Twenty some years ago when I published my Wisconsin Military and Civil Medals book I had one fellow in particular tell me that badges had no place in a medals book. I told him that I considered retirement badges to be civilian awards and since it was my book my rules apply. Still I wish I had this group back then. I would have liked to ask him if he would break up such a group. Would he not mention the badges in this group if he listed the group in a military medals book.. Illustrated below is the group of a WWII Marine who became the sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin in the early 1980’s. The regular medals are nothing exciting but the Philippine liberation medal is somewhat unusual for a marine I’m told. The Sons of the American Revolution medals are also interesting as is the VFW medal none of which I can remember ever seeing before. The badges are spectacular. The large one is the sheriff’s personal named badge and the smaller badge is his retirement badge which has his dates of service, 1946-1983. This shows that after active duty with the Marines he signed on with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department which leads me to a final observation; there is no Good Conduct Medal in his group! Maybe he would have received a Good Conduct Medal if he had reenlisted ? The group may not be complete so I have filed a request for information about his medals with military records archive in St. Louis. So let’s think positive. I’ll keep you posted.

I went to the Neville Museum in Green Bay last weekend to see a special exhibit titled Traitor State Wisconsin that a friend called to my attention knowing that I was a military medals collector. First off I really like the Neville and have been there several times before. They have some good collections and always try to have interesting temporary or traveling exhibits. This Traitor State Wisconsin exhibit focuses on the Wisconsin based opposition to the American involvement in the First World War and the reaction to it. The exhibit did a good job illustrating the hysteria and paranoia that was running rampant at the time and not just in Wisconsin I might add. Also included is some general war history and souvenirs some of which to my collectors mind were only minimally attributed like the spiked German helmet from the Grand Duchy of Baden simply labeled as a German helmet “captured “ by a local soldier. Since the Germans quit using these leather helmets about a year before the American troops got there I am sure that the capture story would have been interesting. The only military service medal that I saw on display was a medal issued by the city of Milwaukee to it’s National Guardsmen for service on the Mexican Border and it was on the wrong broach with the correct broach just laying on the middle of the ribbon. It was simply labeled military medal for Mexican Border Service. There were no WWI medals in the display at all! Not the common victory medal or even one of the two types of Green Bay WWI medals which I know the museum has in their collection. Maybe next time the high paid experts will consult the some collectors.

Illustrated below is what the Milwaukee Mexican Border Service medal should really look like.