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Capital Reporting Company
D E PARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

UNITED STATES MINT

C I T I Z E N S COINAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
PUBLIC MEETING

Tuesday,
July 8, 2014

United States Mint
8 0 1 9th Street, NW, Room 5N16
Washington, D.C.

Reported by:

C hristine Allen,
C apital Reporting Company

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A P P E A R A N C E S

CCAC MEMBERS:
G A R Y M A R K S , C H A IRMAN
ERIK JANSEN
DONALD SCARINCI
HEIDI WASTWEET
MIKE MORAN
D R . M I C H A E L B U G EJA
J E A N N E S T E V E N S -SOLLMAN
ROBERT HOGE
MARY LANNIN
TOM URAM
US MINT:
BETTY BIRDSONG
MATT BOHAN
SHARON BOWEN
TOM DINARDI
DON EVERHART
JEAN GENTRY
FRANK MORRIS
LATEEFAH SIMMS
APRIL STAFFORD
MEGA SULLIVAN
WILLIAM NORTON
GREG WEINMAN

ALSO PRESENT:
L E S P E T E R S , C O I N UPDATE
P A U L G ILK E S , C O IN WORLD
M I K E U N S E R , C O I N NEWS

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A G E N D A
Page

1.

D i s c u s s i o n of design direction for American
F i g h t e r A c e s Congressional Gold Medals Program,
A p r i l S t a f f ord

5

D r . G r e g g W agner

7

Discussion

2.

12

D i s c u s s i o n of design direction for Civil Air
P a t r o l C o n g ressional Gold Medals Program,

3.

A p r i l S t a f f ord

42

J o h n S w a i n , Civil Air Patrol

43

Discussion

47

D i s c u s s i o n of design direction for Doolittle
T o k y o R a i d e rs Congressional Medals Program ,
A p r i l S t a f f ord

66

B r i a n A n d e r son, Doolittle Tokyo Raiders

67

Discussion

75

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P R O C E E D I N G S
(1:02 p.m.)
M R . M A RKS:

I’m going to go ahead and call

t h i s m e e t i n g t o order of the CCAC for July 8, 2014.
A s G r e g j u s t m e ntioned, I want to encourage
e v e r y o n e t o p l e ase remember to identify yourselves
when you talk.
I d i d get a comment from a member of t he
p r e s s y e s t e r d a y saying for our last phone meeting,
i t w a s r e a l l y d ifficult to keep up with who was
saying what.
S o , I know it might begin to feel inan e to
y o u , b u t f o r c l arity of the meeting, I just want to
r e a l l y s t r e s s t hat everyone continue to identify
themselves.

I f you don’t, I may just say name, and

w i t h t h a t , I h o pe it will clue you in to identify
yourself.
S o , b e fore we get going, I do want to
p r o v i d e a n o p p o rtunity for members of the press to
i d e n t i f y t h e m s e lves so we know who is here with us.
I f t h e re are any members of the press,
w o u l d y o u p l e a s e speak up now.

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M R . G I LKES:

5

Paul Gilkes, Coin World.

M R . U N SER:

Mike Unser, Coin News.

M R . M A RKS:

Anyone else?

( N o r e sponse.)
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

g o a h e a d a n d p r oceed.
phone.

Hearing none, we wi ll

We do have a quorum on the

I ’ l l j u st ask the staff, is there anything

m o r e w e n e e d t o cover before we get into the body
of the meeting?
M S . S T AFFORD:

No, I don’t believe so,

G a r y , o t h e r t h a n to request that anybody who is
p a r t i c i p a t i n g , if you could mute your phones unless
you’re speaking.
M R . M A RKS:
going on this.

Okay; all right.

Let’s ge t

We have three design discussions

f o r t o d a y , a l l concerning Congressional Gold
Medals.
M R . M A RKS:

The first one is a medal f or

A m e r i c a n F i g h t e r Aces.

April, are you prepared to

g i v e u s a r e p o r t on that?
M S . S T AFFORD:
introduction.

Sure, just a brief

It is Public Law 113- 105 that

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a u t h o r i z e s t h e award of a Congressional Gold Medal
t o t h e A m e r i c a n Fighter Aces collectively, in
r e c o g n i t i o n o f their heroic military service in
d e f e n s e o f o u r country’s freedom throughout the
h i s t o r y o f a v i a tion warfare.
I s h o u ld note for anyone who might not
k n o w , t h e A m e r i can Fighter Aces are pilots credited
w i t h d e s t r o y i n g five or more enemy aircraft in
aerial combat.

More than 60,000 fighter pilots

h a v e f l o w n s i n c e World War I, but fewer than 1,500
a r e c a l l e d “ F i g hter Aces.”
A s t h e legislation does not specify wh at
t h e m e d a l ’ s d e s igns should include, we are here to
d i s c u s s d e s i g n elements to be considered by artists
w o r k i n g o n t h i s program.
W i t h u s today, we have Dr. Gregg Wagne r, a
m e m b e r o f t h e B oard of Directors of the American
F i g h t e r A c e s A s sociation.

Dr. Wagner provided the

b a c k g r o u n d i n f o rmation on the American Fighter
A c e s , a n d t h e C CAC received this in advance of our
meeting today.
R a t h e r than reading that into the reco rd,

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a s I k n o w a l l t he members have received it and
a l r e a d y r e v i e w e d it, I’d like to ask Dr. Wagner,
w o u l d y o u l i k e to tell us some information about
t h e A m e r i c a n F i ghter Aces and highlight your
t h o u g h t s o n w h a t the Congressional Gold Medal
d e s i g n s h o u l d c onvey?
D R . W A GNER:

Yes.

This is Gregg Wagne r

w i t h t h e A m e r i c an Fighter Aces Association, member
o f t h e B o a r d o f Directors, and also I am the person
w h o w r o t e t h e b ill and saw it to fruition by
g e t t i n g a l l t h e co-sponsors in Congress.
J u s t a little bit of background on the
A m e r i c a n F i g h t e r Aces.

The American Fighter Ace

c o m e s f r o m f o u r wars, World War I, World War II,
K o r e a , a n d V i e t nam.
I n W o r ld War I, the United States had
s l i g h t l y o v e r 1 00 Fighter Aces.

World War II, the

U n i t e d S t a t e s b y far had the most with over 1,300.
I n t h e K o r e a n W ar, we had exactly 40, and in
V i e t n a m , w e h a d exactly two.
M o s t l ikely the United States will nev er
s e e a n o t h e r F i g hter Ace again because of how wars

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a r e f o u g h t i n t he sky today and because of the air
s u p e r i o r i t y t h a t we enjoy over the skies of
w h e r e v e r t h e r e might be a conflict.
T o d a y , there are only approximately 94
A c e s s t i l l a l i v e, and I say “approximately” because
b a s i c a l l y t h e y are all in their 90s and we’re
l o s i n g t h e m p r e tty fast.
I t h i n k this medal represents a lot of
c h a l l e n g e s i n t erms of its design in the sense that
t h e A m e r i c a n F i ghter Ace came from, as I mentioned,
f o u r d i f f e r e n t wars, and as you will see on your
s h e e t , t h e A m e r ican Fighter Ace in each war, in
W o r l d W a r I , t h ere are major planes that they flew,
s u c h a s t h e N e w port and the SPAD, which are the
p r i m a r y a i r c r a f t, but there were Ace makers in
o t h e r a i r c r a f t as well.

In World War II, the

A m e r i c a n F i g h t e r Ace, there were major aircraft
t h a t t h e y f l e w again, but there were a lot more of
them.
I t h i n k there are going to be a lot of
d e s i g n c h a l l e n g es associated with the World War II
aspect for sure.

I look forward to everyone’s

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t h o u g h t s o n h o w to try to narrow that down.
I n K o r ea, I think representing the Kor ean
A c e s o n t h i s m e dal will be a little easier because
t h e K o r e a n A c e s from the United States only flew
o n e a i r c r a f t , a nd that is the F- 86 Sabre Jet.

They

r e a l l y o n l y h a d one enemy, which was the MiG- 15.
I t h i n k representing that war is a lit tle
b i t e a s i e r , a n d the same thing with the Vietnam
W a r , A m e r i c a o n ly had two Aces, one from the Air
F o r c e a n d o n e f rom the Navy.

Both Aces flew the F-

4 P h a n t o m , a n d both Aces downed the MiG as their
enemy aircraft.
S o , t h ey also flew--talking about part s of
t h e w o r l d , i n W orld War I, that air war occurred
m a i n l y o v e r F r a nce.

I think geographically

s p e a k i n g , a n y r epresentation over where that war
m i g h t h a v e o c c u rred on the medal, I think might be
a little easier.
I n W o r ld War II, that was more of a gl obal
c o n f l i c t i n t e r ms of land mass, where the United
S t a t e s N a v y w a s out on carriers in the South
P a c i f i c , r a n g i n g from Midway Island all the way to

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J a p a n a n d a l l i slands in between, but still, that
m i g h t b e e a s y t o represent.
A s f a r as the Army Air Corps as the Ai r
F o r c e w a s c a l l e d during World War II, I might also
a d d t h a t i n W o r ld War I, the Air Force was called
t h e “ U S A S , ” w h i ch is United States Air Service.

In

W o r l d W a r I I , t oday’s Air Force was called the
“ U . S . A r m y A i r Corps,” and until 1947, I think,
w h e n o f f i c i a l l y the Air Corps changed its name to
t h e “ A i r F o r c e ” and became a separate branch of the
military.
H e n c e , all Aces after that, I guess yo u
c o u l d s a y a r e o fficially U.S. Air Force Aces.
G e t t i n g back to the difficulty of the
W o r l d W a r I I A c es and the Army Air Corps, in that
t h e y f o u g h t i n the battle of Britain, they fought
i n D -D a y , t h e y fought over France, they fought over
G e r m a n y , t h e y f ought in North Africa, they fought
i n C h i n a , t h e y fought in the South Pacific, they
f o u g h t i n A u s t r alia, they fought in New Guinea, Iwo
J i m a , a n d a l l i slands basically in the South
Pacific.

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I d i d make some attempts to try to tig hten
t h e g e o g r a p h i c areas up by providing some maps that
m i g h t b e u s e d o n the coin design.

There was a

c o l o r e d m a p t h a t I included that might be modified
t o b e u s e d o n t he coin.
O t h e r than that, let’s see, I did have one
i d e a t h a t w o u l d only be for one side of the coin,
a n d t h a t i s t o represent--sort of divide the front
o f t h e c o i n i n t o four quadrants, call it, and
r e p r e s e n t s a y t he country of France, which is where
t h e W o r l d W a r I Aces flew, and maybe show a biplane
t h a t s y m b o l i z e s the two major aircraft that the
A c e s f l e w i n t h at country.
T h e n i n the second quadrant, let’s sta rt
w i t h t h e t o p a n d go from the top left to the top
r i g h t , l e t ’ s g o to World War II and maybe show a
m a p o f E u r o p e , and then part of China and part of
t h e S o u t h P a c i f ic.

Maybe show some emblematic

a i r c r a f t t h a t f lew in the different parts of the
w o r l d t h a t m a d e Aces over those geographic areas.
I n t h e bottom right quadrant, show the
K o r e a n A c e s a n d show them fighting over basically

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w a s k n o w n a s “ M iG Alley,” which is the Yalu River,
w h i c h b o r d e r s K orea and China.
I n t h e bottom left quadrant, show the F- 4
P h a n t o m , m a y b e show its adversary, the MiG- 21, and
s h o w t h e c o u n t r y they fought over, which Was
Vietnam.
T h a t i s just a very broad idea that I had.
I t h i n k t h e r e a re a lot of challenges with this
p a r t i c u l a r m e d a l, but I look forward to your ideas
as well.

I t h i nk that is about all I had.
M S . S T AFFORD:

Thank you very much.

J ust

t o l e t y o u k n o w , Mr. Chairman, we have Les Peters
f r o m C o i n U p d a t e joining us here in D.C., in the
r o o m t h a t w e a r e convening in, just for your
information.
I ’ l l t urn it over to you for further
discussion.

A s you can see on this particular

p r o g r a m , i t i s very much wide open.

There is a lot

o f m a t e r i a l t o be represented on both sides of this
m e d a l , s o w e e a gerly await your input.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you very much, April .

