(Bill Shatzer) wrote:

Not at all. The medal was re-created in 1932 in honor of the 200th
anniversary of Washington's birth. Sometime there after, it was
decided to retroactively award the medal to all personnel who had
been awarded "wound stripes" in WW1.

1935 sounds about right for the retroactive award. Prior to
that, he'd only be out of uniform if he failed to wear the
wound stripe.

Fascinating. Thanks Bill, that solves a little family mystery. My grandfather
didn't know why it arrived when it did. He thought they "just finally got
around to it". That explains perhaps why there are no devices or anything for
wounds during the Mexican campain, though there is a letter from Pershing
somehere around here. "Bah" was an Lt. in the NGW (National Guard, Washington)
at the time. When The Great War for Civilization came along, he was able to
appeal to Pershing to keep his commision when he found himself a private in an
artillery outfit but had lead infantry for ten years.

-- Charlie Springer