Mutt and Jeff are still visiting the SwapShop almost every week. Sometimes Mutt finds a unidentified medal at the coin club meetings. After hours on the Internet he finds part of the identification. But as Paul Harvey would say, where is the 'rest of the story?'

Guam Island an American Territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The territory was ceded to the United States in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain, signed at Paris, December 10, 1898 and known as the island of Guam in the Marianas Islands. Until 1950 Guam was administrated by The Department of the Navy.

Guam an unincorporated territory of the United States is now governed under the Organic Act of Guam, passed by the U.S. Congress and approved by the president on Aug. 1, 1950. The Organic Act made all Chamorros U.S. citizens, but they were not given the right to vote in national elections.

We do not know where this medal was issued. We have seen a bronze copy too.

This small bronze medal was only at first identified as "1947".

Obverse: in the center, a wheat stalk dividing the date 1947, unser taglich brot gib uns ludenscheid im jahre durre , around incused.

The inscriptions have been translated from the German :

Give us our daily bread Ludenscheid (Germany) in the year the drough1947.

Reverse: The coat of arms of Ludenscheid - St. Medardus, above the city walls.

See additional information on St. Medardus from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The arms were granted on August 15, 1911.

Lüdenscheid received city rights from Count Eberhard II of the Mark in 1288.

The oldest seal dates from the early 14th century and shows the same composition as the arms.

The saint is the St. Medardus, patron saint of the city. The chequered fess is the arms of the Counts of the Mark.

The city wall denotes the city rights.

During the Nazi era, the City of Ludenscheid had several firms who produced military medals and other machine goods. This small bronze medal 30mm was produced by one of them, two years after the end of WWII.

We would like to know who manufactured it.

Anyone having additional information, please e-mail Mutt and Jeff.

Click on their picture

on the home page for the address.