T h a n k y o u , D r . Wagner, for your wonderful input,

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d e t a i l , a n d i d e as.
A p r i l . I’ve neglected to inquire as to
w h e t h e r t h e r e a re members of the Art staff or AIP
on this call.

Are there?

M S . S T AFFORD:

We actually did send ou t

t h e i n f o r m a t i o n about the call to our AIP artists,
s o I w o u l d a s k if there are any AIP artists who
h a v e j o i n e d u s , and if you could just identify
y o u r s e l v e s b y n ame.
M R . B O HAN:

Matt Bohan.

M S . S T AFFORD:

We have Matt.

Anybody

else?
M R . M O RRIS:

Frank Morris.

M S . S T AFFORD:

Frank Morris.

As we al ways

d o , G a r y , w e a r e going to send the transcript from
t h i s m e e t i n g t o our artists who are assigned the
programs.

W e d id hope that Don Everhart would be

able to join us.
M R . E V ERHART:

I’m here.

M S . S T AFFORD:

Thank you.

a l s o o n t h e p h o ne.

Don Everhar t is

Are there any other United

S t a t e s M i n t s c u lptor-engravers with us?

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M R . D I NARDI:

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April, this is Tom Dinar di.

I ’ m o n t h e l i n e , too.
M S . S T AFFORD:
M R . M A RKS:
background.

Thank you, Tom.

Okay.

We have covered

B a ck to the Fighter Aces’ medal.

I

t h i n k I w a n t t o start off the comments here just to
s a y w h e n e v e r w e are dealing with a medal like this
t h a t h a s s e v e r a l contributors over time, in this
c a s e , t h e r e a r e Fighter Aces for four different
w a r s , i t c a n b e difficult, I think, for the artists
t o f i n d s o m e i m ages that are unifying for all.
I w a n t to encourage simplicity with a
d e s i g n t h a t w e produce.

I want to encourage

e v e r y o n e , a n d f or those who aren’t familiar with
m e d a l l i c a r t , i t is important in medallic art that
w e d o n ’ t t r y t o put too much on the face of a coin
or medal.
S i m p l i city often is better because we’ re
d e a l i n g w i t h a very small palette.

As you put more

a n d m o r e d e t a i l onto a surface like that, images
l o s e t h e i r i m p a ct, and it becomes more of a
scattered image.

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I t i s important that we try to keep it
simple.

W i t h t hat, I guess my suggestions would be

t o e n c o u r a g e t h e artists to think about maybe some
s y m b o l i c i m a g e s that are unifying for the--I don’t
k n o w w h a t y o u c all it--the profession or skill of
f i g h t e r s , a i r f ighters.
A b s e n t a single unifying image, perhap s we
c o u l d d o s o m e t h ing like the Tuskegee Airmen Medal,
w h e r e I t h i n k o n the reverse of that medal there
a r e t h e p r o f i l e s of three different aircraft, that
w e r e u s e d b y t h e Tuskegee Airmen.
M a y b e in this case we could have a
r e p r e s e n t a t i v e profile of an aircraft from each of
the four.

T h a t ’s just a suggestion.

I don’t know

i f i t ’ s a g o o d idea.
I w o u l d discourage the idea of putting
l o t s o f m a p s a n d all that because we will end up
w i t h a m e d a l t h at really doesn’t have much punch,
i f y o u w i l l , i t won’t pop.
W i t h t hat, I may have other comments a s we
g o a l o n g , b u t I want to ask if there is another
m e m b e r w h o i s p repared to speak.

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M R . J A NSEN:
M R . M A RKS:
M R . J A NSEN:

Gary, it’s Erik.
Hi, Erik.

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I’m rea dy.

Go ahead.

I agree with the comments

t h a t w e r e m a d e by Gary just now.

This is an

o v e r w h e l m i n g c o ntext of images and so forth.
S i m p l i c i t y i s t he way here.
I h a d a question.

By the way, Dr. Wag ner,

y o u r e f f o r t i n writing and stewarding this thing
t h r o u g h C o n g r e s s is not lost on any of us.

That is

a g a r g a n t u a n t a sk, both personal and temporal.
G e t t i n g s p o n s o r ship signed up on something like
t h i s i s a n u n t h inkable love.

It is incredible that

y o u g o t t h i s d o ne, so well done.

that is.

D R . W A GNER:

Thank you.

M R . J A NSEN:

We all know how much work

I t ’ s not lost on us.

a r t i s t s f o r b e i ng on the call.

Thanks to the
That is how this

s y s t e m h o p e f u l l y works best, when we evolve ideas
w i t h t h e a r t i s t s present.
W e t a l k , y o u t a lk.

You listen.

We listen.

Out of it comes the great

d e s i g n s t h a t y o u guys are the best at.

So, thank

y o u f o r b e i n g o n the line.

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I h a v e a couple of questions.

Dr. Wag ner,

i s t h e r e a n y f l ag or symbol that was bestowed upon
t h e s e A c e s t h a t they were able to display on their
s h o u l d e r s , t h e i r helmets, their fuselages, to show
they are an Ace?
D R . W A GNER:

No, that was one of the

p o i n t s o f t h e b ill that helped us get this awarded,
t h a t t h e A m e r i c an Fighter Ace was never awarded a
s t a r , a b a r , a n increase in rank, a commendation, a
p a t o n t h e b a c k , or anything like that.

There was

n o s u c h r e c o g n i tion, not even a pat on the back.
I n f a c t, some of the Aces say that whe n
t h e y g o t h o m e t o their home state, no one would
e v e n b u y t h e m a cup of coffee.
M R . J A NSEN:

I know part of the battle out

t h e r e i s i n t i m i dation.

Was there any kind of--we

a l l t a l k a b o u t the Red Baron and various
i n t i m i d a t i n g p e ople from the other side.

Is there

a n y p h r a s e o l o g y , anything that appeared that the
o p p o n e n t m i g h t realize they are up against an Ace?
D R . W A GNER:

The side of the cockpit w as

u s u a l l y a d o r n e d in victory symbols.

During World

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W a r I , i t r e a l l y wasn’t adopted, but in World War
I I i s w h e n a l l of the pilots adorned the side of
t h e c o c k p i t w i t h the victory symbols, whether it be
a G e r m a n f l a g o r a Nazi symbol, indicating a downed
a i r c r a f t , o r a Japanese flag, which would be a
r o u n d m e a t b a l l on a white background.
D u r i n g the Korean War, it would be
b a s i c a l l y a r e d star with a little bit of yellow
outline to it.
T h a t w ould be the Aces had to represen t
that.
M R . J A NSEN:

The one thought as I kind of

m e d i t a t e d o n t h is whole thing was the common image
o f a c r o s s h a i r , another plane in the crosshair.
T h a t ’ s a n i m a g e which I think has transcended time,
w h e t h e r i t w a s a manual process to aim your cannon
o r a n a u t o a c q u ire from some Top Gun movie or
something.
I s t h a t a symbol that reverberates in your
mind at all?
D R . W A GNER:

Not really because during all

w a r s , A m e r i c a n pilots faced that same image, so it

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d o e s n ’ t d i f f e r e ntiate between an Ace and a pilot
w h o s a y h a d o n e victory or two or even none,
b e c a u s e t h e y a l l at some point in time most likely
h a d t h a t i m a g e in their wind screen.
M R . J A NSEN:
Tuskegee Medal.

Okay.

I also had the

Doctor, are you familiar with the

T u s k e g e e A i r m e n Medal we did?
D R . W A GNER:
that.
lines.

Yes, I am.

I’m familiar with

H e r e ’ s a suggestion, thinking along those
P e r h a p s we can represent the World War I

A c e s , a t l e a s t their aircraft, as a simplistic
b i p l a n e , a b i p l ane like the Newport as an example.
A t l e a st from layman’s terms, that wou ld
p r o b a b l y l o o k l ike the--I’ll call it the “line
d r a w i n g ” o f a l l the World I planes that the Fi ghter
Aces flew.
M a y b e it could be boiled down to that in
that war.

I ’ l l skip over World War II.

M R . J A NSEN:

Right.

D R . W A GNER:

In the Korean War, it boi ls

d o w n t o o n e s i m ple plane, the F- 86 Sabre Jet.

A

l i n e d r a w i n g o f that would be all we would need.

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I n t h e V i e t n a m War, all we would need is the F- 4
Phantom.
T h e q u estion is how do we boil down th e
W o r l d W a r I I g u ys who flew so many different
a i r c r a f t , a l l p rops, albeit, as opposed to jets or
biplanes.
M R . J A NSEN:

It’s interesting.

One of the

c o m m e n t s G a r y m ade in terms of medallic arts here,
i t ’ s a l i t t l e d ifferent than say a technical
r e s e a r c h p a p e r where technical accuracy carries the
day.

I n t h i s c ase, we’re trying to inspire a sense

o f r e s p e c t , a s ense of awareness, a sense of
r e v e r e n c e , a n d a sense of context, with those that
w o u l d h a v e , o w n , collect or observe this medal.
S o , I have a slightly different versio n
w h e r e t h e r e m i g ht be some way we could show the
s p a n o f t i m e f r om biplane all the way to swept
w i n g , p e r h a p s w ith a propeller dividing the palette
in half.
I a l s o had a vision of the difference in
t h e h e a d g e a r b etween the World War I--I’m not a
p i l o t s o e x c u s e me if I miss the terms of art--the

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l e a t h e r c a p f o r ward all the way through to the
o x y g e n b r e a t h e r s of the more modern age, and to use
t h a t t o m a y b e d o a three or four head portrait.
A g a i n , t h a t s t a rts to be kind of reminiscent of the
Tuskegee Medal.
I w o u l d encourage everyone to think
s y m b o l i c a l l y a s opposed to technically accurate
b e c a u s e t h e r e i sn’t enough space for the technical
features here.

It is what we want to bestow on the

observer.
I ’ l l p ass on to others on the committe e,
b u t t h o s e a r e m y comments.

Dr. Wagner, thank you

s o v e r y m u c h f o r your efforts to get this done.
D R . W A GNER:
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Wagner.

I j u s t want to make a quick comment on
w h a t E r i k h a d t o say and a suggestion of his of an
i m a g e o f a n e n e my plane in the sights.

I believe

t h a t i s a n e x c e llent image for this medal.
W e k n o w by the very subject of the med al
i t i s a b o u t A c e s.

We don’t have to be concerned

t h a t ’ s n o t n e c e ssarily an image that can be

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a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a Fighter Ace.

22

Indeed, it is.

T h e r e d o e s n ’ t h ave to be any debate or worry that
h a v i n g t h a t i m a ge on a Fighter Ace Medal somehow
w o u l d n o t d e n o t e a Fighter Ace, because that indeed
c o n j u r e s u p i n the mind the whole idea of what a
F i g h t e r A c t w a s , he’s someone that had enemies in
h i s c r o s s h a i r s and ultimately was victorious.
S o , I don’t want that idea lost.

I th ink

t h a t ’ s a n e x c e l lent one, and thank you, Erik.
S o , w i th that, I think I’m just going to
g o d o w n t h e l i s t here so we won’t have a piling on.
N o t i n a n y p a r t icular order.
M r . M i chael Moran, are you ready?
M R . M O RAN:

Yes, I am, Gary.

M R . M A RKS:

Please go ahead.

M R . M O RAN:

The first point I want to make

o n t h i s i s i t i s not about the planes these guys
f l e w , i t ’ s n o t about the theaters of war in which
they fought.

I t’s about the men themselves.

I

t h i n k o n c e y o u reach that conclusion, it defines
t h e d e s i g n a l i ttle bit more closely as to wha t you
r e a l l y w a n t o n this.

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A p o i n t I want to make also is these g uys
f l e w m i s s i o n a f ter mission in order to rack up the
k i l l ’ s t h e y d i d , and a lot of them died.

It’s

s i m p l y t h e o d d s went against them before they got
done.
I a m s uggesting you would have the
i n s c r i p t i o n “ A m erican Fighter Aces” across the top,
a n d t h e n I w o u l d do head gear--one for each war,
o n e f o r e a c h S e rvice.

It fits mathematically.

The

A m e r i c a n A i r S e rvice was essentially an offshoot of
t h e A r m y i n W o r ld War I, and that way, you wou ld be
a b l e t o d i f f e r e ntiate hopefully between the wars by
t h e h e a d g e a r t he men wore.
I t h i n k it’s important to talk a littl e
b i t a b o u t t h e i nscription there.

