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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



and solidarity of purpose which animated 

 the countries fighting against Germany 

 and her allies ; secondly, it obviates the 

 necessity of following the practice of ex- 

 changing service medals. 



In previous wars it had been customary 

 for nations to bestow their war medals on 

 the personnel of their allies who were at- 

 tached to them, or associated with them, 

 in different campaigns and engagements. 

 The immensity of the operations in this 

 war, the millions of soldiers engaged 

 therein, and the intermingling of large 

 units under one command, all pointed to 

 the impossibility of such a procedure in 

 this instance. But by the adoption of a 

 medal, the same for all, it would be un- 

 necessary, since no matter in what army 

 a man served the medals would be alike. 



VICTORY MEDALS WILL DlEEER | RIBBON TO 

 BE IDENTICAL 



In order to carry this plan into execu- 

 tion, an interallied commission met in 

 Paris after the armistice. This commis- 

 sion found that it was impracticable to 

 adhere strictly to the original plan to have 

 the medal identical for all, as it would 

 have required the submission of designs 

 from artists of all the nations involved, 

 with a critical examination by a special 

 commission of artists in order to select 

 the most appropriate and most artistic, 

 and there was not sufficient time to go 

 into such detail. The armies were being 

 demobilized and the soldiers had no de- 

 sire to wait for years before receiving 

 their medals ; so it was decided to have 

 an identical ribbon, but allow each coun- 

 try to design its own medal according to 

 general specifications which were drawn 

 up by the commission. 



In this way the medals, while not iden- 

 tical, will follow the same general design, 

 and the artists of each country will have 

 the opportunity of executing the medals 

 for their own soldiers. The competition 

 is keen, as every nation is desirous of 

 having the most artistic production, and 

 the result should be a collection of great 

 beauty. 



The name of this medal in all coun- 

 tries, as determined by this commission, 

 is the Victory Medal. The ribbon is a 

 double rainbow, having the red in the 

 center and with a white thread on each 



edge. It symbolizes the dawn of a new 

 era of calm after the storm. It was de- 

 veloped in France under the immediate 

 direction of the commission, and when a 

 satisfactory ribbon was produced a piece 

 was sent to each of the allied countries as 

 a standard sample. 



SPECIFICATIONS LOR ALL VICTORY MEDALS 



The specifications of the medal (see 

 illustration, page 464) are as follows: 



To be bronze, 36 mm. (1.4 inches) in 

 diameter, and suspended from the ribbon 

 by a ring, the same as most of our medals. 

 On the obverse a winged Victory, stand- 

 ing, full length and full face. On the re- 

 verse the inscription "The Great War for 

 Civilization/' in the language of the coun- 

 try concerned, and either the names or 

 the arms of the allied and associated na- 

 tions. 



By the terms of the interallied agree- 

 ment, this medal will be awarded only to 

 combatants. It is not for general distri- 

 bution to m all who participated in war 

 work. In France, for example, almost 

 every male was mobilized as a soldier, 

 but great numbers did no real military 

 work, being utilized in the manufacture 

 of munitions, in agricultural pursuits, on 

 the railroads, and other similar service 

 which was essential to carry on the war, 

 but , which could not be considered as 

 military. The medal cannot be awarded 

 to them, although they were technically 

 members of the French Army. 



We had no corresponding class in our 

 Army and Navy; therefore our Victory 

 Medal will be given to all the members of 

 those two services who served on active 

 duty during the war; they are all consid- 

 ered 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 

 specifications, as already set forth, it 

 would have been permissible to have in- 

 cluded all those that declared war against 

 Germany, or even all those who sus- 

 pended diplomatic relations, but a num- 

 ber of these did not actually participate 

 in the fighting and therefore had no com- 

 batants. As a result, it has been decided 

 that the only nations to be represented on 

 the reverse of the medal will be those 

 which actually took part in hostile oper- 



