Many years ago before my father died he gave me a medal he said belonged to his father who was a "colored" soldier stationed at camp Lejeune in Mississippi during World War One. The medal is identical to the one referred to in your article of 2007 entitled "Mystery Medal For "Our Colored Heroes".

The medal is stamped "Our Colored Heroes" with an eagle on top, a portrait of a soldier below it with the inscription on a ribbon-like banner on the left side and a rising/setting sun at the bottom. The back of the medal is the same with the words "World War Began August 1, 1914, US Entered April 6, 1917, War Ended Nov 11, 1918" with two flags crossed and the words "U.S Patent Appl'd For" at the very bottom.

According to my father (Emile Joseph Broyard, Jr. of New Orleans, Louisiana), it was given to his father, Emile Joseph Broyard, Sr. (also of New Orleans) when he returned from the service after the war ended.

My father told me his father told him that the medal was presented to him by the "colored" chapter of the veterans of foreign wars (VFW). Apparently the white soldiers were honored with a parade after the war ended, but the south being as segregated as it was before, during and after the war, the city of New Orleans neglected to honor their African-American soldiers, as they were not allowed to fight and their work was limited to menial and for the most part hard labor tasks and their contributions were deemed less than worthy of honor. These medals were struck and presented to the soldiers.

I have no proof as to the validity of this story but my father was an avid coin collector with a small collection and whenever he would bring out his coins when I was a child and on into adulthood this was the story he told about this medal. It's a fascinating, logical story and one worthy of validation. Perhaps some research is in order.