merit Medal and the Made by Yung Zheng Zht mark. page. The Grand Order is very rare, but at least we know that it had been awarded a number of times, and must, therefore, As indicated earlier, all the three badges have on the five- be in some collections, public or otherwise. The Order of the color ribbon typical of early republican medals. These appear White Eagle had never been awarded. It is also highly to have been added on later, like the purple cravat for the unlikely that however few samples of the order that existed in Grand Order sash badge described earlier. The Decree 1912 survived the numerous civil wars, revolutions, the eight- specified that these three classes were to be neck badges, and, year-long Sino-Japanese War, change of control of the therefore, should be worn with a cravat, not a ribbon. Since government to the Nationalists and then to the Communists. the Order of the White Eagle had never been awarded, and It is possible that these three medals are the only surviving the Grand Order would have been awarded as a set (with samples of this order. breast star, sash and sash badge), it is quite likely that the samples of both these orders in the Smithsonian were On the previous page (bottom left) is a close-up of the obverse production prototypes, which were often made without of the first class medal. As illustrated, the obverse of the ribbons. That would explain why samples of both orders have order has a central medallion superimposed on a star with ribbons that are not in accordance with the regulations. eight groups of five white enameled rays with gilt borders. An enameled ring of the five national colors of the republic surrounds the central medallion. In the center, there is a white enameled eagle, wings spreading, perched on a blue, yellow and green enameled globe, which is, in turn, superimposed on a crossed rifle and sword. On the globe were two Chinese characters, Gong Li, which means universal justice or truth. The regulations of 1912 did not mention the existence of these characters as part of the design of the order. It is possible that as the young republican nation struggled to maintain territorial integrity anfidst the carving 24 The early Republican govermnent had apparently used Japanese up of the country into spheres of influence of various foreign makers, as well as "Lao Tian Li" and "Yung Zheng Zhi." The later powers, the concept of universal justice was especially two’s maker marks are conunonly found on other orders of this appealing. period, such as on the various classes of the Striped Tiger. However, on the reverse of the Striped Tiger, the class of the award The background of the central medallion of the first class would not be indicated. badge is in gilt, that of the second class is in silver, and that 16 The Medal Collector Volume 49 Number 3 THE DOOLITTLE RAID REMEMBERED William K. Emerson, OMSA #1004 The Fiftieth Anniversary of World War Two has produced several memorial awards and certificates. Recently, a friend who was part of the April 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo received a special certificate, one of those special remembrances from WWlI. His 8% by 11 certificate is shown. Except for the flag at the top, which is dark blue, and the gold colored seal at the lower left, it is entirely black on white. One must assume that all the survivors of those involved in the Doolittle Raid received similar certificates. The citation, in small print, reads: On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Second World War, it is appropriate that we take time to reflect on the unique and daring accomplislunents achieved early in the war by Task Force 16. Sailing westward under sealed orders in April 1942, only four months after the devastating raid on Pearl Harbor, Task Force 16, carrying sixteen Army B-25 bombers, proceeded into history. Facing adverse weather and under constant threat of discovery before the bombers could be launched to strike the Japanese homeland, the crews of the ships and LTC Doolittle’s bombers persevered. On delegation’s absence the Iowa took a cruise to Sgo Paulo, 18 April 1942 at 1445, perseve-rance produced success Brazil, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. On 27 November 1943 as radio broadcasts from Japan confirmed the success of the raids. These raids were an enormous boost to the the ship crossed the equator and Anderson and other crew morale of the American people in those early and dark members received large 16 by 20 inch shellback certificates. days of the war and were a harbinger of the future for In 1944 the Iowa took part in Pacific operations including the the Japanese High Command that had so foolishly Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Marianas, the awakened "The Sleeping Giant." These exploits, which Philippine Sea battle, and others. so inspired the service men and women and the nation live on today and are remembered when the necessity of Elmer Anderson was discharged in November 1946 and success against all odds is required. returned to civilian life. After receiving a BS from Occidental college in 1950, he received a reserve commission Elmer Anderson, recipient of the certificate shown on the in the Navy, was called to active duty, and served aboard the next page, received the recognition for having served as an carrier USS Essex for the Korean War. He returned to reserve Electrician’s Mate Third Class aboard the cruiser USS duty in 1952, received a Ph.D. from the University of Nashville when the raid was launched. The Nashville ~vas the Maryland in 1964, authored two graduate text books in the ship which chased down the Japanese picket Nitto Maru. field of physics, and was active in various universities, including being the head of various physics departments and Anderson’s career, both military and civilian, is most serving as a college dean and academic vice president. interesting. He was born in Ottawa, Illinois in June 1922 and joined the US Navy in 1940. He was assigned to the Nash- His military awards include the Navy Unit Commendation ville in November 1940. His service on board included the Ribbon, two awards of the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the landing of troops near Reykjavik, Iceland and escorting American Defense Service Medal with A, the American convoys to Iceland in 1941. After the Doolittle raid, the Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Nashville participated in the Aleutian campaign. Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five bronze stars, the World War Two Victory Medal, the He was transferred to become part of the initial crew of the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal USSlowa, which was commissioned in February 1943. This with one bronze star, the UN Korea Medal, and the ship took Franklin Roosevelt and a large delegation to two Philippine Liberation Medal. For some reason, although he historic meetings. The first was the Cairo Conference with served over twenty years in the United States Naval Reserve, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-Chek, 22 to 26 November he was awarded neither the Naval Reserve Medal nor the 1943. The other was the Teheran Conference with Churchill Armed Forces Reserve Medal. and Stalin, 29 November to 1 December 1943. During the 17 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America takt~ plta~ur~ in rt~agni~il~g t~ ~trbi~ COMMANDER ELMER E. ANDERSON UNITED STATES NAVY RESERVE RETIRED USS NASHVILLE CL-43 for participation in TASK FORCE 16 USS Hornet CV-8 USS Enterprise CV-6 USS Northampton CA-26 USS Vincennes CA-44 USS Salt Lake City CA-25 USS Nashville CL-43 USS 8alch DD-363 USS Gwin DD-433 USS Benham 0D-397 USS Grayson DD-435 USS Ellet 0D-398 USS Monssen 0D-436 USS Fanning DD-385 USS Meredith DD-434 USS Sabine A0-25 USS Cimarron A0-22 with Submarines, Pacific Fleet USS Thresher SS-200 USS Trout SS-202 On the occasion of the 50th annr~ersary of the Second World War, it is appropr~ste that we ~ake t~me to reflect on the unique and daring accomplishments achieved early in the war by Task Force 16.