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Private Ist Class, ,. Co...M, . 47Th Infantry, 4Th Division, U. S..Army

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Private Ist Class, ,. Co...M, . 47Th Infantry, 4Th Division, U. S..Army Volume 50 Number 3 ,, Aux Grands Chefs - Aux Officiers - Aux Soldats - A Tous, H~ros connus et anonymes, vivants et morts, qui ont triomph~: de I’avalanche des barbares et immortalis~: son nom b. travers [e monde et pour les si~cles futurs, la Ville de Verdun, inviol~e et debout sur ses rumes, dSdie cette m~daille en t~moignage de sa reconnaissance. ,~ (D~lib~ralion ~u Con~eil A/unicilml de l/’erd.n d. ~ o Arovembre ~9z 6). ¯ Torts CRUX qui ont dressd i¢i le tour de leura poilrines ¯ Les Saldal~ de Verduu, ffer~ tie I’inMgne qui leur a alin que l’ennemi ne passe pas, el qut, ayant did d la peine leur valeur el la preut~ tie la uicloire ylorieuse qu "il~ etttpor- tdrettl ici de haule lutle ,. Andr~ MAGtt~or, Victor ~e /zorn a/e .,CHESTER A. PIPER Private ist Class, ,. Co...M, . 47th Infantry, 4th Division, U. S..Army, Verd~, Meuse-Ar~nne 1918 Le PrEsident des A. C. de Verdun Le 31aire de Verdun, The certiJ~ate for the Verdun Medal issued to Piper by the City of Verdun AUTHORIZATION FOR ISSUANCE OF AWARDS DA Form 1577 that authorized Piper’s Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster 14 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America Form 209 dated 26 April 1961. This preprinted 3 X 5 inch record card had by then replaced the entirely hand- typed award cards previously used by the Adjutant General’s Office since the early 1920s. It is known that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 26th, and 77th AEF Divisions formed veteran associations soon after WWI ended; and to the author’s knowledge, all of these associations sold or issued a medal to its members. Only the 2nd and 4th Division medals are usually found named to their recipients, and the 4th Division medal has been reported to be the scarcest of the six varieties. The original cardboard box for Piper’s 4th Division medal is 2.75 X 4.5 X % inches, and its silver-colored lid is marked on the inside with RITCHIE & BROWN/ 198 BROADWAY/ NEW YORK. The medal is Fourth Division Association Medal in box of issue mounted on a black velvet pad placed inside the black lower portion of the box. Its planchet is 1.363 inches in diameter and 0.090 to 0.102 of an inch in thickness. In with an oak leaf cluster was authorized on 12 May 1961 the center of the obverse is the Roman numeral IV on a on the top half of a DA (Department of the Army) Form circular background in white enamel that is surrounded 1577, and the decoration was mailed to him around 21 by four ivy leaves in green enamel - hence the Division’s June 1961. The complete form was printed on pale green ivy patch design and nickname the "Ivy" Division. paper 8 X 10.5 inches in size. His original request of 21 Above the recipient’s engraved details on the reverse is a March 1961 is recorded on an Army Records Center DA list of the division’s campaign and service credits; and The engraved reverse sides of Piper’s Purple Heart and Fourth Division Association Medal 15 Volume 50 Number 3 the name Ritchie & Brown appears in faint, tiny letters In the News beside the edge at the 4 o’clock position. The standard width ribbon is forest green silk moir6 with a white center Liberty Moll Winner, William McGonagle, Dies stripe ]A inch in width. William McGonagle, who Private Piper must have been severely wounded because won the Medal of Honor for his Victory Medal was issued with only the Aisne-Marne and Defensive Sector clasps. This medal came in a white his actions while in com- mand of the USS Liberty, cardboard box, 2 X 5 X 1/8 inches, with the names of the died on 3 March 1999 at his two clasps faintly stamped on the top lid in purple ink. home in Palm Springs, Cali- Still present in the box is the 1.75 X 3 inch receipt that fornia. Captain McGonagle was detached from Piper’s application for the Victory Medal and which verified the medal and clasps. A full was 73. discussion and illustration of the Victory Medal During the 1967 Arab- application form appeared in the September-October Israeli war, the Liberty, a 1998 issue of the Journal. technical research ship, was AC~C-SR-A EH attacked by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats while in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea near the ~, Piper, Chester A top of the Sinai Peninsula. Despite his wounds, then ~e Hear~ Commander McGonagle managed to keep his crip- CaptMeGonagle in 1976 ~[ 26 May 1961 pled ship under control for 17 hours until it reached safety. At times, McGonagle had to give his commands lying down to keep from passing out. DA Fortn 209 that acknowledged Piper’s request for the Purple Heart The attack on the Liberty, which left 34 of the ship’s crew dead and 171 wounded, was followed by consider- Bibliography able controversy including charges of a government cover-up. Israel apologized for the attack claiming that Ayres, Col. Leonard P., The War with Germany: A Statistical Summary, U.S. Government Printing Office, May 1919, pp. the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian ship 105-113 (Source used for U.S. participation in the 1918 because her markings were insufficient and eventually campaigns). paid more than $12 million in compensation. During the Julien, Olivier L., "IN MEMORY OF TIq]3 BRAVE: The French 1997 reunion of the survivors of the attack, Captain Verdun Medal and its Different Issues," The Medal Collector, McGonagle called for the U.S. and Israeli governments to Vol. 48, No. 5 (June 1997), pp. 24-35. Margrave, Anthony R., "French Medalists of the Eighteenth, provide the facts on why the Liberty was attacked. Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries - Part 4," Honneur et Patrie, Vol. 7,No. 1 (February 1998), pp. 28-29 ("H&P" is the journal In an interview late last year, McGonagle recalled a of OMSA’s French study group. There are three issues per recent experience in the shower when he noticed that an year). Nier, Thomas J., Ed., The Gleim Medal Letters 1971-1997, OMSA old piece of shrapnel had come loose and was sticking Medal Notes No. 5, 1998, Extract D3, pp. 66-68. through his ribs. He pulled the piece out and then fell in Nier, Thomas J., "An Unusual Nine Clasp WWI Victory Medal," pain to the shower-stall floor. "I asked my wife for a Journal of the Orders andMedals Society ofAmerica, Vol. 49, Band Aid," he said, "and she replied, ’What do you need No. 5 (September-October 1998), pp. 23-26. it for? You just took a shower’!" Sonnenschein, David and Sweetman, Jack, "The Medals of St. Mihiel," The Medal Collector, Vol. 18, No. 1 (January 1967), pp. 19-23. Submitted by Gene Christian, OMSA No. 3537 16 .
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