There are two

i n s c r i p t i o n s h e re that are suggested, one is
l e a d e r s h i p a n d duty above all. The one doesn’t tell
m e a n y t h i n g b u t the other one does.

I think that

n e e d s t o b e o n the reverse, be surrounded by a
c i r c l e o f o a k l eaves, and keep it very simple.
T h a t ’ s my input.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Michael.

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24

Are you on the line?

M S . W A STWEET:

Here I am.

y o u a l l f o r y o u r comments so far.

Thanks.

Th ank

This is a

c h a l l e n g i n g o n e because it is such an alle n c o m p a s s i n g o f four wars, more than 20 different
p l a n e s t h a t w e r e flown.

The challenge is if we

d e p i c t a c e r t a i n plane, are we excluding others,
h o w d o w e d e p i c t all the countries and the wars.
T h e d a nger is we are going to get too
c l u t t e r e d a n d w e are going to sacrifice esthetics
i n t h e n a m e o f trying to include everyone.

We know

f r o m o u r e x p e r i ence that these medals do much
b e t t e r w h e n t h e y are attractive and they look good
r a t h e r t h a n j u s t trying to put everything but the
k i t c h e n s i n k o n there.
I n t h i nking about this before our meet ing
a n d t r y i n g t o d ecide who and how we are going to
r e p r e s e n t t h i s , I came up with a couple of ideas.
O n e o f t h e i d e a ls I came up with independently was
t h e s a m e a s E r i k’s, the crosshairs.

I think the

c r o s s h a i r s r e p r esent accuracy, which is the fine
s k i l l t h a t t h e s e pilots had, accuracy in their aim.

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T h e f i rst thing I think of when I thin k of
F i g h t i n g A c e s i s the dog fights.

It’s hard to

i m a g i n e a n y t h i n g else but the dog fights, and I
t h i n k t h a t i s g oing to be what a lot of people are
e x p e c t i n g t o s e e.
plane.

In that, we would have to pick a

H o w d o we pick what plane out of 20.
T h e f i rst Fighter Ace was in World War I,

C a p t a i n D o u g l a s Campbell.

He flew five victories

a n d h e f l e w a N ewport 28.
I f w e are going to try a dog fight sce ne,
I t h i n k t h e N e w port would be a good plane since it
w a s t h e f i r s t r ecorded Ace, or an alternative would
b e i n W o r l d W a r II, Richard Ira Bong was considered
the Ace of Aces.

He had more victories than any of

t h e o t h e r A c e s , with 40 victories documented.
H e f l e w a P- 38 Lightning.

He fought

m o s t l y a g a i n s t the A6M Zero or the Ki- 43 Oscar.

We

c o u l d r e p r e s e n t the P- 38 Lightning fighting a Zero
o r O s c a r o r b o t h, and that would lend itself to the
d r a m a t i c a n d a t tractive design on the coin.
W i t h o u t excluding anyone, we have a go od
r e a s o n t o s h o w these particular planes, because

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t h e y w e r e t h e t op Aces.
A s f a r as representing the four wars, I
t h i n k t h e s i m p l est way to do that is with text.

I

k n o w w e d o n ’ t l ike a lot of text on our coins, but
I c a n ’ t t h i n k o f any other way, and I’m open to
s u g g e s t i o n s a n y one else has.
I t h i n k the most concise and direct wa y to
r e p r e s e n t t h e f our wars is simply having the text
on the coin.
I t h i n k that is all the ideas I had.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Heidi.

Donald

S c a r i n c i , a r e y ou ready?
M R . S C ARINCI:
M R . M A RKS:

I’m here.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

M R . S C ARINCI:

I’m going to pass.

I h ave

n o c o m m e n t s t o add to what has already been said.
M R . M A RKS:
Mary Lannin?

How ab out

M ary, are you on the line?

M S . L A NNIN:
Heidi said.

Thank you, Donald.

Yes, I am.

I agree with what

O n e of the things I was thinking about

w a s a t r a n s i t i o n from sort of obvious action, which
w o u l d b e a d o g fight, where an enemy plane is going

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d o w n i n f l a m e s , if there is enough smoke and fire
a n d s o f o r t h , y ou don’t have to be terribly
h i s t o r i c a l l y a c curate.
I t c o u ld be kind of an over the should er
v i e w , m a y b e e v e n through a wind screen of an
a n o n y m o u s p l a n e , of what a pilot would see.
I d o l ike what Erik said about even th ough
i t w a s s o r t o f replicating the Tuskegee Airmen, the
f o u r w a r s w i t h the appropriate elements.
A n o t h e r idea I was thinking of, rather
t h a n c r o s s h a i r s , if you wanted to represent four
p l a n e s , i n W o r l d War II, they flew both three and
f o u r p r o p e l l e r aircraft, so it could be like a
s t y l i z e d f o u r p ropellers separating four quadrants,
i f i t w a n t e d t o be about planes rather than ab out
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of the men who actually flew.
T h a t ’ s about all I have to say.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mary.

Jeanne

S o l l m a n , a r e y o u on the line?
M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:
here.

T h a n k y o u, Gary.

Yes, I am.

I’m

I do agree with your

c o m m e n t s o n s i m plicity and not having so much on

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t h e r e t h a t w e ’ r e going to overwhelm the medal.
I w o u l d like to know, Dr. Wagner, do y ou
h a v e a n y t r e m e n dous ideas of what you might like to
s e e o n t h e r e v e rse rather than courage, leadership
a n d d u t y a b o v e all?

Is there some kind of imagery

t h a t y o u m i g h t consider for the reverse?
I t s e e ms like we have such a full obve rse.
I s t h e r e s o m e t h ing we might be able to move to the
reverse?
D R . W A GNER:

Yeah.

Well, in hearing s ome

o f t h e d i s c u s s i on thus far, one comment I had is
t h a t I d o n ’ t w a nt to lose sight of the Korean War
a n d t h e V i e t n a m War and the jet age that made
e s s e n t i a l l y 4 0 Aces plus two.

While most of the

A c e s w e r e m a d e in props, certainly the jet age is
important.
A s f a r as the other side of the coin, let
m e a s k a q u e s t i on.

What typically is on the

reverse?
M R . M A RKS:

I’ll attempt to answer tha t.

N o r m a l ly, when there is a military rel ated
t h e m e , o r I s h o uld say often, you will see

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i n s i g n i a , y o u w ill see slogans, or things that were
r e l a t e d t o t h e unit or group of military
i n d i v i d u a l s w h o are being honored.
I t h i n k that’s why you have heard some
q u e s t i o n s a b o u t is there some unifying image or
i n s i g n i a o r s o m ething of the sort.
D R . W A GNER:

Well, there is, but we’re not

a l l o w e d t o u s e it because it represents the
A s s o c i a t i o n o f the American Fighter Aces.

Betty,

s h o u l d I e v e n b ring that up, the symbol?
M S . S T FAFORD:

Yes, we can address it.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y , we’ve been advised by our senior
c o u n s e l t h a t w e are unable to utilize the logo
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h the American Fighter Aces
A s s o c i a t i o n b e c ause it’s a logo, a representation
o f t h e A s s o c i a t ion and not the American Fighter
Aces themselves.

Of course, this legislation is to

h o n o r t h e A m e r i can Fighter Aces.
B e t t y , do you have anything else to ad d to
that?
M S . B I RDSONG:

No, you answered perfec tly.

M S . S T AFFORD:

Certainly, you can brin g it

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u p b u t I d o n ’ t know that there is going to be a lot
i n i t b e c a u s e t hat particular logo, we are unable
to use.
D R . W A GNER:
M S . S T AFFORD:

Right.
If there are elements i n

t h e l o g o t h a t y ou feel for one reason or another
t h r o u g h t h e i r s ymbolism or their representation
m i g h t b e u s e f u l for the committee to know about,
c e r t a i n l y w e c a n talk about that.
D R . W A GNER:
start with that.

Yes, let me do that.

Let ’s

That symbol does have some points

t h a t a r e s p e c i f ic to the Aces, and that is the
s y m b o l i t s e l f r epresents the Ace of Spades, dating
b a c k t o W o r l d W ar I.
M o r e o r less, the Ace of Spades is rea lly
t h e s y m b o l t h a t defines more or less that you’re an
A c e , a t l e a s t t he modified versions of the Ace of
S p a d e s w h i c h w a s adopted by the Association,
w h e r e a s t h e y p u lled the Ace of Spades to make it
l o o k l i k e a s w o rd at the tip, and actually put the
i m a g e o f a s w o r d through the center in a symbolic
w a y , r e p r e s e n t i ng the--how do I say--the fighting

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p o w e r o f t h e A m erican Fighter Ace.
T h e n a long the top of the Ace of Spade s,
t h e r e a r e f i v e stars, symbolizing the five stars
a r e t h e m i n i m u m required to be a Fighter Ace.
n e e d f i v e c o n f i rmed aerial victories.
can have more.

You

Albeit, you

You need a minimum of five.

T h e r e was one start at the tip of the
s w o r d s a y o n t h e Ace of Spades, and there are two
s t a r s e a c h o n t he top to the left and to the right.
A l s o , symbolic, as I mentioned, there was
a s w o r d g o i n g u p the middle, and there were the
c o l o r s b l a c k a n d gold, which represented--one side
w a s b l a c k , o n e side was gold.
I t h i n k we could take away three symbo lic
p o i n t s , t h e f i v e minimum stars that represent being
an Ace.

W e c a n take away the Ace of Spades being a

s y m b o l t h a t ’ s s ymbolic, or at least a facsimile
t h e r e o f , o f t h a t particular symbol being a symbol
o f a n A c e , a n d also the sword, meaning the Aces
w e r e t h e b e s t o f the best.
C o u r a g e, leadership, and duty above al l,
t h e A c e s b e c a m e very focused on their mission, and

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t h e y w e r e v e r y courageous, so they separated
t h e m s e l v e s b y t hese particular words, Gary.
in the document.

It’s

I agree, I think those words are

very important.
Y e s , t hat is what I would say about th e
symbol.

J e a n n e , that is sort of maybe something

t h a t c o u l d b e u sed for the reverse.
M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:
Wagner.

I a p p r eciate that.

Thank you, Dr.
At least I was a

l i t t l e k i n d o f overwhelmed and trying to
d i f f e r e n t i a t e a nd also commemorate the work these
p i l o t s h a v e d o n e for us.
I t d o e sn’t sort it out for me for the
o b v e r s e , b u t i t certainly solidifies thoughts for
t h e r e v e r s e , a n d I appreciate your comments.
D R . W A GNER:

Yes.

Maybe I should also

a d d , a n d i t ’ s n ot in my write up, it might be
u s e f u l i n s o m e way, the squadrons that the Aces
f l e w i n a l l h a d unit patches in all wars.
A g a i n , I think that is another permuta tion
t h a t m i g h t m a k e this again more complicated, but
t h e r e a r e s q u a d ron patches, there are unit patches.

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T h e r e a r e e v e n Air Force patches, like the Eighth
A i r F o r c e i n W o rld War II, or the 555th Tactical
F i g h t e r S q u a d r o n in Vietnam.

These all have

images.
I j u s t wanted to bring that up.

I don ’t

t h i n k t h a t i s g oing to make things any better.
M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:
l o t o f i d e a s o n the table.

I think there ar e a

Sometimes if you have

m o r e , i t i s e a s ier to sort of make a selection that
w o u l d b e s i m p l i fied for the final results.
M R . M A RKS:

Jeanne, are you done?

M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:

I’m done.

Thank you

so much.
M R . M A RKS:

Before we move on, Jeanne and

D r . W a g n e r ’ s d i scussion just makes me want to ask a
q u e s t i o n o f l e g al counsel.

The idea of using the

A c e o f S p a d e s i mage and stars, there will be no
p r o b l e m d o i n g t hat, would there?
M R . W E INMAN:

I’m not the attorney who is

s p e c i f i c a l l y a s signed to this program, so I do n’t
w a n t t o s a y a n y thing that might in some way counter
w h a t t h e o t h e r attorney involved in this has to

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say.
F o r w h at it is worth, she is going to be
h e r e s h o r t l y , I think probably within the next ten
minutes.

