On the job for victory - Awards given for the WWI homefront efforts
American workers finish building torpedos in the workshops of the US Navy, circa 1917.
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In the summer of 1914, war broke out between the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary against the Allied Countries of Britain, France and Russia. At the start of the war, President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States would remain neutral. Over the next three years, that neutrality would be strongly debated as events such as submarine warfare in the Atlantic and Germany’s sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania on May 7, 1915 killed more than 120 U.S. citizens, pushing the United States closer to entering the war.
With additional Germany attacks on U.S. shipping and Germany meddling in U.S.-Mexican relations, the United States finally declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Within a few months, thousands of U.S. men were being drafted into the military and more than a million troops were sent to Europe to encounter a war unlike any before and the swift rise of military technology. Crucial to the Allied cause was the introduction of the American industry that would ultimately provide almost two-thirds of all Allied military equipment, including 297,000 aircraft, 193,000 artillery pieces, 86,000 tanks and 2 million army trucks. This would result in the American industrial production doubling in size.
The copper stamping on this X-107 type award is about 40mm x 57mm with a horizontal pinback. The raised border is inscribed War Service with Ship Building below. Center shows a Merchant ship imposed on a shield and anchor surmounted by an Eagle at the top.
David L. Burrows
While the troops returning home would receive many military awards for their service by states and home towns, this is a story of the many war-time workers who, while not in the military, also received many awards for their unending around the clock work to supply the necessary equipment to lead the Allies to victory.
In April of 2017, 122 ocean-going ships were sunk in the first two weeks after the U.S. declared war. British losses in that period averaged about 25 percent round-trip. Shipyards outside the U.S. were simple unable make up for the losses, leading to the creation of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (E.F.C.) on April 16, 1917. The goal was to restore the nation’s Merchant Marine and supply the ships and shipyards needed to help the Allied cause. Priority was given to building 35 destroyers, hundreds of sea-going tugs, mine sweepers and submarine chasers. In April 1917, the U.S. had 61 shipyards, but only 37 could produce steel vessels. In spite of some inherent problems, the ship builders answered the challenge, and civilian awards for the workers soon followed.
The smaller ship building badge can be found both in copper and gilt versions, usually numbered on the reverse.
The most frequently seen ship building badge is a type X-107 as seen in Planck’s reference on City, County, and Organization Medals of WWI. No known maker is indicated for the thin copper stamping of about 40 x 70mm, with a horizontal pinback but probably made by different makers since collectors find slight variations. Collectors will also frequently find a smaller 35mm version with no eagle above the shield and no anchor, but reverse numbered with the highest known numbers as 82113. This version is listed as X-108 in the Planck reference. An interesting variation on the X-107 ship building badge for war service is one issued by the Harlan Plant of Bethlehem Steel Ship Building Corporation. Producing 153,810 dead weight tons of steel merchant ships in WWI the Bethlehem Steel Ship Building Corporation was an example of a mid-field player in the WWI Shipping boom. The shipyard closed in 1926, although it reopened for a time during WWII. The Harlan plant badge is unusual in showing the maker Whitehead & Hoag, Camden New Jersey as the maker on the reverse. Additional examples of a striking design in enamel showing a U.S. Flag and a faithful service ribbon for ship building perhaps for meeting July and August quotas for ship building have been found. These examples exhibit no maker mark or a name for a particular ship builder.
This Hog Island bronze plaque recognized the efforts of an individual A.C Young who made a major contribution in building one of the largest ship yards in the United States.
David L. Burrows
As part of the WWI effort, the U.S. government contracted American International Shipbuilding Corporation to build ships at Hog Island near Philadelphia. By 1918, a 4.5-mile rail line was built to connect Hog Island with what was the largest shipyard in the world with 50 slipways. The ships built there were considered ugly but well built. In all, 122 ships, often called “Hog Islanders”, were built, mostly cargo ships, and a few transport vessels. A recently listed Hog Island award was seen on eBay presented to an employee A.C. Young as a ship builder between 1917-1920 in the form of a striking bronze plaque.
