GospelCoin.com

 When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the wealthy sons of American nobility were attending the Ivy League colleges of Yale, Harvard and Princeton. Many quit mid-term to join the war and to become part of the newly formed flying squadrons.

One wealthy young lieutenant ordered in a flying squadron ordered solid bronze medals for his unit.  One of the young pilots in unit put his medal in a leather pouch that he wore on his neck.  Not long after, he received the medal, his plane was shot down by ground fire, and he was forced to land behind enemy lines and was captured by German search party. The Germans took all of his personal identification, but allowed him to keep the pouch around his neck, to prevent his escape.

In the meantime, he was taken to a small French town near the front. Taking advantage of a bombardment that night, he escaped. However, he was without personal identification. He succeeded in avoiding German patrols by donning civilian attire and reached the front lines. With great difficulty, he crossed no-man's land. Eventually, he stumbled onto a French outpost. Saboteurs had plagued the French in the sector. They sometimes masqueraded as civilians and wore civilian clothes. Not recognizing the young pilot's American accent, the French thought him to be a saboteur and made ready to execute him. He had no identification to prove his allegiance, but he did have his leather pouch containing the medallion. He showed the medallion to his would-be executioners and one of his French captors recognized the squadron insignia on the medallion. They delayed his execution long enough for him to confirm his identity. Instead of shooting him they gave him a bottle of wine.^{[2][6][7][10][11]}