Evening star., 1919-12-05
4,5OQ,0OO SOLDIERS
AND SAILORS T0GET
us. VICTORY MEDIA!
Col. WyIIie Gives History and
Description of Nations
Tribute to Men.

The National Geographic Magazine.
in it's military insignia number, pub
fishes the first authorized illustration
of the medal as accepted by the
United States government and fur-
nishes the following description and
/ history of its adoption, by Col. r. f..
Wyllie of the general staff, l. ). a.
Uniform Medal Desirable.
During the spring Of 1918. while
hostilities were still at their helsht
the different allied and associated ma
tions agreed to adopt a medal which
would be the same for all, 10 COM
memorate the great war.
This plan has two advantages: In
the first place, it is symbollcai OF the
union and solidarity of purpose which
animated the countries hShtlnS
against Germany and her allies; sec
ondly. it obviates the necessity of
following the practice of eXchang-
ing service medals.
'In previous wars it had been GUS
tomary for nations TO hestow their
war medals ON the personnel of their
allies. who were attached to them.
or associated with them, in different
campaignS and engagements. me I'M
mensity of the operations IN TINS war
the millions of soldiers engaged
therein and the intermingnnS OF
large units under one command all
point to the impossibility of SUCH a
procedure in this instance. But by me
adoption of medal. the same for an,
it would be unnecessary. since no mat
ter in what army man served the
medals would be alike
Interallfed Commission Meets.
"In order to carry this plan into exc
cution, an interallied commission met III
Paris after the armistice. TINS CON-
mission found that it was Jmpracticapie
to adhere strictly to the original plan 10
have the medal identical for all, as IL
would have required the submission OF
designs from artists of all the nations
involved, with critical examination DS
a special commission OF artists IN oruei
to select the most appropriate ana iiost
artistic, and there was not sulilclent
time to 60 into such detail. The armies
were being demobilized and the SOL
tiers had no desire 20 wait for years be-
fore receiving their medals, SO IL was
decided to have an Identical RIBBON, put
allow each country to design It's own
medal according to general specllcd-
tions which were drawn UP by the COM
mission.
Will BE of Same General Design.
"Tn this way the medals. whlie no!
identical, will follow the same general
design and the artists of each country
will have the opportunity of executing
the medals for their own soldiers. Ine
competition is keen. as every natlon Is
desirous of having the most artistic pro
duction, and the result should be col
lection of great beauty.
"The name of this medal in all coun-
tries, as determined by this commits
sion, is the Victory medal. The ribbon
! is a double rainbow, having the red In
the center and with white thread on
each edge. 1t synibolizes the dawn of
a new era of calm after the storm. Ii
was developed in France under tn" i'm
mediate direction of the commission,
and when a satisfactory ribbon was pro-
duced a piece was sent to each of the
allied countries as a standard sample.
Medals Specifications.
'The specifications of the medal are
as follows:
'To be bronze. 36mm. "a inches) in
diameter, and suspended from the rib
bon by a ring, the same as most Of
victory. standing. full length and full
face On the reverse the inscription
The Great War for Civilization in
the language of the country con-
cerned. and either the names or the
arms of the allied and associated ma
tions.
"By the terms of the interallied
agre ement this medal will be award
ed only to combatan 1t is not for
general distribution to all who par
ticipated in war work. In France, for
example, almost every male was mob
ilized as a soldier. but great numbers
did no real military work. being Uti-
lized in the manufacture of munitions
in agricultural pursuits. on the rail
roads. and other similar service which
was essential to carry q, the w7r. ~
which could not be considered as mill
tary. The medal canIot pe :.s.aru"f.
to them. although they were technic
ally members of the French army.
Goes to All Who Served.
1--WE had no corresponding class in
our Army and Navy; therefore our
victory medal will be given to ali the
members of those two services who
served on active duty during the s o.:
they are all considered combatants in
this connection; This consideration
also decided the question as to which
of the nations should appear on the
reverse of the medal. Under the spc
cifications, already set forth it woul7
have been permissible to have includ-
ed all those that declared waE against
Germany, or even all those who sus-
pended diplomatic relations, but
number of these did not actually par
ticipate in the fighting and therefore
had no combatants. AS n result, it
has been decided that the only nations
! to be represented on the reverse Of
the medal will be those which actually
look part IN nOSIlle operations by
sending troops or ships to the theater
of war.
Nations to he Represented.
'"The following is a list of such ma
tions. arranged in the order o. tho,
entry into the war: Serbia, Russia
France. Belgium, Great Britain, Mon
tenegro, Japan. Italy, Portugal. Pu-
mania. Greece, United States, China
and Brazil.
"A system of clasps was adopted
for this medal. and to designate the
possession Of a battle clasp a small
bronze star is worn on the service
ribbon. This is a new departure in
decorations. The British have used
clasps for more than a hundred years
but they have never indicated them
on the service ribbon. man may
have a dozen with his medal or none
the service ribbon Is the same; s.
this wearing of small bronze stars
on our service ribbon to denote the
possession of battle clasps is an in
novation. AS the medal itself is sell
dom worn, while the servic,. ribbon is
worn frequently. it gives more credit
for services performed.
I'm accordance with the general
principle that senior decorations ar.
to the right. silver citation stars
should be worn to the right of bronze
stars on the service ribbon"