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      • The Beloved PCGS Old Green Holder (OGH) Passed Away Approximately 25-Years Ago This Month
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    • 2022 Article Archive >
      • The Rolling Stones Walk Into a Bar with Five Reeded Edge Half Dollars and Get...SHATTERED!
      • A Multiyear Quest to Find a Specific Coin Achieved Thanks to the Generosity of a Collector
    • 2020 Article Archive >
      • A Tribute to Rhode Island Numismatist, and My Dear Friend, George H. Champlin IV
      • A Raw Roosevelt Dime Silver Set as a Side Project
    • 2018 Article Archive >
      • The Beloved PCGS Old Green Holder (OGH) Passed Away Approximately 20-Years Ago This Month
      • Archive of Cool Coins, Medals & Exonumia Added
      • EEMcD & The Mystery of the 1838 Reeded Edge Half Dollar
      • Book Review "An Inside View of the Coin Hobby in the 1930s: The Walter P. Nichols File"
    • 2017 Article Archive >
      • You Never Know what Events will Transpire to get You Home...
      • April 2017 Baltimore Show Report
      • A Glimpse into a Coin Deal
      • Observations from the Bourse; Hairlines
      • Thomas Bush Wins David Lawrence Literary Award (Again)
      • The Colors of Autumn; A Toning Enthusiasts Friend
    • 2016 Article Archive >
      • Observations from the Bourse; But Coins
      • Will the Efficiency of the TPGs Naturally Lead to all Worthwhile Coins Becoming Overgraded?
      • April 2016 Baltimore Show Report
      • A British Historical Medal Featuring a Canadian Train Trip that also Included Stops in the United States
      • New Barber Half Dollar Article for Barber Coin Collectors' Society
      • Circulated Barber Half Dollars-A Look Back at Two Decades of Specialization
      • Mistaken Misogyny-Andrew Mellon, Laura Fraser & The George Washington Portraiture
      • Thomas Bush Wins David Lawrence Literary Award
      • Standing Lincoln Monument Dedication at Saint Gaudens National Historic Site
      • November 2016 Baltimore Show Report
    • 2015 Article Archive >
      • The Mighty, Toned Washington Quarter
      • Collecting Mid-Grade Barber Half Dollars
      • A Simple Study on the Frequency of the Center Mintmark Position for 1897-S Barber Quarters
      • Thoughts & Strategies for Building a US Type Set
      • Three Fortuitous Auction Victories Illustrate the Importance of Knowing the Quirks of the Venue
      • Canadian Gold Reserve Coinage 1912-1914
      • A Young Numismatist & A Lost Future
      • Observations from the Bourse; CAC
      • August 2015 Chicago ANA Show Report
      • Saturn, Saint Gaudens & the Tom Seaver Era New York Mets
      • Cpl. Michael Eyre Thompson & the Walking Liberty Half Dollar
      • That's a wrap! Canadian Gold Reserve Coinage Melted
      • November 2015 Baltimore Show Report
      • Wonderful Die Polish on Newfoundland Coinage
Thomas Bush Numismatics

Cpl. Michael Eyre Thompson & the Walking Liberty Half Dollar

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PCGS board members may recall that on September 17, 2008 a Chinook helicopter carrying Cpl. Michael E. Thompson went down in western Iraq.  Lost with Cpl. Thompson were the remainder of his Red River 44 flying unit, part of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, including fellow sons of Oklahoma Chief Warrant Officer Brady. J. Rudolf and Sgt. Daniel Eshbaugh as well as Sgt. Anthony Luke Mason, 1st Sgt. Julio Ordonez, Chief Warrant Officer Corry A. Edwards and 1st Lt. Robert Vallejo II all of Texas.  The connection that Cpl. Michael E. Thompson had to many of us on the PCGS boards is that our fellow board member, BRdude, was his father.  Longtime members of the board may remember BRdude as kokimoki from the old PCGS boards of the late 1990s.

I never had the privilege to personally meet Cpl. Thompson, but he left an impression on those both in and out of the military that is easy to see in his memorial guest book and his memorial page.  While the individual burial ceremonies for the men were held some months after their deaths, a combined interment for the seven men was performed near the first anniversary of their passing in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.  The story from the Star-Telegram has been lost due to the temporary nature of the internet, but an image provided from the Star-Telegram is at left.  The story and image may remind us of the terrible price that is paid by some in this and all conflicts.

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Over the years I have always thought that three US coinage designs stood apart from all other regular issue coinage.  These three designs include two that I believe are quintessential expressions of Americana and these two designs are the Bela Lyon Pratt incuse design gold issues (quarter and half-eagle) as well as the James Earle Fraser Buffalo nickel.  The third design has always represented to me what it means to be an American and this design is the Walking Liberty half dollar.  This piece of art has always made me wonder what people of other nationalities might have thought when they came upon the coin for the first time, whether received as contemporary change o viewed in some other manner.  My favorite numismatic literary work was written by Cornelius Vermeule and is titled Numismatic Art In America.  The first edition was produced by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press and is long out of print, but my copy of Vermeule states in part-


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"The "Walking Liberty" design particularly gives the true feeling for breadth and sculptural surfaces on the scale of a coin.  These surfaces are formal, like a well-carved marble or precisely cast bronze relief for a war memorial.  The spacing of the word LIBERTY parallels the success of the dime, and the rising sun amid landscape anchors the motion of Liberty, her olive branch and starry cloak.  On the reverse, the eagle standing on rocks with a gnarled tree at the left dominates but does not overwhelm the design.  The working of the feathers is a miraculous coup de force, already cited as a hallmark of Saint-Gaudens and his pupils."

Vermeule writes much more poetically than I do, but the Walking Liberty design represents to me, with its vibrant, flag-draped Liberty and vigorous eagle full of strength a country that I would want to be associated with and one that must have seemed quite wonderful to those who viewed this art during its time of issue.

Every Walking Liberty half dollar I have seen since first reading of the loss of Cpl. Thompson has made me think of him, his mission, his fellow fallen soldiers and his family.  Of course his family would include BRdude who is among our extended PCGS board family.  During this time I have also actively searched for a Walking Liberty half dollar to add to my complete US type set.  Recently, I was fortunate to find the appropriate coin for the set and I must admit that every time I look at the coin I again think of Cpl. Thompson.  The coin featured here was a recent piece in my inventory and I wanted to include it in this tribute to Cpl. Thompson.

I thank you, Cpl. Michael E. Thompson.


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Thomas Bush Numismatics

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