This is a very early variant of the Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service medal. It appears to be a 1960s or early 70s issue. It is offically engraved to Joseph Schwimer. It is period hand engraved as issued. The medal has a nice thick planchet and is an earlier variant. This varient of the medal is very scarce.
I believe it was award to Joseph Loeb Schwimer who hailed from Stamford Connecticut born on May 11th 1908. He passed away in June of 1996 in Milford Connecticut and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in VA. He retired from the Army as a LT Colonel and saw service in the Korean War. I am unsure why he is not listed as serving in WW2 and i would assume he did espcially due to his age and rank, i would assume he had a rather interesting career but his records need to be pulled.
His wife passed away very young in the early 1960s. He appears to have worked for the department of the army after leaving the active duty military and that is when he won this medal. This medal has a lot of research potential and my guess is this man had a VERY interesting 2 war service and career. The net has almost no info on him or his career but pulling his records could yield a lot. A lot of these were award for very interesting service during the vietnam period and this could have a very interesting citation attached.
The medal is in great shape w minor patina. The back pin has a slight bend common occurence when present \"pinned\".. medal does have wear and use. Great medal in lovely shape and with offical period engraving no doubt hard to upgrade and a great project!