Another more frequently seen WWI industrial award came from the Crane Company in Chicago. In the July 1936 issue Fortune Magazine there was a statement from Crane Company that read “you can’t run a railroad or build a dam, operate a paper mill or lay a sewer, dig an oil well or heat a hospital, or launch a battleship or even take a shower without using one of the more than 40,000 odd products made by the Crane Company”. During the first decades of the 20th century, Crane invested in metallurgical research that paid off for the company and industry at large. The company wound up producing many of the valves and pumps used in the construction of many of the steel hulled ships needed for the war effort. This work is reflected in the design of the Crane Company’s War Service medal given to employees for various months of service. The medal is a 43mm x 29mm bronze oval which showed a fouled anchor and a ship’s wheel as well as an artillery piece inscribed “War Service” at the top and “U.S.N. /War/E.F.C” at the bottom with E.F.C. referring to the Emergency Fleet Company. Suspended from the oval are bars indicating periods of service in six-month intervals. Found in the Planck reference and indicated as an X36 type. The “X” means the maker is unidentified. The reverse was usually named as in our example to a “W.F.Atherton” with the appropriate WWI dates 1917-1918. The Crane Company medal makes an interesting medal to collect with its individual naming and various numbers of service bars. There have been examples know to be found in gilt as seen in our next example. This was awarded to a Crane Company subsidiary employee at the Bridgeport Valve Company is Connecticut for 18 months service with a reverse named to a “T. Tertichny”, who in his registration card indicates he was a wire machine handler. By this time many immigrants were working in American mills and shops, along with many women who replaced men who were at war.
Images of the obverse and reverse of the typical Crane Company medal indicate company naming and recipient of the award for varying lengths of service. Always found named with varying number of service bars.
David L. Burrows
Ship building was certainly not the only industry that produced awards for its workers. One of the most often seen war service medals were Winchester Company awards in the field of munitions manufacture. One of the more unusual orders for Winchester was from Great Britain for a small quantity of Model 1886 lever action rifles chambered at 45-90. They were to be used with incendiary ammunition by “aeroplane gunners” to ignite the flammable hydrogen gas filling the German zeppelins that were bombing London nightly. More importantly, Winchester filled the need to arm millions of “Doughboys” headed for Europe by developing the Enfield Number 14 Pattern rifle to handle the U.S. standard 30-06 cartridge. Thus, the U.S. Model 1917 Enfield was born.
Browning developed the final design of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) while working at the Winchester plant producing some 27,000 rifles. Browning and Winchester engineers also developed the Browning .50-caliber machine gun. A typical Winchester war service medal was a 36mm circular bronze medal with a charging infantryman with his Enfield rifle against an industrial background. Inscribed “War Service – Munitions Manufacture” around the edge. Typically, the reverse is imprinted with “Winchester” and sometimes found numbered. Made by Gorham Company, this version surprisingly is not seen in Planck’s WWI reference. Winchester’s ammunition contribution during WWI included producing almost 900 million rounds of small arms ammunition for the U.S. Army.
The Crane medal for an employee name T. Tertichny, with company records showing he was from Kiev, Russia and worked at the Bridgeport, CT plant.
David L. Burrows
An interesting variation of the Gorham Company Winchester War Worker medal was the William J. Oliver Company’s war worker medal for munitions but with an added 33mm x 9mm war worker top bar usually found on a Gorham type 11 medal which will be explored later in this article. During WWI, Oliver’s Knoxville factory manufactured artillery shells. The factory received an order for 100,000 shells from the Italian Army shortly before the war began. When the U.S. entered the war the factory received an order for 130,000 shells from the U.S. military. The Wm. J. Oliver’s name and date is clearly seen on the reverse of the medal.
Another variation of this design by Gorham was that of the Aldrich Pump Company, with the company name clearly denoted on the obverse. The reverse shows only a horizontal pin and no numbering or inscription. Founded in 1902 as a division of Allentown Rolling Mills, Aldrich was a leading manufacturer of Reciprocating Pumps and Systems designed for reliable high-energy, heavy-duty service in many specialized applications during WWI.
This version of the X-107 is unusual with an ornate top plate that shows not only the company name but also a specific plant with a modified version of the eagle.
David L. Burrows
Collectors should be aware of many smaller and lapel pin size awards often found in small boxes at local and national military shows. Examples of that genre include a Hog Island shipyard WWI service pin, the A. Gillespie Munition workers pin, Allied Silk Trading Co. WWI service pin as well as one from the Pittsburgh Limestone Company Industrial medal for war effort. Sizes range from 17mm for the Gillespie pin to 27mm for the larger Pittsburgh Limestone Company pin.
