Home » Archive » UIM-0001 Pre WWII US Navy Good Conduct Medal for a Marine on the USS Mercy (AH-4) in 1923

UIM-0001 Pre WWII US Navy Good Conduct Medal for a Marine on the USS Mercy (AH-4) in 1923

This item is listed for historical interest only. It is not for sale.

This is an excellent named Pre WWII US Navy Good Conduct Medal on the USS Mercy (AH-4).  The medal is named to Fred H. Mouser. The full inscription says "Fred H. Mouser. USS Mercy 19 Jan. 1923."  The medal is in nice condition with s few minor spots of corrosion.  The ribbon shows some age and wear but is overall nice.  Also included are copies of two hospital rolls, the first is on the USS Mercy in 1922 for Hordeolum, and again in 1928 for heat stoke.  A third copy is of a USMC muster roll showing his service from 1926 until 1929.  With his China service being shown in 1926 Chinwangtao, China. The following is some history about the USS Mercy.  On 27 September 1917, the U.S. Navy purchased Saratoga from the War Department. On 30 October 1917, she began conversion to a hospital ship at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, and was commissioned USS Mercy on 24 January 1918. Mercy and Comfort (former Ward Line mate, Havana) were the first Navy hospital ships to have female nurses aboard. Both ships were outfitted with state-of-the-art operating rooms and X-ray labs and could accommodate 500 patients each. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, Mercy operated in the Chesapeake Bay area with Yorktown, Virginia, as her home port, attending the war wounded and transporting them from ships to shore hospitals. In October 1918 she sailed for New York to join the Cruiser and Transport Service. On 3 November the hospital ship departed New York on the first of four round trips to France, returning 1,977 casualties by 25 March 1919. Mercy and Relief are seen at anchor in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in April 1927. Note the absence of hospital markings on both ships. For most of the next 15 years following World War I, Mercy served off the east coast based at Philadelphia. In July 1920, she was redesignated "AH-4".  From 1 December 1924, until 1 September 1925, she was in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. On 25 November she went into reduced commission, returning to full commission 1 September 1926.