PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Once again I am pleased to report that our Society is £inancially strong and our membership is at an all time high (approximately 1400 members). This past spring a new membership handbook (MEDAL COLLECTOR HAND- BOOK 1984) was published and mailed to the membership. At this time I would like to thank our Secretary, Jack Lelle, who did a most commendable job of assembling the handbook. Currently, an INDEX is being prepared of all the articles that have ever appeared in The Medal Collector since the Society’s first journal (1949-19~D-.---T~s INDEX will be completed and available to the membership in the spring of 1985. This past year the OMSA Ribbon Bank continued to expand in both selections available as well as service to our members. The Ribbon Bank Chairman, Steve Haskin, filled 208 ribbon orders and has in- creased the different available selections to 847 different types of ribbon. Thanks to Steve’s efforts the Ribbon Bank’s activity increased by 58% over the previous year. (An interesting note: all the Soviet ribbon used in the hit movie "RED DAWN" was pur- chased from the OMSA Ribbon Bank.) Steve deserves our deepest gratitude. Once again the Back Issue Chairman, Paul Kaparoff, has done an outstanding job in handling the back issues and monographs. The activity in this area expanded by 32% over the previous year.

At the beginning of this year a new Librarian, Nick McDowell, joined the staff. Nick is presently putting the Library in the best shape in its history. The OMSA Library is excellent and the membership is urged to take advantage of this service. Member Paul Till has compiled a Glossary of Numismatic Terms re- lating to our area of numismatics. This has been a true labor of love and the Board of Directors has approved a final editing and publication of this Glossary. A committee chaired by Director A1 Gleim will handle the publication of the Glossary and it will be available to the membership sometime in 1985. This year’s convention in Atlanta was outstanding! Our Convention Chairman, Barry Weaver, and his staff are to be congratulated for one of the smoothest conventions to date. There were 125 members plus families and guests in attendance and for the second year in a row tile entire Board of Directors was present. The "OMSA Con- vention Table" was in the bourse room and sales of membership badges, blazer crests, back issues and monographs were brisk. The "table" was staffed again this year by Jack Lelle and his wife Dolores and Paul Kaparoff. Our gratitude and appreciation to them is hereby expressed. An Award System for the Society has been established by the Board of Directors. Henceforth awards of a Distinguished Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and a Literary Medal will be made from time to time to those members deemed worthy. The presentations will be made at the annual conventions starting with next year’s convention in Los Angeles. Our convention in 1985 will be in Los Angeles, California, at the Hyatt Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport. The dates of the convention will be August 8 - Ii. Ken Hope, who has been doing an outstanding job as the OMSA Business Manager, will be the Con- vention Chairman. The convention should be most excellent, so please make plans to attend. Our conventfon fn 1986 will be in Wilmington, Delaware. At th±s time I would like to thank all of our staff, the Board of Directors, the Committee Chairmen, and particularly our Editor of The Medal Collector, Mike Shaw, who has just completed his third year o~ servlce, for all their successful efforts in making 1984 an outstanding year for our Society. Last but not least I want to express a special thanks to our Vice President, Lee Bishop, and our Secretary, Jack Lelle, for their cont±nued day-to-day accomplishments and support. - J. Robert Elliott, President, OMSA.

FIRST DAY COVER FEATURES MONTE CASSINO

On May 18, 1984, Poland issued a commemorative stamp to mark the 40th anniversary of the capture of the Monte Cassino Monastery by Polish troops. The stamp design features the monastery in the background with the Monte Cassino Cross medal as the main design. A Polish helmet with insignia is the theme of the First Day Can- cellation. - Terry F. Bart, OMSA #1210.

MONTE CASSINO 18.5-1944 18-5-1984 ROBERT H, STANLEY - EARLY HOSPITAL CORPS HERO F, C, BROWN, OMSA #2073

Hospital Apprentice Robert Henry Stanley, USN, was the first Hospital Corpsman to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Al- though a recognized recipient of our nation’s highest award for valor, little was known of his early life, and details of his Navy career eluded researchers for years. Documents recently provided by the National Archives and the Retired Military Personnel Records Branch, however, now permit us to flesh out Stanley’s life in considerable detail. Stanley was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 2, 1881. At the age of 16 he enlisted in the Navy aboard the USS Vermont, a receiv- ing ship berthed in New York Harbor. A week later he was trans- ferred to the USS Mayflower, a luxurious steam yacht purchased by the Navy for the impending war with Spain. Mayflower joined Sampson’s squadron at , Florida, on April 20, 1898, and then steamed south with other warships to join the blockade of Harbor. En route she captured the Spanish schooner Santiago Apostol, as well as a number of fishing boats and coastal trading vessels. On May 14, 1898, Spanish warships made an attempt to break the blockade, and Mayflower’s guns engaged the enemy and helped to drive them off. Stanley was aboard throughout the en- gagement, although his exact role is not known. Early in 1899, Mayflower returned to New York for decommissioning and Stanley transferred to the protected cruiser USS Newark. While aboard Newark he made the transition from landsman to hospital corpsman, the Hospital Corps having been established the preceding year. Newark got underway in March 1899 and steamed down the coast of , making many port calls along the way. After tra- versing the Straits of Magellan she continued up the west coast of South America. That September, showing the travails of her long voyage, she pulled into Mare Island Navy Yard, near San Francisco, for needed repairs. The following month she was underway again, this time bound for the . After a brief stop in Hawaii, she steamed on and arrived at Cavite, in Manila Bay, near the end of November 1899. For the next four months Newark participated in actions against the Filipino insurrectionists on Luzon, and also made brief trips to Hong Kong and Japan. Trouble was brewing in North China that spring of 1900, as the Society of Righteous Harmonious Fists, or "Boxers" as they were dubbed by westerners, urged the expulsion of all "foreign devils" from Chinese soil. On May 20th Newark, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Louis Kampff, Assistant Commander of the Asiatic Squadron, steamed for the China coast to land reinforcements to protect the foreign legations in Peking. Newark arrived in Tientsin on May 22nd, and Stanley was sent with the first detachment of Marines to bolster legation defenses inside Peking. What followed was an epic 56-day siege, in which the foreign legations were completely cut off from outside aid until relieved by an international relief expedition in August 1900. The travails of the legation guard are perhaps best described in the Annual Report of the Surgeon General, U.S. Navy, 1901: "The Marine ~in--~ng---was---practlc---~l~--5~- sieged, und~-~onstant fire, from about the middle of June until