NEWS

PHILIPPIN~S HONOR FLOOD RELIEF UI~JITS

Navy and N~rine Corps units toking part in relief operations in the flood-stricken Philippines have been awarded the Philippine Republic Presi- dential Unit Citation.

Some of the eligible organizations have been named by either HQMC, or BuPers but it’ll be at least a month before a detailed listing will specify who c~u wear the ribbon. Kno?m recipients are the Corps’ 33d ~I~%U, with H~J~-I65 and BLT 2-4, the helicopter carriers Tripoli and New Orleans and the tank landing ship Cayuga.

In only the second such presentation to allied nation forces since World War II, the Philippine PUC was given to more than 30 U.S. armed forced units for their emergency assistance when flood waters inundated most of Luzon Province from July 22 to August 13. from Navy Times - 9-6~_ 72 submitted by David E. Schulz

by Robert S. Horowitz, from Air Force Tizes, September 20, 1972

Despite mil~ opposition from the Defense Department, a House Armed Services subcom~Attee voted this week to change the name of America’s highest combat decoration to the "congressional Medal of Honor." Several members of the subcommit@ee admi.tted they slways thought the Medal of Honor has had the word "Congressinnal" in front of it, but it doesn’t. The congressmen aren’t ~/ue only ones who are confused. Past President Thomas J. Kelly, of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said he has an official identification card, signed by the Secretary of the Army, which identified Kelly as a holder of the "Congressional Medal of Honor," which really doesn’t exist. Kelly’s card identifies him for one of the three benefits that Medal of Honor holders get ~ high-priority space-available military travel, the right to send their qualified sons to the s~rvice academies, and $i00 a month for life. Any other honor or courtesy -- such as when generals salute former Corporal Kelly - is purely informal and traditional. Actually there are three different Medals of Honor - one for the Navy (also awarded to Marines), one for the Ar~y, and one for the Air Force.

Col. Eugene F. Ganley, commander of the Army’s Institute of Heraldry which is in charge of heraldry and decorations for the entire government, told the subcommittee that the government pays $32.50 for @ach Medal of Honor packs4~e which includes the medal and neck ribbon, the rosette worn in the lapel, the service ribbon worn on the uniform and the box in which the whole works is presented. The Bronze S+~r package bought in very much larger quqntities, costs 17 cents. It’s not the medal’s me~rl that’s expensive - it’s made of bronze, brass or gilding alloy, depending on the military service -- it’s the fact that so few are bought at a time. The Congressional Space Medal of Honor costs $I,000 per dozen, because only a dozen have been ordered and because each one has a q.u~er carat diamond in the middle. Nobody has yet been awarded one of these space medals. Although the Medal of Honor costs only $32.50, it is worth ~275 to pawn shops and collectors, because of the medal’s relative scarcity. Tech- nically, it is illegal to sell the Medal, but some people do it anyway. Kelly said only 301 living Americans - out of 30 million veterans - have the highest medal. Kelly’s group asked Congress to change the name to the Congressional Fmdal of Honor because so many other organizations give out their own versions of the medal of honor. Subcommittee chairman J~mes A. Byrne (D., Pa.) agreed and even supplied a list of examples. F~dals of Honor and s~m~]ar-sounding ~rizes .are awarded regularly for outstanding contributions to the sport of archery, for the advancament of the electronics industry, for the Camp Fire Club of America, for exceptional understauding of osteopathic principles, for contributions to the American pharmacy, and by the Freedoms Foundation for such achieve- ments as noteworthy advertising and good sermons. The bill, HR 11035 was approved unanimously, and now it goes to the full Armed Services Committee which is likely to send it to the House floor very quickly. submitted by Maj. J.R. Buschmann

The Royal Air Force thinks so much of Corpora! ~rancis Iddon’s cooking that he has been awarded the British Empire Medal. "It is very unusual for a cook to get the BEM," said an RAF spokesman, "but his cooking is highly thought of." The a la carte menus 38-year-old Corporal Iddon prepares for Princess Mary’s RAF Hospital feature Lancashire hot pot, black pudding and grilled steak. from Philadelphia Evening Bulletin September 18, 1972 submitted by John Lelle

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The Editor is desirous of instituting a column which would be entitled "What Others Publish" and current reports of articles in magazines and newspapers which deal with the collecting of Orders and Medals of the World. He encourages those who receive publications to list those articles ~ich would hold the interest of our Society. There is always a need for bibliographic and periodic published material to aid the research student in the compilation of information for articles.

3O DON CHALIF AW~A~DED A PLAQUE FOR HIS 0UTST~d~DING ~HIBiT

Don Chalif was awarded a plaque for "Outstsmding Exhibit" at the recent Convention in San Francisco. His exhibit included 36 displays of leading scoring fighter ace~ who fought on the Eastern Front duri~Lg World War II. Pilots who appeared in this exhibit included pilots from , Hungary, Spain, Russia and Fr~nnce (with the Regiment Normandie-I.~iemau ~;ho fle~ on the F~stern Front.

AUTHORS ~F~CH ~D ~IDS

Jeffrey R. Jacob, Z~f+ Washington Street, Hackettstown, N.J. 078~0 is in the process of finalizing his "Jewellers ~,~nograph" ~Jhich he has been working on for a number of yeses. He has to date over 300 jewelers ir~ his listings who have made orders and decorations. He ~ill be happy to hear from those who have cases of presentation where the name of the je~eler is printed. Anthony R. Ayres of Great Britain is ~Lxious to secure more information on the Kitt~ming Medal which was featured as a brief article in the September 1971 issue of the Medal Collector.

Frederic yon Allendorfer is doing some research on the Bavarian Volunteers who served in the Grecion army of Ki~g Otho of (son of King Louis I of ). Two medals were issued l) Commemorative Cross of the Bavarian A~xiliary Corps, 2) Con~nemorative Cross for the Bavarian Volunteers. He would li~e to knowwho co~2anded Corps, numbers and brief history. One Louis Blenker, a Baw~ian joined this Corps in 1833 and went ~o Greece raising ~from private to sergeant ~h~n the Legion disbanded in 1839. The revolution of 18~9 prompted him to leave Europe for America and o~ the out- break of the Civil War he raised the Eighth Regiment being apvointed colonel. On August 6, lS61 he was promoted to a bTigadier-general.