Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1901 — Designs for Naval Medals. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Designs for Naval Medals.

Congress ordered that two medals be struck to commemorate the achievements of the United States navy in the campaign in the West Indies during the Spanish-American war; of these one is to be known as the battle medal, and the other as the meritorious service medal. Acting upon the unanimous recommendation of the Naval Board of Awards, Secre-

tary of the Navy Long has just approved of the above two designs for the battle medal. In Its report to Secretary Long the board on awards took particular pains to point out that the battle medal is not conferred for services rendered on any one engagement. It is, as congress ordered, Intended for all the men who participated in the West Indian campaign, and so it will

go to those who were at Santiago, or at Ponce, or at San Juan, or at Matanzas, or at Cardenas, or off Cienfuegos, or to the fortunate few who were in all of, these battles. The board stated that it placed Sampson’s head upon the medal because he was commander-in-chlef of the West Indian squadron, as the head of Dewey was placed on the Manila medal. But the medal will not be known as the Santiago medal in particular, for the reason that It will bear upon the reverse the name of the decisive battle In which the recipient participated. battles will be represented by separate bars attached to the suspending ribbon, the latter red, white, and blue, one bar for each battle. Thus In the case of an officer like Wainwright, who figured In many engagements, the bars will be almost as conspicuous as the medal. The Sampson portrait is In profile taken from a likeness made just before the outbrehk of the Spanish war. On the face of the medal the Inscription reads: “United States Naval Campaign in the West Indies, 1898 —William Thomas Sampson, Com-mander-in-Chief.” The suspending bar above bears the American eagle over a design in oak leaves. The reverse of the medal marks the government’s recognition of the splendid services of “The Man Behind the Gun." Surrounding the picture on the rim of the medal is a handsome laurel wreath. The inscription would read like this: “Santiago (or Clenfuegos or San Juan, etc.) July 3 (or the appropriate date), 1898, John Smith, seaman, U. S. S. Texas.”