In 1922, New York State created its Medal for Aid to Civil Authorities to recognize this and other types of service rendered by Guardsmen to local civil governments. It was awarded for the April 1900 service outlined above with a clasp inscribed "CROTON DAM, 1900." But this State medal was created over twenty years after the event. How many eligible recipients never heard of this State medal after its creation or had died in the intervening years can only be guessed at. At the time of the strike there was no official State award. To fill the gap (and to the rescue) came the Guinea War Medal created right then in 1900. The Guinea War Medal is the "medallion" of the Guinea War Society, also known as Veterans of the Guinea War. This group was formed in the tent of some 7th Regiment men at the strike scene and for some years thereafter held annual ~eunions.5 The medal is described as "a small commemorative coin" by one source.6 It is made from an Italian I0 centisimi coin. Although post 1877 King Umberto I coins could have been used, they may have been deliberately avoided out of deference to him. He was assassinated on July 27, 1900.7 The i0 centisimi used on the three examples of this medal that the author has seen, bear the likeness of King Victor Emanual I, who reigned 1860-1877.8 NOTE: i00 centesimi equaled/s 1 lira. The coin from which the medal’s pendant was made is composed of the usual copper-bronze alloy used for 1800s pennies. It has a diameter of 1 3/16 inch or 30.0 mm and an edge thickness of 1/16 inch or 1.7 mm. The side that was the obverse retains the coin’s original design--the left facing head of the King. Within the raised outer edge lip, starting at 7 o’clock and running around the top to the 5 o’clock position, in serifed block capital letters, is the inscription of the King’s name, etc. "VICTORIO EMANULLE II RE D’ITALIA". On the bottom center in the raised lip is a series of small, square, raised dots. The reverse has had the coin’s design, the denomination and date within a wreath, removed to make a flat surface on which the following plain, block capital letter inscription has been engraved: "VETERANS / OF THE / GUINEA WAR / CROTON DAM / APRILIg00." There is no space between ’April’ and ’1900’ on the fifth line. The first and third lines are thick and the largest; the fourth line is thick and slightly smaller; and the second and fifth lines are thin and the smallest. On the top center edge of the pendant, a small, front facing ring (a very thick and large wire loop) with a diameter of 37/128 inch or 7.4mm is soldered. This loop is either for a connecting ring to the ribbon or, more likely, has the ribbon pass right through it. The ribbon itself was either a button hole (tie string) ribbon or a suspension ribbon, the author does not know which. It was of poor quality and rarely is even part of the ribbon still found on the medal. The author has seen only the remnants of it, and therefore cannot provide any measurements. The only fact that can be stated is that the ribbon was of three (probably equal) stripes--red, white, and green--the colors of the Italian national flag. The colors of the ribbon constitute one aspect of the medal evidencing prejudice against Italians. The other and major indicator of the prejudice is the "GUINEA WAR" inscription on the pendant’s reverse. The term ’Guinea’ then as now, was a derogatory term for Italians, and use of the word on 31 th±s medal clearly indicated prejudice. The use of derisive ethnic terms like Kraut (and worse) were in widespread usage in 1900. Still, many of the Guardsmen who served at Croton Dam had prior service in controlling labor strife where men of Irish extraction were the violent strikers, and yet no Mick War medal was created. Footnotes: Ipp 17-23, The 4th Marines and Soochow Creek, The Legend and the Medal, F.C. Brown, J.E. Lelle, and R.J. Sullivan, International Graphics Corp., Bennington, VT, 1980. 2p 45, History of the Seventh Regiment (NYNG) 1889-1922, D.C. Falls, Veterans of the Seventh Regiment, New York, NY (?), 1948. 3pp 45-48, Ibid. 4p 47, Ibid. 5p 53, A Handbook of Company K, Seventh Regiment, (107th Infantry N.¥oN.G.), R.G. Holbrook, The Vail-Ballou Press, Inc., New York, NY, 1940. 