Named WWI Navy Victory Medal

A World War I Victory Medal that was engraved on the rim “_.W. Burns Lt. USNRF Northern Bomb Group France” (The first initial is not entirely clear and could have been an attempt at an “R”, since there was a Navy officer named Robert W. Burns, USNRF, with the Northern Bomb Group). The medal has three Navy style rope bordered clasps for “Aisne-Marne”, “St. Mihiel”, and “Meuse Argonne”. Quite clearly Lt. Burns was one of those Navy veterans who was upset by the fact that the Navy did not authorize specific battle clasps for its combat veterans. Beyond that, the Navy generally authorized only one clasp per medal. Burns was obviously not satisfied with the authorized “Aviation” clasp that he would have received, and he undoubtedly took advantage of one of the advertisements that appeared in the American Legion Magazine and similar post war veterans publications, in which some insignia vendors offered Navy veterans the battle clasps that the Navy itself had failed to provide. The medal is on its full wrap brooch with a bright and crisp ribbon.