Rare 1918 Williams College War Service Medal, World War I, by James Earle Fraser

Description

Williams College War Service Medal, 1918.
JEF 1840; Baxter 320; MAco 1918-004; Marqusee 165; Storer 1775. 73mm (2.75”). Bronze. James Earle Fraser, Sc. (1876-1953).
The edge is engraved: “RALPH PERKINS CAPT.”
Struck by the Medallic Art Company, NY. Uncirculated.
Obverse:
with Colonel Ephriam Williams, the founder of the college, on horseback in the uniform of a Continental officer with three standing militia men facing behind. Legend around upper edge with the Latin words, transcribed from the seal of the college:
·
E
·
LIBERALITATE
·
E
·
WILLIAMS
·
ARMIGERI
·
1783
·
. Within a depressed label below:
·
THE
·
WILLIAMS
·
MEDAL
·
. On milestone at the feet of the horse: LAKE/ GEORGE/ 1755.
Reverse:
the reverse of the medal portrays a line of steel-helmeted doughboys, rifles in hand, with bayonets fixed, about to go over the top. It is a spirited handling of the subject, the play of bayonets being especially animated. The legend to the right: FOR/ HUMANITY/ 1918.
Ralph Perkins
was in the Class of 1909. He enlisted in the Ohio National Guard in 1912 and served in various capacities in this country through mid-1918 when he sailed to Europe. There he saw action in the Troyon and Marbache Sectors. He was discharged in April of 1919.
The Williams Medal.
Williams College commemorated its part in the great war for civilization by a Victory celebration on October 17, 1919 at Williamstown, MA, when it awarded the “Williams Medal” to 1,726 living Williams men who were actually enrolled in the Army, Navy or Marine Corps of the United States, or in the military organizations of one of our allies, and to the next of kin of the “glorious forty-five” men who laid down their lives in the great conflict. Major General Leonard Wood, who was an adopted son of Williams College by virtue of the honorary degree given to him in 1902, made the presentation address. The celebration was the first commemoration of its kind at an American college and was covered in news publications outside of the Berkshires such as the Boston Transcript.
Accompanying the medal was a card bearing the following inscription:
“The President and Trustees of Williams College take great pleasure in awarding the Williams Medal to you as a token of their appreciation of the honor that you have brought to the College by your patriotic service in the war.”
A copy of the Introduction/Forward to the book “
The Award of the Williams Medal”,
1919, is
included with the medal (6 pages total). Excerpts from the book “
Williams College in the World War
”, 1926, are for reference and information purposes only.
A rare medal with a beautiful patina rarely found in this condition!
Thank you for looking! Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
I have a large collection of bronze bas-reliefs, plaques, medallions, and medals that I will be listing this month by the following sculptors: Chester Beach, Victor David Brenner, Anthony de Francisci, Donald De Lue, John Flanagan, James Earle Fraser, Laura Gardin Fraser, Daniel Chester French, Henry Hering, Anna Vaughan Hyatt-Huntington, Charles Keck, Julio Kilenyi, Frederick MacMonnies, Hermon A. MacNeil, Paul Manship, Bela Lyon Pratt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Janet Scudder, Louis St. Gaudens, and many others, including prominent French medalists/sculptors/engravers!
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