Old Military Medal ?

[mical66]

I am trying to help some one who found these medal in their fathers belongings, he was a WWII vet, but they do not know the story of where or how he got this item. It may not even be war related but their father was over seas and in the European Theater and this seems to be chinese .
any help would be great .

 

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[bigfoot1]

lion tennis club medal?

gakuji kwai is japaneese educational socioty from that period.perhaps school medal

 

[mical66]

yea bigfoot, i am leaning that way to,, the theory some one else mentioned , is during the war soldiers ofton swapped souvenirs for places they could not or did not go,, and since this person was in Europe, maybe he swapped something for a pacific theater souvenir. but would like to nail down what and where .

 

[DCMatt]

lion tennis club medal?

gakuji kwai is japaneese educational socioty from that period.perhaps school medal

Agree. I found the same reference.

I would like to point out that the style of the medal is very Western for a Japanese item from 1917.

A. M. S. = American ?? School or Society?

 

[Mackaydon]

The word KWAI reminds me of perhaps the best movie ever: The Bridge of the River Kwai.
But I digress from the thread; sorry.
Don...

 

[bigfoot1]

gakuji kwai is a name?it certainly does look western.

 

[bigfoot1]

american montessori school ladies tennis gakuji kwai recipient....my best guess

by 1916 over 100 a.m.s.shools in 22 states

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I'm wondering if AMS is either American or Australian Missionary School....

 

[DCMatt]

The word KWAI reminds me of perhaps the best movie ever: The Bridge of the River Kwai.
But I digress from the thread; sorry.
Don...

Don actually makes a point here. (Not to imply the he doesn't normally make a point...)

KWAI is not a Japanese word as there is no KWA in the Japanese syllabary. It makes me wonder if KAI (a suffix meaning organgization or society in Japanese) is somehow mis-translated by the medal maker in to KWAI.

Again, just specutlating. But I would expect a medal (designed by Japanese) from 1917 Japan to have kanji characters on it - not romanji.

 

[nhbenz]

I'd guess the L.T. To be lawn tennis