Letter
Dear Mr. Ryder:
In its public meeting of 17 June conducted by videoconference, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed design alternatives for a Congressional Gold Medal honoring Merrill’s Marauders, a military unit that served in Southeast Asia during World War II. The Commission provided the following recommendations, which are consistent with the preferences of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the Mint’s liaisons for this medal.
For the obverse, the Commission members recommended alternative MM-R-11, which was presented as a reverse design. For the reverse, they recommended alternative MM-O-05C, which was presented as an obverse design. Regarding the potential modifications to these designs that were described in the presentation, the Commission members supported the addition of a supply plane in the background sky on the reverse. For the obverse, they noted that the suggested additional text, “5307th Composite Unit Provisional,” would be too lengthy to place comfortably below “Merrill’s Marauders” at the top of the composition; they instead recommended moving the text “Deep Behind Enemy Lines” to this position, and placing the longer unit designation along the bottom of the obverse.
As always, the staff is available to assist you with future submissions.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas E. Luebke, FAIA
Secretary
David Ryder, Director
United States Mint
801 9th Street, NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20220