Letter
Dear Ms. Gibson:
In its public meeting of 20 April conducted by videoconference, the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed alternative designs for a Congressional Gold Medal honoring the U.S. service members who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021, during the evacuation at the Kabul airport. The Commission was pleased to take into consideration the preferences of the liaison organizations and of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), and provided the following comments and recommendations.
The Commission members recommended obverse alternative O-06 and reverse alternative R-06, consistent with the preferences of the CCAC and the liaisons. For the obverse, they recommended refining the design to give more character and individuality to the group of Afghan people depicted in the lower part of the composition; they also questioned the emphasis on only five silhouetted service members to represent the thirteen who died. They supported reverse R-06 as a straightforward composition with the names of the thirteen service members.
As always, the staff is available to assist you with future submissions.
Sincerely,
/s/Thomas E. Luebke, FAIA
Secretary
Ventris Gibson, Director
United States Mint
801 9th Street, NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20220