S h e m ay have something to say about this.
I s t h e Ace of Spades--beyond the logo that

b e l o n g s t o t h e Association, does the Ace of Spades
h a v e o t h e r i n d e pendent uses over the years with the
Fighter Aces?
D R . W A GNER:

The Ace of Spades more or

l e s s i s d e r i v e d from World War I.

It wasn’t so

m u c h u s e d i n W o rld War II and Korean and Vietnam.
I t o w n s i t s o r i gins to the origin of the American
F i g h t e r A c e , w h ere I guess it was a Frenchman in
W o r l d W a r I t h a t sort of started all that, the Ace
t e r m i n o l o g y a n d the symbolism, that grew to other
squadrons.
I t i s more or less associated with Wor ld
W a r I , b u t t h e American Fighter Aces Association
f e l t t h a t i t w a s so important as a representation
o f t h e A m e r i c a n Fighter Ace that they used it as
t h e b a s i s f o r t heir logo.
I g u e s s I think it is more or less

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u n i v e r s a l l y i d e ntified with an Ace.
M R . W E INMAN:

For the artists’ benefit , we

w i l l g e t b a c k t o you on which appropriate elements
y o u m a y b e a b l e to use for the design.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Greg.

I’m not an

a t t o r n e y b u t i t would seem to me the image of the
A c e o f S p a d e s i s something is in the public domain
a n d h a s b e e n f o r a long, long time.

I’ll leave it

t o t h e l e g a l f o lks to sort this one out.
T o m U r am, are you prepared?
M R . U R AM:

Yes, Gary.

Thank you.

I

p r e t t y m u c h a g r ee with everything that has been
s a i d s o f a r a l s o, and then I also like the comments
o n t h e T u s k e g e e group, as far as their
c o n t r i b u t i o n , s ignificant contribution.

I think in

g o i n g w i t h p l a n es or whatever, they were known as
the Redtails.”
M a y b e if a plane was in that scheme of
d e s i g n , t h a t c o uld be one of the tails for sure to
r e m e m b e r t h a t p art.

Also, I think it compliments

w h a t w e h a v e j u st done also on the Code Talkers and
their row.

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L i k e e veryone, and I’m not going to
r e i t e r a t e , i t ’ s a challenge for the engravers and
designers here.
T h a t c oncludes my comments.

Thank you ,

Gary.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Tom.

D R . W A GNER:

Gary, can I make a commen t?

T h i s i s G r e g g W agner.
M R . M A RKS:
D R . W A GNER:

Go ahead.
Just referencing the Tusk egee

A i r m e n , I r e m e m ber what that design was.

I think

i t m o r e o r l e s s showed three aircraft more or less
f l y i n g i n a l i n e showing maybe some evolution.

I

t h i n k t h e r e i s a political part of this that the
A c e s m i g h t b e a little bit slighted by a design-I ’ m j u s t b e i n g honest--knowing how these guys feel,
t h e s e g u y s a r e very proud of what they have done,
a n d I t h i n k t h e y would want to have something that
r e p r e s e n t s n o t only the aircraft that they flew but
s o m e t h i n g t h a t is unique to them and not something
t h a t i s u n i q u e to another medal.
M R . M A RKS:

Sure.

Every member of the

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c o m m i t t e e , I t h ink, would agree with you that we
w a n t a n u n i q u e design for this medal, and I don’t
t h i n k a n y o f u s in our comments have intended to
s u g g e s t t h a t w e would have something that was just
l i k e t h e T u s k e g ee Medal.
T h a t b eing said, there are different w ays
t o p o r t r a y i m a g es that can be distinctly different
t h a n s o m e t h i n g that has been used before.
I d o a ppreciate that comment and those
concerns.
D R . W A GNER:
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.
Next, we will go to Robert

Hoge.
M R . H O GE:

Thank you, Gary.

We have h ad a

p l e t h o r a o f o p p ortunities here to consider various
i m a g e s , m a n y o f which would be exciting, I think.
I l i k e what Mary mentioned about the u se
of a propeller.

I think perhaps a four blade

p r o p e l l e r c o u l d be utilized to separate the four
q u a d r a n t s , i f t hat seems advisable.

I also am very

f o n d o f t h e i d e a of using the crosshairs, because
w e a r e r e a l l y t alking about Aces here, and although

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t h a t i s s o m e t h i ng that would have been common to
a l l f i g h t e r p i l ots, the planes are also common to
a l l t h e f i g h t e r pilots, too.
Y o u k n ow, the Aces were not using
e x c l u s i v e l y o n e type of plane or another, as
o p p o s e d t o t h e pilots that only shot down one, two,
t h r e e o r f o u r e nemies, or who didn’t shoot down
any.
A t a n y rate, I think we need not limit
o u r s e l v e s w i t h these considerations.

With that

b e i n g s a i d , i t is really tough to come up with
s o m e t h i n g t h a t will be exciting and unique and
r e a l l y s e t t h e s e Aces apart from any other Airmen.
I t h i n k the idea of utilizing an image of
a n A c e i s p r o b a bly pretty good, since this is the
w a y w e d o t h i n k of them, but probably for many
p e o p l e , t h e i m a ge of an Ace, you know, is Snoopy on
h i s i m a g i n a r y d oghouse, Sopwith Camel.
( L a u g h ter.)
M R . H O GE:

I don’t know if we want or

c o u l d i n c o r p o r a te something like that.

We would

h a v e t o c h e c k w ith the Estate of Charles Schultz.

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N o , I ’ m n o t r e a lly suggesting that.
( L a u g h ter.)
M R . H O GE:

The Sopwith Camel is probab ly

a s f a m i l i a r a s the Fighter Ace plane to the general
p u b l i c , I w o u l d guess.
I l i k e the suggestions we have had so far
i n t h e d i s c u s s i on, and I would like to thank Dr.
W a g n e r f o r h i s contributions as well.

Thank you,

Gary.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Robert.

I just

w a n t t o c h e c k a nd see if Michael Bugeja might have
j o i n e d u s a t t h is point.
( N o r e sponse.)
M R . M A RKS:

With that, every member of the

c o m m i t t e e h a s c ontributed their comments.

We have

m a y b e f i v e m i n u tes left before I’d like to move on
t o t h e n e x t i t e m.
I s t h e re any member who wants to add
a n o t h e r s e n t e n c e or two to their comments?
M S . L A NNIN:

Gary, this is Mary Lannin .

I

w a s j u s t l o o k i n g at the etymology of the Ace of
Spades.

I t i s also known as the “Death Card.”

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u n d e r s t o o d t h e Ace of Spades was used by American
s o l d i e r s a s a p sychological weapon in the Vietnam
War.

I t w a s c o mmon practice to leave an Ace of

S p a d e s i n t h e b odies of Vietnamese soldiers and
e v e n t o l i t t e r the grounds and fields with that
card.
T h e y w ere supplied with Ace of Spades
cards in bulk.

I thought I had remembered when

t h e y w e r e f l y i n g low over the ground, they would
t h r o w t h e m o u t of the planes as well.
T h a t i s just my two cents on the Ace o f
Spades.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mary.

Anyone e lse?

D r . W a g n e r , d i d you have a final comment?
D R . W A GNER:

Yes, just a final comment .

O n e t h i n g , g i v e n all the things we have talked
a b o u t , I w a n t e d to just maybe say that I think
t h e r e i s a p l a c e in World War I for representing a
b i p l a n e , W o r l d War II, I think the P- 38 was brought
u p , b u t t h e P -5 1 Mustang made a lot of Aces.
I n f a c t, I think it was one of the most
A c e m a k i n g a i r c raft of the war on the Army Air

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C o r p s ’ s i d e , b u t we also have to remember there
w e r e N a v y p i l o t s and Marine pilots who flew
a i r c r a f t a s w e l l, such as the Hellcat and the
Corsair.

I t h i nk maybe that can be boiled down

i n t o s o m e t h i n g , maybe one or two images there.
W e t a l ked about Korea and Vietnam.

It ’s

e a s y t o r e p r e s e nt those with one single aircraft.
I d o n ’ t w a n t t o lose sight of the jet age and the
A c e s t h a t w e r e made there, in the Korean War and
Vietnam War.
I g u e s s that’s about all I have to say ,
o t h e r t h a n i f I might add I am a very avid coin
collector.

I a m a member of the prestigious Bus

T a s k K n o t C l u b , where you collect the bus task
d o l l a r s b y d i e states.

I’m the Secretary of the

F o r t L a u d e r d a l e Coin Club here in Fort Lauderdale.
A m e m b e r o f t h e ANA.

I’m just finishing up my

M a s t e r N u m i s m a t ic degree with the ANA.
I c o l l e ct coins, mint state, coppers, by
r e c o r d e r s , a n d three cent pieces from the 1800s as
w e l l a s m o d e r n coins.

This is a subject which is

v e r y n e a r a n d d ear to my heart, and I read Coin

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W o r l d e v e r y w e e k.
( L a u g h ter.)
P A R T I C IPANT:

You said all the right

things.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Dr. Wagner.

Th ere

a r e s e v e r a l c o i n nerds on the phone with you right
now.
M S . L A NNIN:

Now, don’t use the word

“nerd.”
( L a u g h ter.)
M R . M A RKS:
to myself.

I, for one, will assign th at

L e t ’s move on --

P A R T I C IPANT:

I was actually frothing at

the mouth.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay, folks.

Time to go o n to

our next medal.
M R . M A RKS:

We have a discussion on th e

C i v i l A i r P a t r o l Congressional Gold Medal.

April,

d o y o u h a v e s o m e comments?
M S . S T AFFORD:

I do.

It is Public Law

1 1 3 -1 0 8 t h a t a u thorizes a Congressional Gold M edal
t o b e a w a r d e d t o the World War II members of the

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C i v i l A i r P a t r o l.

43

Again, the legislation does not

p r e s c r i b e d e s i g n, so we are here to discuss
p o t e n t i a l e l e m e nts to be considered by artists as
t h e y c r e a t e t h e gold medal designs.
J o h n S wain, Director of Government
R e l a t i o n s a t t h e Civil Air Patrol, is with us
today.

M r . S w a in has provided the background

i n f o r m a t i o n b e i ng discussed here today by the
committee.
M r . S w ain, would you like to give a li ttle
b a c k g r o u n d o n t he Civil Air Patrol and share some
o f y o u r t h o u g h t s on what the Congressional Gold
M e d a l d e s i g n s m ight depict?
M R . S W AIN:
you.

I sure would, April.

Than k

C a n e v e r y body hear me okay?
P A R T I C IPANTS:
M R . S W AIN:

Yes.

Good.

Just a couple of

t h o u g h t s o n w h a t makes Civil Air Patrol a little
b i t u n u s u a l i n this context.

It was formed one

w e e k b e f o r e t h e war started.

Civilian aviators had

f o r e s e e n t h e c o ming crisis and had for several
y e a r s , a n d w e r e working to create a public service

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o r g a n i z a t i o n t h at could help out during the war.
I t w a s perfect timing on the Civil Air
Patrol’s part.
keep in mind.

There are some things you need to
They were civilians.

They were

v o l u n t e e r s , a n d I don’t mean they volunteered to
s e r v e t h e i r c o u ntry and then got paid, they served
t h e i r c o u n t r y w ithout pay during the duration of
t h e w a r w h e n t h ey were in service, only getting per
d i e m f o r t h e i r being away from home.
M a n y w ere too young to be in the milit ary,
m a n y w e r e t o o o ld to be in the military.

We were

a n o r g a n i z a t i o n that allowed women to join.
t a u g h t w o m e n t o fly.

We

Many of the WASP were taught

t o f l y i n t h e C ivil Air Patrol, and went on to
b e c o m e m e m b e r s of the WASP, and then returned to
t h e C i v i l A i r P atrol at the end of the war because
t h e r e w a s n o o t her place they could fly after their
s e r v i c e t o t h e Nation.
W e a l s o had people in the Civil Air Pa trol
w h o p h y s i c a l l y couldn’t join the military or had
o t h e r r e a s o n s t hey couldn’t be in the military.
h a d p i l o t s a s y oung as 15 and as old as in their

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8 0 s f l y i n g o p e r ational missions for the Civil Air
Patrol.
M o s t o f the Civil Air Patrol operation s
w e r e f l o w n i n p rivately owned aircraft that either
t h e o w n e r s g a v e CAP permission to fly or the owners
w e r e t h e r e a c t u ally flying the airplanes.

