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rarity. However, the pool of eligible veterans in each of these three categories may be very different from the medals finally issued in each category. After discussing this question with some knowledgeable collectors, a rule of thumb was proposed for the distribution of issued medals. This very tentative estimate distributes any random group of 20 Mexican Service Medals to have 14 medals for the Punitive Expedition (70%), five medals for Vera Cruz (25%), and one medal for the skirmish

Figure 6: Letter authorizing Mexican Service Medal No. 1 for General Pershing.

group (5%).

Endnotes::

1. Thomas J. Nier, Editor. The Gleim Medal Letters 1971 -- 1997. O.M.S.A. Medal Notes No. 5, Extract B1, p. 6.

2. Military Awards. Army Regulation 672-5-1, rev. ed. Washington: Headquarters, Department of the Army, 1947, Section 4-14, p. 4-3.

3. Albert F. Gleim (Editor) Army Mexican Service Medal Issue Records. Fort. Myer, Virginia: Planchet Press, 1994,: p. 51.

4. Clarence C. Clendenen. Blood on the Border - The United States

Vol. 65, No. 5 (September-October 2014) 21

Army and The Mexican Irregulars. London: Macmillan, 1969, p. 186-189.

5. James P. Finley. The Buffalo Soldiers of Fort Huachuca. Arizona: Fort Huachuca Museum, 1993, p. 48.

6. John S.D. Eisenhower. Intervention! - The United States and the Mexican Revolution 1913-1917. New York: W.W. Norton, 1993, p. 188-192, 209-210.

7. Nier, op. cit., Extract B27, page 37, Extract B22, p. 31. . 8. Nier, op. cit., Extract G6, p. 146.9. This medal, numbered “13451” on its rim, was lot 96 in the FJP

Figure 7: Four of General Pershing’s campaign medals.

Auction of May, 2008. It sold for $825 versus its estimate of $400-$500.

10. Thomas J. Nier. “Dated Army Philippine Campaign Medals.” The Planchet Newsletter. (Winter 2007) Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 8.

11. Gleim op. cit., p. 1 to 7. 12. Nier op. cit., Extract G2, Table A, p. 136-137. 13. Photograph taken by Adam Rohloff at the Smithsonian Institute in

2001. The curator may have overlooked adding the Indian Wars Medal, or perhaps it had been misplaced in storage.

IN THE NEWSMarine Donates Medal of Honor to Museum

Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-4) Hershel “Woody” Williams, USMC Retired, recently donated his Medal of Honor to the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in Chicago, Illinois. Williams received his Medal of Honor

for heroic actions on Iwo Jima.

From Leatherneck MagazineSubmitted by Lawrence Watson.

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My purpose in writing this is to not only acquaint the reader with the Four Chaplains Medal, which was only given once, but also with the background of the four men who earned it and the story of why they were honored.

The Chaplains

Figure 1: Chaplain George Lansing Fox.

George Lansing Fox (Methodist) (Figure 1)

He was born March 15, 1900 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. His father, a Sicilian, worked at the Altoona railroad shop and his mother was a very religious German. George was one of four sons and he had one sister. At the start of World War I George was 17 and wanted to enlist. He lied about his age and joined the Army. He was assigned to the ambulance corps and was sent to Camp Baker, Tennessee for training. On December 3, 1917 he was shipped to Europe on the USS Huron. On November 10, 1918 a shell hit the building he was in at Giraucourt and his back was nearly broken from flying bricks. For his service and injuries George was awarded the Silver Star, the Croix de Guerre and the Purple Heart. Receiving a 29-percent disability he was returned to the states in August 1919 where he worked at the Guarantee Title and Trust Co. in Brooklyn, New York. George worked his way up to auditor. In 1923, he felt the call to the ministry and attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. There he met and married Isadora G. Hurlbut of Vermont. They moved to Vermont where he was a circuit rider along the Canadian border for two years. He then attended Illinois Wesleyan College where he earned his BA degree. He went on to Boston University School of

Theology for his theology degree. After graduation, he was ordained a Methodist minister, on June 10, 1934. He served parishes in Union Village and Gilman, Vermont and was appointed state chaplain and historian for the American Legion in Vermont. During the next ten years he had two children, Wyatt and Mary Louise. After Pearl Harbor, at the age of 41, he re-entered the Army, the same day his son enlisted in the Marine Corps, and was sent to Chaplain School at Harvard. Upon completion of Chaplain School George was assigned to the 411th Coast Artillery Battalion. He was not happy there and felt he needed to be near the battlefield. He wrote many letters requesting a transfer and finally was ordered to Camp Myles Standish, Taunton, Mass. for special assignment on January 3, 1943.

Figure 2: Chaplain Alexander David Goode.

Alexander David Goode (Jewish) (Figure 2)

Goode was born May 10, 1911 in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Hyman Goodekowitz, was a rabbi at a synagogue in Georgetown. Alex was one of four children and was raised in Washington, D.C., attending Eastern High School. Alex was a good boxer, fast runner and first in his class. His classmates taunted him, calling him “Jew boy.” Alex had a gift for oratory and excelled in math and mechanics. He joined the National Guard between his junior and senior years where he served for seven years. He attended Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1930. In 1935 he married his high school sweetheart, Theresa Flax, whose uncle was Al Jolson. In 1937 he was ordained a rabbi and assigned to

THE FOUR CHAPLAINS MEDAL

STEVEN E. WATTS