61bid. 7pp 520-521, The World Almanac 1987, M.S. Hoffman, ed., Pharor Books, New York, NY, 1986. 8Ibid. 9p 329, Catalogue of the World’s Most Popular Coins, F. Reinfeld and B. Hobson, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY, llth Edition, R. Otojski, ed., 1983. STOLEN MEDAL REGISTRY Contact Brian G. Cannon, P.O. Box 9522, Newark, DE 19714 with any information pertaining to stolen or lost medals. NOTICE - STOLEN: The following medals were stolen from the family some years ago and may be in a collection somewhere. The family would like to recover them and are willing to purchase. Military Cross (Geo.V) Lieut. Lorne Douglas CAMPBELL British War Medal ) Victory Medal ) 49th Cdn Inf, CEF Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the group is asked to contact the next of kin, Dr. F.Wo Danby of Kingston, through Major LoE. Grimshaw, Box 331, R.R. #I, Kingston, Ont., K7L 4VI, Canada. 32 THE MEDALS OF CLYDE PANGBORN RUSSELL R, FRITZ, OMSA #2223 The late 1920s and early 1930s were a period of aviation history. Charles Lindburg captured the imagination of the world when he took off from New York and 33 hours later landed near Paris. Three flights can be compared to this one-man epic, that of Kingford Smith’s flight around the Southern Cross from the United States to Australia, Wiley Post’s flight around the world, and Clyde Pangborn’s flight from Japan to the United States. Clyde Pangborn was an adventurer for all of his life. He was born in 1894 in Bridgeport, Washington, and graduated from St. Maries High School in Idaho in 1914. After spending some time at the University of Idaho, Pangborn enlisted in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army Flying Cadets in 1917. He took his primary flying training at Everts Field in Arkansas, and his advanced training at Love’s Field in Texas. In 1919, Pan~bornwas posted as an instructor at Ellington Field, near Houston, Texas. He was discharged in March of 1919, but was retained in the Reserve Officer Corps. As with so many other young pilots of his day, Clyde Pangborn found the civilian life of an aviator very limited. In 1921, he became a partner with Ivan R. Gates and was the chief pilot of the famed Gates Flying Circus. For a number of years, Pangborn flew as a barnstormer throughout most of the United States. It was during this time that he picked up the nickname of "Upside- down Pangborn" because one of his major tricks was flying in an inverted position. Pangborn felt that he could beat Willie Post’s record of around- the-world flight. In 1931, teamed with Hugh Herndon with a single- engine Bellancia named "Miss Veedol," he took off from New York City. He landed in England, Germany, Russia, Siberia, and Japan. While in Japan, the two men inadvertently and innocently flew over a military installation. The Japanese were convinced that the two Americans were spies, so Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon were arrested and ended up in jail. For two months they were questioned, thus ending their around-the-world record try. Finally, ~he Japanese decided that the two Americans were innocent. They gave Pangborn an opportunity to take off from the Japanese coast to complete his flight. A volume could be written about this particular adventure, but space will not permit the total activities of this historic flight. Let it suffice to say that Hugh Herndon and Clyde Pangborn completed the Japan to United States non-stop Pacific crossing on October 3, 4, and 5 (5,390 miles in 41 hours). In 1934, Pangborn joined with Colonel Roscoe Turner and flew in the MacRobertson Air Race. This race was from London, England to Belbourn, Australia. As co-pilot and navigator, second place was awarded to the Turner-Pangborn entry. Also in 1934, Clyde Pangborn was commissioned as a Lieutenant Senior Grade in the United States Navy Aviation. From 1935 through about 1939, Clyde Pangborn demon- strated Burnelli Aircraft throughout the United States and Canada, and was chief test pilot for Bellancia Aircraft Corporation in New Castle, Delaware. With the advent of World War II, Clyde Pang- born played a significant role in the recruitment of pilots. He recruited pilotsthrou~houtthe United States for the ATA-RAF Ferry Command and Eagles Squadrons. In 1941, as a senior Captain in 33 .