The example below of the Gorham Company-type 11 medal is similar to those awarded by a large spectrum of companies. Among the most common that shows up is for machine guns in the form of a 33mm round pendant of bronze, linked to a 33mm pinback bar, also bronze. The top bar is inscribed WAR WORKER flanked by shields. A worker and eagle are scene with a scroll above, lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM. The type of work is inscribed at the bottom and the reverse usually is blank except for the maker mark.
Examples of a 40mm x 30mm oval in gold with a colored enamel design for Faithful Service in Ship Building found with blank reverses and horizontal pinback.
David L. Burrows
In 1930, the Crane Company issued a 75th Anniversary commemorative medal showing the founder R.T. Crane on the obverse and a detailed image of the factory in Chicago on the reverse.
David L. Burrows
Even with this Gorham war worker medal variations can be found that have a second bar between the top bar and the pendant to identify the specific company and possibly length of service. A good example of this variation s one issued by the Stenotype Company to its employees for one year of service. Our example shows that variation in both a bronze version and a gold version. During WWI, the Stenotype Company entered into contracts with the U.S. government to manufacture munitions in Indianapolis, Ind. Employing many women workers, Stenotype Company made V.B. rifle grenades. An unfortunate side story was that the government was slow to supply materials and pay on contracts, and by 1918 creditors filed to have the company placed into receivership. By the spring of 1919, all assets of the company were sold to settle the debts.
The Gorham type 11 war worker medal can be found with designations other than Machine Gun and Stenotype as seen the accompanying four examples. Collectors can find an “Army Navy”, “Radiators”, “Artillery” and “Truck Manufacturer” when spotting the iconic Gorham design. Note that the top bar for Army-Navy and Radiators pin shows a shield and anchor, while the Artillery and Truck Manufacturer awards show the two shell design in their top bar. The Army-Navy example shows The Rostand Mfg. Co, while the Radiator example was issued by the Rome-Turney Radiator Co. of Rome, N.Y. on its reverse. The Artillery example is named Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Co., while the Truck Manufacturer example was issued by The Gramm-Bernstein Motor Truck Company.
The obverse and reverse of the War Service medal for Munitions Manufacturer Winchester faintly shows the Gorham trademark in the industrial scene behind the charging soldier.
David L. Burrows
The Hog Island service pin belonged to a shipyard worker. The T.A. Gillespie Company produced a large variety of munitions, while Allied Silk Company made silk cartridge bags, and Pittsburgh Limestone had a quarry operation providing limestone for steel production.
David L. Burrows
The Rostand Manufacturing Company of Milford, Conn., handled main government contracts for boat and ships including marine hardware and supplies as well as structural steel products. Rome-Turney Radiators produced all the radiators for the Curtiss airplanes in World War I, as well as producing radiators for the U.S. Army. It also produced massive radiators for Goodyear-Zeppelin for dirigibles such as the U.S. Navy’s U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Shenandoah. The Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Company fulfilled government contracts for the 50 Mark I (8-inch howitzer) in the form of self-propelled guns (SPG). The Grahmm-Bernstein Motor & Truck Company produced the first Class-B Standardized Military Truck, better known as the “Liberty Truck” in WWI. Before the end of the war 9,452 Liberty Trucks were assembled, of which 7,600 were sent to Europe.
David L. Burrows
The Gorham maker mark is faintly seen at the top reverse of the Wm. J. Oliver issued War Worker medal.
David L. Burrows
It is interesting to note that even in Planck’s Third Edition (1995) that in describing the Gorham Co. Type 11 War Worker medal, he lists four known examples: Machine Guns, Artillery, Munitions, and Signaling devices. This author has found additional variations including obverse notations for Navy, Army & Navy, Radiators, Truck Manufacturer, Small Arms, and Ship Building. Based on thousands of government contracts from World War I, there many more awards for war worker contributions as well as identity badges and worker medals for service in the Great War.
The Aldrich Pump Company name is found on the obverse and exhibits a clearly visible industrial background behind the charging soldier.
David L. Burrows
Many of the known Gorham type 11 war worker medals look much like the Machine Gun example only varying with the name on the industry at the bottom of the obverse.
David L. Burrows
The bronze version of the two bar Stenotype has the name “Bertha Smock” on the reverse and the gold and bronze versions both have small Gorham Company maker marks on the reverse bottom rims.
David L. Burrows
These four examples of the variety found in the Gorham type II war worker medals have minor variation in the top bar.
David L. Burrows
The reverse of each of unique type Gorham 11 medal clearly show the name of each of the specific issuing companies. To easily see the reverse naming, the medals are shown upside down. Note some are found numbered.
David L. Burrows
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