The Mexican-USA border has been a problem for over a century. Back in 1916 after a long series of Mexican bandit raids into the US often with the backing of Mexican government officials, President Wilson called up the National Guard to protect our southern border. As usual the federal government was slow to issue the troops service medals to honor their efforts. A fairly common private issue then surfaced and is often assumed to be an official medal which it is not. The obverse looks like the VFW radiant cross with the US arms in the center and the legend "United States National Guard." The reverse is most interesting in that it lists a time line of events leading up to the call up and beyond with an 11 line inscription "RAID / COLUMBUS, N.M. MARCH 9TH / GLEN SPRINGS, TEX. MAY 6TH / SAN YGNACIO, TEX.  JUNE 14 / NATIONAL GUARD CALLED TO THE COLORS JUNE 18TH / AMBUSH AT CARRAZIL, MEX JUNE 21ST." At the bottom the medal is signed "Arthur Killean, Grand Haven Michigan who was one of two makers of this medal, the other being Schwaab of Milwaukee.

Well that same border is still in turmoil today. Drug runners and desperately poor Mexicans are swarming over that border everyday. Historically any country that couldn't control it's borders or was lacking the will power to do so ceased to exist in short order. Therefore in my opinion it is time for an "iron curtain" borrowing Churchill's term, to descend on our border sealing it up so tight that not even a roach could cross without being noticed. At the same time the US should set up offices on the Mexican side of the border to help the millions of honest hard working Mexicans enter the American economy without running the risk of death in the desert or exploitation by unscrupulous employers taking advantage of their illegal status. Sure it would cost a lot of money but then again how much money are we wasting on a war based on a lie?

This one comes up now and again often with people thinking it could be a rare Nazi Party membership pin variety, but no it's not.

The badge illustrated below was handed to Clifford Mishler by a local with the usual "what is it" question and Cliff then passed the question on to me thereby giving me some blog fodder. The black enameled circle has the lettering,"D.V.G." = Deutsche Volks Gemeinschaft. "Westmark (Lothr.)" = Westmark(Lothringen) which roughly translates: German People's Community of the Westmark(Lorraine). By "community" the Nazis were referring to a co-operative like association of Germans living in the former French province of Lorraine. Their use of the term "mark" digs deep into history when a mark was a buffer state established on your borders and settled by your nationals. Austria was called the Ost (East) mark and the Lorraine became the Westmark. So what we have here is a regional association membership badge instead of a Nazi Party membership badge and a badge that I think is much scarcer than the more common Nazi Party membership badges.