WW1 ribbon with brass

[mygrandpajcw 0]

hello. I was sorting through my mother's things and found a box of my grandfather's military things. My grandfather served overseas from June 1918 until

 

May 1919. I have searched and cannot find any description or

 

explanation of a ribbon/medal that was my grandfather's. let me try to describe it. There is a vertical American flag Above the flag is a brass piece that

 

has the initials - F. P. A. Hanging from that brass piece is a cracked bell. At the bottom of the flag is another brass piece that has a sharp upside down V .

 

Inside that V is a book with a building underneath. Under that is another very widespread V and on the right side of that V are marks like that of what a ruler would have.

 

Now -- my grandfather was from Pennsylvania and I wondered if the initials and the cracked bell were an indication of Pennsylvania.

 

Can you help me??? Thanks in advance.

 

[Olham 164]

Is it looking like this one? It looks like a Masonic medal/pin to me.

The bell with the crack must be the American Liberty Bell.

The headover "V" you mean is the circle/compass of masons; and there is also the masons' right angle.

But I do not know it's meaning. I hope someone else can help here - Lou might know it.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2012 by Olham

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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mygrandpajcw, the medal you describe and Olham has illustrated is, I am rather sure, a lodge medal from the Fraternal Patriotic Order of Americans which was founded just before the outbreak of WWI. It was one of many such organizations that popped up at the turn of the last century in the United States. I don't think the FPoA lasted more than a decade or so. Neat-looking medal, and by the way the V's are actually a compass and ruler, which were lifted directly from the Masons, (a common practice of many other clubs and orders).

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