It is

v e r y u n u s u a l i n that regard.
A c o u p le of other aspects to keep in m ind
i s i t w a s h i g h l y unusual for the military to allow
c i v i l i a n s t o f l y combat operations, which is what
h a p p e n e d s t a r t i ng in March of 1942, and that
c o n t i n u e d u n t i l August of 1943, and that was
b e c a u s e t h e m i l itary did not have enough antis u b m a r i n e a i r c r aft personnel/vessels available
a l o n g t h e A t l a n tic Coast and then the Gulf of
M e x i c o t o a d e q u ately cover the submarine crisis
t h a t w a s o n g o i n g at that point.
C i v i l Air Patrol flew over 24 million
m i l e s o n a n t i -s ubmarine operations during thos e 18
m o n t h s , a n d h e l ped push the submarine threat, which
w a s a c t u a l l y h a ppening within sight of coastal
c i t i e s , s u c h a s Atlantic City, people were on the

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s h o r e w a t c h i n g ships being sunk, it helped push it
o u t b e y o n d 1 0 0 miles, away from the coast, which
f r e e d u p t h e c o astal shipping lanes, and basically
h e l p e d s a v e t h e initial war effort for America,
w h i c h w a s p r i m a rily supporting the British and
s h i p p i n g , g e t t i ng supplies over to the other side.
F o r u s , you know, we’d like to see the
m e d a l k i n d o f h ighlight our combat operations and
o u r h u m a n i t a r i a n operations.

We’d like to

h i g h l i g h t w o m e n in aviation because we played a
m a j o r r o l e t h e r e.

We also played a role in getting

c i v i l a v i a t i o n involved in national emergencies.
S i n c e this time, Civil Air Patrol has gone
o n t o b e a 6 0 , 0 00 member organization that provides
h o m e l a n d s e c u r i ty missions.

We fly search and

r e s c u e , d i s a s t e r relief, and a whole host of
c o m m u n i t y p r o j e cts, including youth programs and
t h a t k i n d o f t h ing.

It all started from the

o r g a n i z a t i o n i n World War II.
J u s t s o you know, we like the look--we ’re
n o t l o o k i n g t o replicate it necessarily--we like
t h e l o o k o f t h e WASP Medal, how it was designed,

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t h e s i m p l i c i t y , how all the elements came together
with that.
I ’ m a v ailable now for questions or any
t h o u g h t s y o u m i ght have.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mr. Swain.

I g uess

I h a v e o n e q u e s tion for you, and that is my
u n d e r s t a n d i n g i s there were many different sorts of
a i r c r a f t t h a t w ere used by the Civil Air Patrol,
a n d i f I ’ m c o r r ect on that, was there a particular
m o d e l o f a i r c r a ft that was more commonly used than
a n y o t h e r o n e t hat might be symbolic of the entire
C i v i l A i r P a t r o l?
M R . S W AIN:

Civil Air Patrol, when it

s t a r t e d , t o o k o ver about half of the private
a v i a t i o n f l e e t that was out there.

So, it had

1 0 , 0 0 0 p l u s a i r planes initially.
N o w , t hat was dwindled down quickly
b e c a u s e t h e r e w ere other needs during the war, and
C i v i l A i r P a t r o l ended up with about 3,000 or 4,000
a i r p l a n e s , t w o or three of them were much more
c o m m o n t h a n t h e others, in particular, the
Fairchild 24.

Various variants of that airplane

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w e r e u s e d a l o t by Civil Air Patrol for its more
h a z a r d o u s m i s s i ons and more complex missions.
T h e S t inson aircraft, Stinson 10s and
S t i n s o n V o y a g e r s, which were essentially the same
a i r p l a n e , w e r e also used.

There were one or two

o t h e r s t h a t w e r e very common in the fleet.
M R . M A RKS:

Would those be the aircraf t

m o r e l i k e l y t o have been involved in the combat
missions?
M R . S W AIN:

They would have been; yes,

absolutely.
M R . M A RKS:

That would be a reasonable

i m a g e t o u s e i f we were trying to identify a single
a i r c r a f t t o r e p resent the Civil Air Patrol?
M R . W E INMAN:

Gary, this is Greg.

Thi s is

a c t u a l l y o n e o f the challenges we have here, the
l e g i s l a t i o n - - i t is an honor of World War II members
c o l l e c t i v e l y , s o we are always very cautious about
t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of identifying any one or small
g r o u p o f t h e W o rld War II members of the Civil Air
Patrol.
I f y o u feature a certain plane, there is

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a l w a y s t h e r i s k to say well, they’re featuring this
g r o u p o r t h a t p articular person, and this is
s o m e t h i n g w e h a ve actually been struggling with,
a b o u t h o w t o f e ature the aircraft here when these
a r e n o t G o v e r n m ent owned planes, they are actually
p r i v a t e p l a n e s , and they were also private brands,
o f c o u r s e , e v e n though obviously some of them are
n o l o n g e r i n b u siness.
M R . M A RKS:
M R . W E INMAN:

Okay.
We’re grappling with it

right now.
M R . M A RKS:
that.

Okay; very well.

I unders tand

I g u e s s I would shift my question then to

M r . S w a i n a n d a sk are there any unifying symbols or
p a t c h e s o r l o g o that would have been identified
w i t h t h e C i v i l Air Patrol.
M R . S W AIN:

There are.

t h r e e t h a t c o m e to mind.

There are two or

Each aircraft had what

y o u c a l l a “ r o u ndel” on the airplane, which was a
round design.

It was a blue circle with a white

t r i a n g l e i n t h e middle.

Those were on our

o p e r a t i o n a l a i r planes that flew anti- submarine

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missions.
O t h e r aircraft in the Civil Air Patrol had
t h e s a m e s y m b o l , the blue circle with a white
t r i a n g l e , b u t w ith a red three bladed propeller in
t h e m i d d l e o f t he design.
I t h i n k we provided those to the team
h e r e , a n d I ’ m s ure they will go out to the
designers.
T h o s e are certainly two.

There were s ome

o t h e r s y m b o l s f rom World War II that we have also
p r o v i d e d f o r o u r various act of duty missions, and
t h e p a t c h o u r a viators wore, which was basically
t h a t s y m b o l w i t h the red prop in the middle and
t h e n t h e i n i t i a ls “US” on a rock underneath the
circle.
M R . M A RKS:
f o r t h o s e c o m m e nts.

Okay; very good.

Thank yo u

I think what I will do is

p r e t t y m u c h g o in reverse order of what we did
before.

T h a t w ould take us to Robert.

Are yo u

prepared?
M R . H O GE:

Well, I’m kind of prepared but

I d o n ’ t h a v e a whole lot of ideas.

I like the idea

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o f s h o w i n g a c o mbat mission, maybe like a
s i l h o u e t t e o f a submarine below a tiny little
a i r c r a f t , b u t I don’t know if that’s a good image
for a medal.

T he idea of the triangle within a

c i r c l e i s p r o b a bly something useful, if that would
be recognizable.

I’m not sure how familiar that is

t o t h e g e n e r a l public.
M a y b e we could do a combined image of
d i f f e r e n t t y p e s of the services which the Civil Air
Patrol provided.

I think something like what we

w e r e t r y i n g f o r the Special Forces, showing the
v a r i o u s d i f f e r e nt activities.
I t ’ s d ifficult when you are thinking i n
t e r m s o f a i r c r a ft, the subjects are far from what
t h e y a r e s e e i n g , what they are looking for, whether
i t i s a n e n e m y submarine or other vessel or a lost
a i r c r a f t , s e a r c h and rescue, something like that,
c o u r i e r s e r v i c e s.
I t i s difficult to decide how we might
represent these.

I’d like to hear some other

suggestions.
M S . S T AFFORD:

Excuse me.

Gary, Mr. S wain

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h a s a c t u a l l y s o me suggestions for both obverse and
reverse.

I t w a s in the materials that we had

forwarded.

J u s t for discussion, perhaps he should

g o o v e r t h o s e r eally quickly.
M R . S W AIN:

I’d be glad to do that.

O ne

o f t h e r e a s o n s that we got into this combat mission
w a s s o m a n y o i l tankers were being sunk along the
A t l a n t i c C o a s t , that the oil industry went to the
m i l i t a r y t o t e l l them that they needed help in
p a t r o l l i n g f o r submarines and protecting the
t a n k e r s a n d o t h er shipping vessels that were going
u p a n d d o w n t h e coast.
O u r t h inking was perhaps instead of
r e p r e s e n t i n g a submarine on the medal, that we
c o u l d h a v e a n o il tanker, which was the critical
i t e m w e w e r e s h ipping to England at that point,
b e c a u s e n o t o n l y did we hunt submarines, force them
u n d e r t h e w a t e r , try to attack them with the bombs
t h a t w e r e a t t a c hed to our airplanes, but we also
d i d c o n v o y p a t r ols, where we escorted vessels going
u p a n d d o w n t h e coast to make sure they got through
safely.

T h a t i s certainly one idea you could

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c o n s i d e r f o r t h at.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

M S . S T AFFORD:

Just in case any of the

m e m b e r s d o n ’ t h ave their information in front of
t h e m , i n o u r i n itial discussions for the obverse,
M r . S w a i n h a d n oted two aircraft members, one male
a n d o n e f e m a l e , perhaps being depicted.

A Civil

A i r P a t r o l l i g h t signal engine aircraft and the
i n s c r i p t i o n “ C i vil Air Patrol” and the years 1941
through 1945.
T h e r e verse, two armed Civil Air Patro l
l i g h t a i r c r a f t over flying a tanker, as he just
i n d i c a t e d , w i t h that roundel, the circle and the
t r i a n g l e , p r o p e ller.
D i d y o u want to say anything about the
d u t y p a t c h e s , a bout the service patches?
M R . S W AIN:

There are duty patches, if the

d e s i g n e r s w a n t e d to consider them, that denoted all
t h e a c t i v e , t h e military duties that we performed.
O n e w a s f o r c o a stal patrol.

Another was for our

c o u r i e r s e r v i c e , another was for search and rescue
purposes.

W e h ad a forest patrol.

I’ve forgotten

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w h a t t h e f i f t h one was.
M S . S T AFFORD:

right.

Missing aircraft?

M R . M A RKS:

Southern liaison patrol.

M R . S W AIN:

Southern liaison patrol;

W e a c t u ally caught an enemy agent coming

a c r o s s t h e B o r d er with one of our aircraft calling
i n U . S . a g e n t s to intercept a vehicle.
T h e r e are a whole host of missions tha t we
d i d i n a d d i t i o n to these.

We towed targets.

Seven

o f o u r g u y s w e r e shot down by U.S. friendly forces
towing targets.

That was a very hazardous mission.

W e d i d f i r e p a t rols and all kinds of things.

There

a r e a n y n u m b e r of missions we could actually
depict.
W e t h i nk the one that was the most
h a z a r d o u s a n d t he most important to the Nation was
c e r t a i n l y p r o v i ding the anti- submarine patrol and
t h e c o n v o y e s c o rt duties that we did during the
f i r s t p a r t o f t he war.
Y o u w i ll find quotes from George Marsh all,
f r o m H a p A r n o l d , and others during the war that
c r e d i t e d C i v i l Air Patrol’s participation with

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55

r e a l l y h e l p i n g to turn the situation around in the
i n i t i a l s t a g e s of the battle of the Atlantic that
i n v o l v e d s u b m a r ines.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Swain.

I t h i n k t h a t w i ll now take us to Tom Uram.
M R . U R AM:

Okay, Gary, thanks.

In rea ding

o v e r t h e t e a m d iscussions and looking over the
o b v e r s e a n d r e v erse and design elements, I think it
s o u n d s l i k e a l s o the two aircraft members, being a
m a l e a n d a f e m a le, would be pretty relevant to the
t h e m e b a s e d o n the discussion so far.
W e r e t here any humanitarian efforts al so,
l i k e f o o d , a n y t hing like that, drops like that?

I

u n d e r s t a n d t h e whole thing of protecting the
s u b m a r i n e s , b u t they were also for the purpose of
b r i n g i n g i n m e r chant vessels, you know, protecting
t h e m a n d s o f o r th, that were obviously bringing in
s u p p l i e s a n d s o forth.
M a y b e something with a light would be
a p p r o p r i a t e a s well, if they were kind of like the
e y e s i n t h e l i g ht of the sky to protect these
v e s s e l s , a s f a r as putting some thought into that

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56

theme.
T h a n k you, Gary.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

Thank you.

