Harry Waterson writes:

This is a bit of an op-ed piece.

Colonel Charles Lindbergh and Admiral Richard Byrd were contemporaries and vied for the success in the air. Both achieved many awards for their efforts inflight and exploration. Both men were flawed. Both were very concerned about their legacy.

Charles Lindbergh immediately received many awards, medals and trophies following his solo transatlantic flight, May 20-21, 1927.

June 18, 1927 there was an exhibition of all Lindbergh's awards to date. This exhibition was briefly mounted the afternoon of June 18th in Jaccard'sJewelry Store in St. Louis. 1 The collection was then briefly stored in a bank vault until appropriate arrangements were made for its disposition. On June 25,1927 Lindbergh agreed to a ten day exhibition of his medals at the Jefferson Memorial, Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. In June 1932, the collection was still ondisplay.

Col. Lindbergh gave to the collection the Chinese Aviation Medal, authorized by the National Government Council of China, on June 21, 1932. It hadbeen presented to Lindbergh by General Chiang Kai-shek, President of China on September 26, 1931 in Nanking, China in appreciation of his volunteer services inthe cause of flood relief in China. Lindbergh was the first recipient of this Chinese Aviation Medal. It was the 126th medal placed among his other trophies inthe exhibition. [2]

Admiral Byrd achieved his transatlantic flight June 29-30, 1927 although the flight ended in the shallow water just off shore at Ver-sur-Mer, France.President Coolidge awarded Byrd the Distinguished Flying Cross for this achievement.

Admiral Byrd kept all his awards in his possession and they were part of his estate when he died. His heirs consigned all his medals and memorabilia toSotheby's in London in 1988 for sale at auction. London was chosen because the sale included the Byrd Congressional Medal of Honor. It was then illegal tosell a Congressional Medal of Honor in the United States. It still is.

Today the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis is the public repository of all the artifacts Lindbergh garnered in his extraordinary career.

REFERENCES:
[1] Mrs. Lindbergh Sees Medals For First Time; The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, MO Jun.19, 1927 p5
[2] Another Lindbergh Medal; The Chillicothe Constitution, Chillicothe, MO Jun.29, 1932 p1

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
QUERY: LINDBERGH CHINESE AVIATION MEDAL(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n14a09.html)