Was tha t a

q u e s t i o n f o r M r . Swain?
M R . U R AM:

I just read here that there

w e r e a l o t o f t racking missions for search lights,
t h i n g s l i k e t h a t, basically the eyes in the sky is
w h a t i t a p p e a r s to be.
M R . M A RKS:

Mr. Swain, do you have a

c o m m e n t o n a n y of that?
M R . S W AIN:

The “Eyes in the sky” was one

o f o u r W o r l d W a r II motto’s that some artist came
up with.
M R . U R AM:

I think certainly that coul d be

p u t i n t o s o m e k ind of focus with the theme here.
C e r t a i n l y , f r o m reading the theme discussion sheet
t h a t w a s s e n t o ut, that seems to be relevant.
Thank you, Gary.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Tom.

M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:
Gary.

Yes.

Jeanne?
Thank you,

A g a i n , w e have another extremely full and

d i f f i c u l t i m a g e ry here.

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O n e o f the things that keeps coming ba ck
t o m e a s I r e a d through the activities that were
d o n e b y t h e C i v il Air Patrol is because we were
o f f s h o r e w o r k i n g, the possibility of having a medal
w i t h l a y e r s , y o u know, where you have air and sea
a n d t h e g r o u n d , and on the ground, we would have
d r o p s , h u m a n i t a rian supplies.
T h e s e a, some kind of coastal
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , maybe we could have a male and
f e m a l e p i l o t w i th binoculars, whatever.
S i m p l i f y i n g i t and yet somehow magnifying all these
e f f o r t s t h a t w e re put forth.
I s t r o ngly would recommend using the
p a t c h e s s o m e w h e re maybe on the reverse, so that we
w o u l d r e c o g n i z e all five or six of the different
l e v e l s o f a c t i v ity that were performed.
T h a t ’ s all.
M R . M A RKS:
M S . L A NNIN:

Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi.

Mary?

I found an old poste r of

m i n e w i t h “ E y e s in the Sky” written on it.
t h a t t o b e r a t h er interesting.

I found

It seems to me we

d o n ’ t e v e n n e e d to worry about what kinds of planes

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they flew.

58

T h e y all seemed to have the special

m a r k i n g s o f t h e blue circle with the white
triangle.

I t h ink that is as simple as we can

p o s s i b l y g e t s o mething, and would be recognizable
t o a n y b o d y i n t he Civil Air Patrol.
A l s o , I do like the idea of the male a nd
f e m a l e r e p r e s e n ted because if you look at some of
t h e b i o , s o m e o f the people who are still alive who
f l e w d u r i n g W o r ld War II are women in their 90s,
a n d t h e y a r e s t ill flying.

Kind of amazing.

T h a t ’ s all I have to say.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mary.

M R . S C ARINCI:
M R . M A RKS:

Donald?

No comments.

Okay.

Thank you.

How abo ut

Heidi?
M S . W A STWEET:

Hi.

This is Heidi.

I

t h i n k i t ’ s r e a l ly important to put that logo on it,
a s o t h e r p e o p l e have said, the triangle with the
propeller.

C i v il Air Patrol is still a very vital

p a r t o f s o c i e t y , and that image is going to connect
t h e h i s t o r y o f the Civil Air Patrol with the
current program.

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I , f o r one, personally, I'm not too
i n t e r e s t e d i n t he equipment they used, more in the
people.

I r e a l ly am going to be looking for

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the women pilots, very unique,
a n d v e r y i m p o r t ant.
I a l s o like the visual of the “Eye in the
S k y ” t h e m e t h a t can be very attractive, and I hope
t o s e e s o m e d e s ign based on that.
T h a t ’ s it.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Heidi.

M R . M O RAN:

Yes, Gary.

Michael

Moran?
I want to seco nd

t h e m o t i o n i n t erms of the patches.
w i t h H e i d i a b o u t the people.

I also agree

I would suggest that

y o u d o w a n t t o keep that logo somewhere on the
m e d a l , a n d I w o uld suggest that we use it almost as
i s t o i d e n t i f y the Civil Air Patrol.

Those are my

comments.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Michael.

t a k e s u s t o E r i k.
M R . J A NSEN:
M R . M A RKS:

Do you hear me okay?
We can hear you.

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That

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M R . J A NSEN:

60

Obviously, I think the lo go,

t h e i m p l i c a t i o n of the civil involvement, is an
i m p o r t a n t t h i n g that at least anyone who has lived
t h r o u g h t h e l a s t four or five decades is going to
r e c o g n i z e t h a t as kind of a civil symbol.
I , t o o , reflecting on Heidi’s comments ,
a g r e e a b o u t t h e people.

I could envision some

f o l k s w h o a r e c learly not in military gear, maybe
a r m i n a r m , w i t h a plane in the backdrop, a small
p l a n e , n o t a m i litary plane, arm in arm with some
t e x t a b o u t t h e contribution, something like that.
E a r l y on in the discussion, the image that
c a m e t o m y m i n d , it is not a perfect parallel, the
i d e a o f t h e M i n uteman.

The Minuteman actually

f o u g h t t h e b a t t le and became the disorganized/
organized Army.

There is an element here of the

c i v i l s t e p u p a nd assuming the risk, taking the
d a n g e r i n s t r i d e, and providing the element of
s u p p o r t f o r d e f ense, fighting the fight.
I c a n ’ t help but resist--we know there is
a n i c o n i c i n t h e Minuteman, and I look back to-s o m e o f y o u g u y s will be better than I am and can

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61

g i v e a d a t e o n that commemorative, but there is a
M i n u t e m a n c o m m e morative that has that iconic image.
A g a i n , I’m not quite sure how to merge
that in there.

Nonetheless, there is an element of

t h e c i v i l i a n c o ntributions, the step up, that I
t h i n k m i g h t b e an inspiration here somehow.
T h i s i s another tough design where we have
a l o t o f p o t e n t ial clutter if we stick to the
t e c h n i c a l i t i e s , but we have to get the emotionality
here.

I w o u l d love to see the quality, if just

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of smiling faces wearing a leather
c a p o r s o m e t h i n g, of a man and a woman, and a prop.
I d o n ’ t know how you do it, but I thin k we
s h o u l d s h o w t h a t balance of contribution.

Time is

n o t o n o u r s i d e in giving that recognition, so we
h a v e t o g i v e i t now and as often as we can.
T h a t ’ s all my comments.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Erik.

I believ e

t h e M i n u t e m a n i mage you’re thinking of comes from
t h e 1 9 2 5 L e x i n g ton/Bunker.
M R . J A NSEN:

I was going to say 1925, but

I f e a r e d b e i n g corrected by someone who has the

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62

a u t h o r i t y o v e r me.
M R . M A RKS:
friend.

I don’t know about that, m y

T h a t ’ s the image you were thinking of.
M R . J A NSEN:
M R . M A RKS:

It is.
I guess I will just wrap u p

w i t h a c o u p l e o f simple comments.

I pretty much

m i r r o r a l o t o f what has been said.

Again,

s i m p l i c i t y i s t he order of the day in producing a
m e d a l t h a t h a s pop.

I believe the Civil Air Patrol

i m a g e i s a g o o d one and will readily identify this
medal.
I a l s o very much agree with my colleag ues
w i t h t h e i d e a o f focusing on the people,
s p e c i f i c a l l y m a king sure both genders are
represented.
I d o n ’ t know if there is an opportunit y
h e r e t o u s e w i n gs, eagle’s wings are often
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h air flight, particularly in
m i l i t a r y a n d p a ramilitary operations.

If there is

a n a r t i s t w i t h some creative energy to incorporate
e a g l e ’ s w i n g s , that can also be an attractive
image.

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W e h a v e a little bit of time here.

63
An y

q u i c k f o l l o w u p from any of the members?
M S . S T AFFORD:

Gary, I think we have

s o m e t h i n g f r o m our liaison, Mr. Swain.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

Mr. Swain, please g o

M R . S W AIN:

Sure.

Just a couple of

ahead.

thoughts.

W e h ad thought of an inscription that

w o u l d g o a s f o l lows:

“Civilian volunteers who flew

c o m b a t a n d h u m a nitarian missions.”

That is

s o m e t h i n g y o u c ould consider.
I n r e f erence to the earlier reference to
M i n u t e m a n , t h e r e was a book just after World War II
a b o u t t h e C i v i l Air Patrol that had the title
“ M i n u t e m e n o f t he Air.”
t o t h a t i n t h e past.

There has been a reference

I thought I’d pass that on to

you.
M S . S T AFFORD:

Would you read that

s u g g e s t e d i n s c r iption one more time?
M R . S W AIN:

I can; yes.

“Civilian

v o l u n t e e r s w h o flew combat and humanitarian
missions.”

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M S . L A NNIN:

This is Mary.

64
Shouldn’t that

b e p l u r a l , “ m i s sions?”
M R . S W AIN:

Yes, it is missions.

M R . M A RKS:

Anything else for Mr. Swai n?

M R . H O GE:

Yes, this is Robert.

I was

w o n d e r i n g i f M r . Swain could clarify between the
n o t e s t h a t w e h ave and the actual legislation, the
s t a t u t e p r o p o s i ng the medal, one of them says that
t h e r e w e r e o v e r 200,000 Americans who served in the
C A P i n W o r l d W a r II, and the legislation says there
w e r e c l o s e t o 1 00,000.
M R . S W AIN:

There has been research th at

h a s g o n e o n s i n ce the bill was introduced that has
u p p e d t h e n u m b e r.
o u r y o u t h m e m b e rs.

I think one number also includes
We had young people aged 15 to

1 8 t h a t w e w e r e providing military training for.
t h i n k t h e h i g h e r number also includes 80,000 to
9 0 , 0 0 0 o f t h o s e individuals also.
M R . H O GE:
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr. Swain, do you have any

final comments?
M R . S W AIN:

No.

We’re certainly open to

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t h e p o s s i b i l i t i es of the design.
t a l k i n g a b o u t e agle’s wings.

65

Somebody was

I know the early

W o r l d W a r I I p i lots’ insignia was an eagle.

We

h a v e p r o v i d e d t he image to the U.S. Mint team here.
T h e r e m a y b e a possibility there with that design.
W e l o o k forward to working with everybody
on this.
M R . M A RKS:

Great.

Speaking for the

c o m m i t t e e , I w a nt to thank you, Mr. Swain, and your
o r g a n i z a t i o n f o r all your assistance during this
meeting.
M R . S W AIN:

Thanks.

M R . M A RKS:

With that, we’ll be moving on

t o o u r f i n a l d i scussion for the day, and that is
f o r t h e D o o l i t t le Tokyo Raiders Congressional Gold
Medals Program.
I w i l l look to April for her comments.
M S . S T AFFORD:

Okay.

* D I S C U S S I O N O F DESIGN DIRECTION FOR THE DOOLITTLE
T O K Y O R A I D E R S C ONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS PROGRAM
M R . M A RKS:

I will look to April for h er

comments.

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M S . S T AFFORD:

Okay.

66

Can I just ask i f

o u r l i a i s o n f o r this program, Mr. Brian Anderson,
is with us.

A r e you with us, Mr. Anderson?

M R . A N DERSON:

Copy that, young lady.

M S . S T AFFORD:

Okay; all right.

introduction.

A bri ef

It is Public Law 113- 106 that

a u t h o r i z e s t h e award of a Congressional Gold Medal
t o t h e W o r l d W a r II members of the Doolittle Tokyo
R a i d e r s f o r o u t standing heroism, valor, skill, and
s e r v i c e t o t h e United States in conducting the
b o m b i n g s o f T o k yo.
W i t h o u t specifics regarding the medal’ s
d e s i g n s , w e a r e here to discuss with the CCAC
d e s i g n e l e m e n t s and themes artists should consider
a s t h e y d e v e l o p their designs for this gold medal.
W i t h u s today, as I said, is Brian
A n d e r s o n , w h o i s the Sergeant at Arms for the
D o o l i t t l e T o k y o Raiders Association.

Mr. Anderson

d e v e l o p e d t h e b ackground information that CCAC
r e c e i v e d i n a d v ance of today’s discussion.
M r . A n derson, would you please give us
s o m e b a c k g r o u n d on the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders and

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67

s h a r e w i t h u s y our thoughts on the Congressional
G o l d M e d a l d e s i gns?
M R . A N DERSON:

Yes, thank you, April.

F i r s t o f a l l , l et me say thank you to all the
p e o p l e t h a t a r e there today.

I know you all have

b u s y t i m e s a n d schedules, so thank you.

I’m last

a m o n g s t u s , s o it was kind of interesting listening
to you all.
I w o u l d also like to thank the Coin
W o r l d / c o i n p e o p le out there.

You people had ran

a r t i c l e s i n y o u r magazines putting the word out
t h a t w e w e r e t r ying to get a Congressional Gold
M e d a l f o r t h e D oolittle Tokyo Raiders, and asking
y o u r m e m b e r s t o contact their Senators and their
R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s , so I thank you all for that.
T h i s h as been a labor of love for myse lf.
I ’ m t h e p e r s o n that bird dogged this thing from
start to finish.

I’ve looked at all the fine work

y o u a l l h a v e d o ne with the WASP, Tuskegee Airmen,
t h e 4 4 2 N i s e i , the Code Talkers, the Montford
Marines.

I g o t to thinking why not a Congressional

G o l d M e d a l f o r my Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.

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68

I s t a r ted this process back in 2011.

I

f i n a l l y g o t s o m ebody to listen to me in both
c h a m b e r s , a n d i n 2012, we had a resolution passed
i n t h e S e n a t e , but it didn’t pass in the House, so
I c i r c l e d b a c k around in 2013.

We have a bill in

t h e S e n a t e a n d we have the bill in the House going.
M y w i f e and I visited all 100 Senate
o f f i c e s , a l l 4 3 5 House offices, with e- mails and
phone calls.

I was making phone calls three weeks

b e f o r e t h e v o t e back in May to try to get more
support.

I h a d my numbers but I just wanted to

m a k e t h i s a s l a m dunk.
I t h a n k you all for your help and supp ort
a n d f o r b e i n g h ere this afternoon.
I t h i n k most of you know who the Dooli ttle
T o k y o R a i d e r s a re.

They have been my hero since I

w a s b a c k i n f o u rth grade when I first read “30
S e c o n d s O v e r T o kyo.”

I had the pleasure to have an

h o u r w i t h J i m m y Doolittle back in 1986.

I’ve got

t o k n o w p r o b a b l y 20 to 25 of the Raiders over the
years.
W h a t t hey did is basically they change d

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69

t h e c o u r s e o f W orld War II, war in the Pacific
theater.

T h e r aid on Tokyo didn’t do a lot of

d a m a g e b u t i t c hanged the psyche of the Japanese
m i l i t a r y , a n d a s you know, a month and a half
l a t e r , w e h a d t he Battle of Midway.

We won that

b a t t l e b e c a u s e we sank the four Jap carriers.

They

w e r e g o i n g t o s end more assets to Midway but they
d i d n ’ t b e c a u s e of the attack on the Japanese
h o m e l a n d o n A p r il 18, 1942.
T h o s e 80 brave airmen who took off tha t
m o r n i n g , b a s i c a lly, it was a suicide mission, they
k n e w t h e y h a d t o leave early, they didn’t have the
g a s t o g e t t o t heir destinations, they pretty much
f i g u r e d t h e y w o uld probably end up in Japanese
h a n d s , b u t t h e y all went.

None of them backed out.

T h e y w e r e a l l v olunteers.
W h e n t he note went up that they were
l o o k i n g f o r v o l unteers for a mission, the guys had
n o i d e a w h a t i t was, what it was going to entail.
T h e y v o l u n t e e r e d and they all followed through with
it.
B a c k i n January, an Admiral got the id ea

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70

o f w h y n o t u s e an aircraft carrier to possibly go
b a c k a n d g i v e J apan a little pay back.

Well, then

t h e N a v y d i d n ’ t have any airplanes that could do
t h a t , s o t h e i d ea was derived to come up with a
l i g h t t o m e d i u m bomber.

That task was turned over

t o a t t h a t t i m e Lt. Col. Doolittle, and he picked
t h e N o r t h A m e r i can Billy Mitchell B- 25.
T h i s w as the first ever joint Navy/Arm y
A i r C o r p s ’ o p e r ation, and the Hornet was a brand
n e w a i r c r a f t c a rrier, and the sailors were none too
h a p p y t o s e e t h ese B-25s being hoisted up on their
d e c k , a n d t h e y were going to have to play taxi
s e r v i c e f o r t h e Air Corps.

They didn’t even know

w h a t w a s g o i n g on until after the taskforce had
s a i l e d , a n d t h e y were out in open water, did they
k n o w t h e y w e r e going to attack Japan.
t h e n t h e s a i l o r s loved the Raiders.

Of course,
They all got

a l o n g n i c e l y a n d they played good together.
A g a i n , this was the first joint action .
T h e R a i d e r s w e r e spotted early.
m a d e f o r t h e m t o take off.

The decision was

There were 80 Raiders,

1 6 a i r c r a f t , a n d they all took off.

There were no

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issues.

71

O n e s a ilor lost his arm at the very last,

t h e b o a t s h i f t e d and he got pushed into one of the
p r o p e l l e r s , a n d Crew 16, they went through the
w h o l e w a r t h i n k ing this sailor had gotten killed.
T h e y d i d n ’ t k n o w they were able to save him.
O n t h e mission itself, they attacked f ive
d i f f e r e n t c i t i e s.
significant.

Again, the damage was not very

I t was military targets.

They did

n o t a t t a c k h o s p itals and schools as the Japanese
s a i d t h e y d i d , and the General was quite specific,
d o n o t a t t a c k t he Imperial Palace, put your bombs
w h e r e t h e y n e e d to go.
O n t h e mission, the guys were fuel
c r i t i c a l , b u t f ortunately, the hand of providence
w a s w i t h t h e m t hat night.

There was a storm over

t h e S o u t h C h i n a Sea, and instead of them getting
i n t o a h e a d w i n d, the winds had shifted.

They had

a p r e t t y g o o d t ail wind that night, and that
e n a b l e d m o s t o f them to get into friendly held
t e r r i t o r y s o t h ey could bail out.
T w o a i rcraft ditched, and of the ditch ing,
t w o R a i d e r s d i e d.

One airman died bailing out, his

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p a r a c h u t e d i d n ’ t open.

72

Of the 80 men that night,

t h r e e a c t u a l l y died on the mission, eight were
captured.

O f t hose eight, three were executed, one

d i e d o f m a l n u t r ition and poor treatment, and four
w e r e k e p t i n s o litary confinement and lived
m i s e r a b l y f o r t he next 40 months.
O f t h e other Raiders who went back int o
v a r i o u s t h e a t e r s of the war, by the war’s end, 17
o f t h o s e R a i d e r s also had been killed.
D i c k C ole, who is still with us, Dick went
o n t o f l y 5 0 m i ssions over the Hump, back in those
d a y s , f l y i n g D C -3 missions, over the Himalaya
Mountains.

D i c k is still with us. Dick is 98 years

o l d , a n d l a s t w eekend, he was flying a DC- 3.
(L a u g h t er.)
M R . A N DERSON:

So, longevity there.

We

ar e d o w n t w o o f the last four Raiders, and they are
al l i n t h e i r 9 0 s also.

That is why it was

pa r a m o u n t t h a t I get this done for them.

I’d like

to g e t t h i s a l l wrapped up before I lose any more.
T o m G r iffith passed away last year, the
ve r y s a m e d a y t hat Senator Sherrod Brown introduced

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t h i s l e g i s l a t i o n on the Senate Floor.
A g a i n , I commend you guys and I applau d
e v e r y b o d y f o r g etting this done, for the CAP guys
a n d t h e F i g h t e r Aces, because age is not on our
side.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

Did

y o u h a v e m o r e c omments?
M R . A N DERSON:

Do you want me to tell you

a b o u t w h a t m y i deas are?

Do you guys want to talk?

H o w d o y o u w a n t to handle that?
M R . M A RKS:

If you could, please, tell us

a b o u t y o u r i d e a s.
M R . A N DERSON:

Okay.

R a i d e r s a n d a m o ngst ourselves.

We talked to the
Because this was

t h e f i r s t j o i n t operation, we would like to see on
t h e o b v e r s e o r the front the USS Hornet with a B- 25
B i l l y M i t c h e l l taking off the deck of the Hornet.
W h e n p eople think of the Doolittle Tok yo
r a i d , t h a t ’ s w h at you think of, that is what you
see.

I f y o u l o ok at the history books or you see

t h e n e w s r e e l s , you see the airplanes taking off,
o r y o u s e e R a i d ers standing on the deck, Captain

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M i c h e n e r , J i m m y Doolittle, and Bull Halsey.
A g a i n , you have the 80 guys, 80 men ma de
up this mission.

We were thinking about having 16

s t a r s o n t h e f r ont going around the outside of the
c o i n t o r e p r e s e nt the 16 crews, the 16 aircraft
w i t h t h e 8 0 c r e w members, five gentlemen per
aircraft.
W e w o u ld like to see the inscription
“ D o o l i t t l e T o k y o Raiders First Strike Back.”
A g a i n , w h e n y o u think and you go back and look at
t h a t p a r t o f h i story, you almost always see the B2 5 t a k i n g o f f t he deck of the Hornet.

By show ing

t h e H o r n e t , w e are including our Navy brethren in
that.

T h e y a l s o took part in this.
I t w a s the 17th Bombardment Group, and

t h a t g r o u p g o e s back to World War I.

On the

r e v e r s e s i d e , w e would kind of like to see
s o m e t h i n g - - a g a i n, we can’t use the Association’s
l o g o , w e u n d e r s tand that.

We can maybe take some

e l e m e n t s o f f t h at.
I k n o w on the 442 Nisei Gold Medal, yo u
h a d t h r e e o f t h e unit patches on the back side.

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w a s t h i n k i n g w e have four squadrons that made up
t h e 1 7 t h B o m b a r dment Group, the 34th, the 37th, the
8 9 t h , a n d t h e 9 5th.
Betty on that.

I have given information to

The Thunderbird, the Lion, the Wing

h e l m e t , a n d t h e mule.
Danger.”

Their motto was “Always in

T h a t is in Latin.

Again, this goes back

t o t h e 1 7 t h B o m bardment Group, which was a group
t h a t g o e s b a c k to World War I.
A g a i n , unlike the other medals that we
h a v e t a l k e d a b o ut, there are all kinds of stuff
g o i n g o n w i t h t he Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, but we
h a d o n e m i s s i o n here, and that is their attack on
T o k y o , t o g i v e back some pay back for Pearl Harbor.
I t b o o s t e d o u r morale tremendously back in the
States.

I t t u r ned the tide of the war in the

P a c i f i c , a n d I ’ m done.
M R . M A RKS:
Anderson.

Okay.

A l l right.

Thank you, Mr.

With that, we will have our

d i s c u s s i o n w i t h the committee.

I really don’t have

a w h o l e l o t m y s elf to add to what Mr. Anderson has
provided to us.

I think there are some great ideas

there.

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76

I a m g oing to do reverse order of the last
s e q u e n c e a n d I will go to Erik.
M R . J A NSEN:
M R . M A RKS:
M R . J A NSEN:

Can you hear me all right ?
Yes.
I think one of the things we

n e e d t o b e a w a r e of here is the name “Doolittle,”
w h i c h i s s o i c o nically related to the dropping of
the Atomic Bomb.

Am I mistaken there?

P A R T I C IPANT:
M R . M O RAN:
M R . J A NSEN:

Yes, you are.
Yes, you are.
In that case, never mind.

It

s t u c k i n m y m i n d for some reason.
M R . M O RAN:

Gary, he went to the Europ ean

theater.
M R . J A NSEN:

The imagery is tough here as

w e l l , b e c a u s e I personally don’t like maps on
medals.

I g u e s s the most important words that I

h e a r d f r o m M r . Anderson would be related to really
s w i n g i n g t h e t i de of the war, and a strategic move,
a m o v e i n t h e m inds of the opponent, somehow, I
w o u l d l i k e t o h one in on that, the number of
p l a y e r s i n v o l v e d, the image of the B- 25, and the

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c a r r i e r , t h e v a lor of the suicide mission or
d i m e n s i o n a l i t y of that, are all so difficult, I
t h i n k , t o c a r r y forth on this medal.
I ’ m a t a bit of a loss here to really come
u p w i t h i m a g e r y that carries those things forward.
I ’ m n o t s u r e I ’ m much help here, guys.
M R . A N DERSON:

Erik, I’m sorry.

I got

k i c k e d o u t o f t he call so I didn’t hear a word you
said, sir.
M R . J A NSEN:

Well, it probably wasn’t

w o r t h s a y i n g a g ain.
( L a u g h ter.)
M R . M A RKS:
M R . J A NSEN:
M R . M A RKS:

Are you done, Erik?
Quite.
Okay.

Thank you.

I will go

to Mike Moran.
M R . M O RAN:

First of all, I’d like to say

t h a t w e c o u l d u se Mr. Anderson’s help with the
L i b e r t y C o i n A c t, which is stalled in Congress.
( L a u g h ter.)
M R . M O RAN:

With no sponsors.

Getting

b a c k t o t h e t o p ic at hand, there are a couple of

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t h i n g s I h e a r d here.

78

One was the Navy had a role

i n t h i s a n d t h a t is largely overlooked today.

The

o t h e r t h i n g w a s the turning of the war, and those
a r e t h e t h i n g s that need to be expressed in this
m e d a l , i t g o e s to what the men accomplished, that’s
what they did.
I t h i n k there may be five bombs on eac h
plane.

A m I c o rrect in my memory on that?
M R . A N DERSON:

loads.

Some of them had differ ent

S o m e h a d incendiaries.

The General’s

a i r c r a f t h a d b a sically incendiaries because they
w e r e s u p p o s e d t o go off at night time and he was
g o i n g t o h e l p l ight the way for them, but because
t h e y d e p a r t e d e arly, that program didn’t work for
them.
M R . M O RAN:

Got ya.

I don’t know exac tly

w h a t y o u d o t o keep it simple on the front.

When

y o u s e e t h e a l l -news reels, the B- 25 is taking off
th e c a r r i e r , w e don’t talk about how it sinks below
th e h o r i z o n .

Y ou can’t see it, and then it po ps

ba c k u p , w h i c h is what it did.
M a y b e a three- quarters aerial view of part

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of the aircraft.

79

I’m at a loss on that.

I think

t h a t p r o b a b l y d emands the four squadron patches be
t h e r e i n s o m e a rrangement or format.
I r e a l ly don’t know how you get the fr ont
t o e x p r e s s b o t h the Army and the Navy, but it needs
t o b e t h e r e i n some form or format.
T h a t ’ s all I have, Gary.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Michael.

M S . W A STWEET:

Here I am.

h a v i n g t r o u b l e with my mute button.

Heidi ?

I’m sorry.

I’m

As I’ve stated

i n t h e p a s t , s i mplicity and using symbols to
p o r t r a y l a r g e r concepts, there was a meeting a few
m e e t i n g s b a c k w here we talked about when a symbol
i s a p p r o p r i a t e and when is it right to be more
literal.
I t h i n k this is a case where it is
a p p r o p r i a t e t o be more literal because we are
p o r t r a y i n g o n e specific act rather than a broad
s c o p e o f c o n c e p ts.

I would be in favor of the more

l i t e r a l a p p r o a c h of showing the planes taking off
a n d g o i n g o n t h eir mission as they are ramping up.
I t h i n k t h a t w o uld be a fine image to use in this

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case.
T h a t i s all the comments I have.
M R . M A RKS:

Okay.

Thank you, Heidi.

Donald?
M R . S C ARINCI:

Am I to understand ther e

a r e o n l y t w o s u rvivors?
M R . A N DERSON:

No, sir.

There are fou r.

W e h a v e L t . C o l . Richard Cole, David Thatcher, Ed
S a y l o r , a n d B o b by Hite.
health.

Bobby Hite is in poor

H e w a s one of the four POWs that came home

after the war.

There are only four left of the 80

men.
M R . S C ARINCI:

I see; okay.

Far be it for

m e t o q u e s t i o n the wisdom of what Congress does
with history.

I think you should take the

o p p o r t u n i t y h e r e to do something creative with this
medal.

T h e r e a re only four survivors.

Maybe this

i s o n e y o u c o u l d--we talked about doing an annual
a r t m e d a l a n d u se it as a competition.

This might

b e o n e t o d o s o mething creative, give the artists
s o m e c o m p l e t e l icensing to do something with this.
I t i s really more a memento to history .

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81

I t s e e m s t o m e a Gold Medal should have been
a w a r d e d a l o n g , long time ago, so we are just going
back in time.

I assume the criteria is that

s o m e b o d y h a s t o be alive.

Otherwise, we should go

b a c k t o t h e C o n tinental Congress and award
e v e r y b o d y w h o s igned the Declaration of
I n d e p e n d e n c e a n d their descents a Gold Medal.
I t h i n k I would use this as an opportu nity
f o r t h e a r t i s t s to do something creative.

That’s

it.
M R . M A RKS:
M S . L A NNIN:

Thank you, Donald.
Hi.

Mary?

I think what we shou ld

d o i s - - i t i s i m portant to the stakeholders that the
U S S H o r n e t s o m e how be pictured, it could be rather
small.

A B -2 5 launching toward us, like get o ut of

t h e w a y , h e r e I come, would show a lot of action,
a n d y e t b e f a i r ly simple.
I w a s going on line and looking at wha t
t h e s t a r s w e r e represented on like a B- 25.

It’s a

b a n d o n e i t h e r side of a blue circle with a white
s t a r i n t h e c e n ter.

That seemed to be significant

i n r e g a r d t o t h at particular aircraft, and possibly

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t h a t c o u l d b e w orked somewhere in the back.
I t h i n k the 17th Bombardment Group alo ng
w i t h t h e m e n t i o n of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders may
be enough.

I t hink if we have the four squadron

p a t c h e s , t h e n w e get into all sorts of a messy
f i e l d t o l o o k a t.
T h a t ’ s all I have to say.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mary.

M S . S T EVENS- SOLLMAN:

Jeanne?

Thank you, Gary.

I ’ m i n a g r e e m e n t with having the USS Hornet
r e p r e s e n t e d a l o ng with the B- 25 on the obverse, but
o n t h e r e v e r s e , I really think we have to have some
s y m b o l i s m w i t h the patches.

By utilizing that, we

h o n o r b o t h S e r v ices and also the four squadrons
t h a t w e r e i n v o l ved.
T h i s c ould be so very simple, but in d oing
t h a t , I t h i n k w e address each of these groups
equally.

T h e r e is only one mission, so we have an

o p p o r t u n i t y t o make a real powerful comment for the
Raiders.
T h a t ’ s all I have to say.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeanne.

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Tom?

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M R . U R AM:

Thanks, Gary.

83

I do like th e

i d e a o f t h e o b v erse being the carrier and the plane
taking off.

I t is really a great symbolic gesture

t o t h e m i s s i o n as well.

On the reverse--the

w o r d i n g w o u l d b e appropriate on the front as well.
O n t h e reverse, like most of the membe rs,
I ’ m n o t b i g o n maps.

This might be an appropriate

o n e t o h a v e t o p ography of some sort, showing
m o u n t a i n s o r s h owing the different topography that
w o u l d h a v e b e e n relevant for the mission, I think
t h a t w o u l d b e g reat, because you have the obverse
a n d y o u c o u l d u se the wording appropriately, and
s t i l l i n c o r p o r a te the task and the joint efforts.
I t h i n k if the engravers could make it not
f l a t m a p l o o k i n g but make it topography looking, I
t h i n k i t w o u l d be a nice way to create an obverse
a n d r e v e r s e t h a t would be appropriate for the
theme.
T h a n k you, Gary.
M R . M A RKS:
M R . H O GE:

Thank you, Tom.

Robert?

Thank you, Gary.

I, too,

a p p r o v e o f t h e idea of trying to show the Hornet.

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P r o b a b l y a l l o f us know the Hornet was sunk by the
J a p a n e s e l a t e r in the year, as well as the loss of
a d d i t i o n a l A m e r ican lives.
W h e n y ou think of the whole combined r aid,
w i t h a l l t h e a i rcraft crashing, the ship eventually
s i n k i n g , i t i s like the fore lore hope of a
d e s p e r a t e m i s s i on for the sake of trying to gain a
v e r y i m p o r t a n t advantage.
I ’ d l i ke to call attention to the avia tion
m e d a l s o f t h e p ast, when we think of these things.
T o d a y , w e a r e a ddressing three aviation medals of
o n e k i n d o f a n o ther.

Some of the most effective

o n e s t h a t h a v e ever been produced really are back
i n t h e a r t d e c o area where symbolism triumphs over
a l o t o f r e a l l y representational images.
I d o n ’ t know how we can do this with t his
p a r t i c u l a r i m a g e because I think the B- 25 bomber is
g o i n g t o b e p a r ticularly important to try to
d i s p l a y , b u t I ’ d like to see a cut back in some of
t h e t e r m i n o l o g y and references.

I don’t think

“ 1 7 t h B o m b a r d m e nt Group” says very much, and I
d o n ’ t t h i n k t h e images of the patches of squadrons

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r e a l l y d o e s v e r y much either.

85

It’s like what we

h a v e s e e n o v e r and over again with the clan images
o n t h e A m e r i c a n Indian medals, for instance.
T h e i d ea of a desperate mission and th e
i m p o r t a n c e o f a cause or the heroism of the people
i n v o l v e d i s s o m ething we need to try to epitomize
i n t h i s a s m u c h as possible.

I’m not sure exactly

how to do this.
T h e a i rcraft image can be powerful.

T he

i m a g e o f a n a i r man volunteering for a desperate
m i s s i o n w i t h o u t even knowing what it is.
effort involved.

It’s a heroic thing.

The great
Just how we

c o n v e y t h i s o n a medal is a difficult matter.
M R . M A RKS:
M R . H O GE:
M R . M A RKS:

Are you done, Robert?
Yes.
Okay.

Thank you.

u s t o t h e e n d o f this discussion.

That br ings

However, I will

a l l o w a f e w m o r e follow up’s if any member feels
t h e y h a v e s o m e t hing additional to contribute.
( N o r e sponse.)
M R . M A RKS:

It looks like we have no

taker’s there.

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M R . A N DERSON:

86

Gary, I’d like to say

s o m e t h i n g , i f t hat is okay.
M R . M A RKS:

Please, go ahead.

M R . A N DERSON:
comments.

I appreciate all of you r

I a m also anxious to see what you all

c o m e u p w i t h , b ut I would like to say that the
R a i d e r s , t h e f o ur we have left, they really would
l i k e t o s e e t h e aircraft carrier and the B- 25
c o m i n g o f f t h a t , and we wanted to include the
a i r c r a f t c a r r i e r because of the support and the
h e l p o f t h e N a v y, and that was mentioned.
s u n k i n O c t o b e r of 1942.

It got

They did build another

H o r n e t l a t e r o n , which was CV- 12.
A g a i n , we wholeheartedly support that
e f f o r t , a n d w h a t you guys do on the obverse side,
a g a i n , w e s u p p o rt you.
is going on.

We are anxious to see what

W e want to get this done as quickly

a s p o s s i b l e a n d get the Speaker to set a date so we
c a n h a v e t h e c e remony and not lose any more of
t h e s e t r u l y g r e at heroes before it is too late.
M R . M A RKS:

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

T h a n k y o u f o r a ll your work on this project.

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M R . A N DERSON:
M R . M A RKS:

87

Thank you.

With that, I’ll ask the Mi nt

s t a f f i f t h e r e is any other subject matter that we
n e e d t o d i s c u s s today.
M S . S T AFFORD:
M R . M A RKS:

There is not.

Okay.

I want to thank the

m e m b e r s f o r a l l of your good work in preparation
f o r t h i s m e e t i n g and your contributions in it.

I

w a n t t o t h a n k a ll the individuals who have worked
o n t h e s e p r o j e c ts and contributed to our discussion
today.

I a l s o want to thank the Mint staff for all

y o u d o f o r u s a ll the time.
W i t h t hat, I hope you have a great sum mer
d a y , e v e r y o n e , and thank you for being part of this
meeting.

W e a r e adjourned.
( W h e r e upon, at 2:52 p.m., the meeting was

adjourned.)

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