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Box 151107, Lufkin, Texas 75915-1107 - (936) 676-6375 or cy@hotlinecy.com
Click below for list of autographs that are for sale
Pre 1940 Hand-Signed Items 1940-Up Hand-Signed Items
Medal of Honor Details
My personal collection is comprised of some 400 to 450 album pages similar to the ones you will find in this area. Click on the "Hand-Signed Items" link above to see the list of items I have for sale.. There is an incredible amount of history below. If you do not have the time to go through all of it, please bookmark this page and come back later. I periodically update this area. Please note - I am primarily a collector, not an autograph dealer. Duplicates are sold or traded to support my personal collection and to subsidize the gifts I create for recipients and their next of kin.
Cy Stapleton
2002 Medal of Honor Reunion/Convention
The 2002 Medal of Honor reunion/convention was held in Shreveport, Louisiana and daughter, Jennifer, and I as well as a dear friend, Sr. Airman Tamela Snider, were privileged to attend. Of the 142 living MOH recipients, almost 90 attended. Since this was the first reunion I have attended since 1969, many of my old friends have passed on, but new friends were made and a few older ones were still around.
Jennifer was most interested in meeting the combat medics. Eight MOH recipients and two non recipients were present (at least that is all we were able to find). The picture below left shows Jen with the late George Whalen. George passed away June 5, 2009. The picture on the right is of Jennifer and me with Mr. & Mrs. Desmond Doss at the banquet. Desmond passed away March 23, 2006
The senior recipient was John Finn. John is the only living recipient who earned his Medal at Pearl Harbor and the oldest living recipient. He reached 100 in 2009, John kept up with all of the younger attendees and always had a crowd of both recipients and visitors around him. The below left picture shows John with recipient Robert Bush. Australian Victoria Cross recipient, Keith Payne, was a guest of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. We established a great rapport with Keith and spent quite some time with him. What a fine gentleman Keith is. The below right picture shows Jennifer (left) and our friend, Sr. Airman Tamela Snider with Keith.
I had breakfast one morning with Ed Freeman and his wife and got to know them a little better. Since returning from the reunion/convention I have corresponded or spoken with a half dozen or so of these new friends and am anxiously awaiting the next opportunity I have to attend the 2010 reunion in South Carolina.
Click on one of the links above to go to my US Medal of Honor displays and other signed items .
Attention Next of Kin of Heroes: If you are a relative of a Medal of Honor, Knights Cross (Luftwaffe or U-Boat only), or Victoria Cross recipient, or if you know one, please contact me at: cy@hotlinecy.com. As a retirement project, I offer to create one of my displays of their hero for them as a gift. I have completed and given displays for each of the 142 MOH recipients who were alive when I started. As of October 2009 only 95 are still alive.. You can get more info on this effort by clicking here.
My Displays: Click here to get more information on how I create my displays and what goes into them.
My Interest In The Medal of Honor
On December 9, 1861 Iowa Senator James W. Grimes introduced a bill designed to "promote the efficiency of the Navy" by authorizing the production and distribution of "medals of honor." On December 21 the bill was passed, authorizing 200 such medals to be produced "which shall be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen and marines as shall distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seamanlike qualities during the present war (Civil War." President Lincoln signed the bill and the Medal of Honor was born.
The top picture above is the Army Civil War era medal. The three below that are, left to right, Army, Navy, and Air Force.
I became interested in the Medal of Honor while a cadet at West Point. I wrote a research paper that was aimed at determining whether the medal had been a benefit or not to the recipient. At that time there were 322 living recipients. I sent a questionnaire to each of these recipients and almost 280 of them responded. I became close friends with three of these - Charles Kelly, Greg Boyington, and Jimmy Fields. We maintained this friendship until they finally joined all of those other heroes who failed to come home with them after the War.
Later I found that one of my ancestors, George Reynolds of the 9th New York Cavalry was the recipient of the MOH for capturing the Virginia State Flag at Winchester, Virginia September 19, 1864.
Between the mid 1950's and the late 1960's I worked as a volunteer at several Medal of Honor Society conventions and through my print shop, donated quite a bit of printing to the Society and a few individual members. At the 1969 convention in Houston, Jimmy Fields asked to borrow my very large collection of MOH material to display at the convention. The material was put in a room to be laid out for display and someone left the room unlocked. When Jimmy and his wife, Tillie, went back to set up the display, all of the material was gone - apparently stolen by a fellow who claimed to be a "researcher." I keep thinking that pieces of that will turn up one day but I have not found anything yet. Most should be easily identified because there are some 280 personal letters and envelopes among the material that were each addressed to me personally along with the original of my graded research paper. I understand that a similar thing happened to the German U-boat commander, Eric Topp. Eric hosted a couple of "researchers" in his home and when he left the room to answer the phone, they absconded with a number of his treasures.
Jimmy and several other recipients at that convention got a copy of the Government Printing Offices book, "Medal of Honor 1863-1968" and they got some 100 recipients to sign their citation, after which they presented me with the book. That started my new MOH material collection. Since that time I have been able to find a number more autographs, including over 50 Civil War recipients.
I do not request autographs directly from recipients unless I do not have their autograph or picture in my collection. If I already have their autograph, I have no intention of asking for something that is normally freely given when it is my intention to sell it to help subsidize my collection. Many of my signatures are acquired by purchasing other collections, from autograph dealers and from recipients who accept compensation for their autographs.
My youngest daughter has also gotten interested in heroes, so I am creating some displays for her to hang in her office when she graduates from medical school. That will be a long time. She entered the USAF after graduating from high school and became a USAF medic but after two years she was given a medical discharge because the military physicians said she had contracted asthma at Travis AFB. She fought it, but they would not let her get a 2nd opinion. Her goal was to complete her pre-med while on active duty, then have the USAF send her to medical school, where after graduating she would return as a career physician and serve residency as a cardiac surgeon. She is now in her final year of Premed with an impressive grade point average. While she was on active duty she had her room decorated with pictures and my displays of her military relatives - starting with MOH recipient George Reynolds through more recent retiree uncles and grandfather which include a WWII fighter pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain, a USAF 4-star general, three USAF bird colonels (2 command fighter pilots and one command bomber pilot) and a US Army major general (actually a full colonel who was given the temporary rank of major general on one assignment). It did not take long for the word of her room to spread. Normally it was only the top kick who did the inspections, but more often than not Jennifer's room was inspected by junior and field grade officers - who paid little attention to anything other than the displays she had hanging. The cornerstone of her collection is a display I made that includes a handwritten note from Dr. Mary Walker - the only female to receive the MOH. I have been fortunate enough to have found four (4) other of Walker's autographs plus the only female to have been awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor for service during the Civil War - Julie Hopkins. Jennifer's interest is limited to those heroes who are someway related to the medical profession. I am interested in any hero.
General Daniel Sickles Shadowbox Display: Some of the displays I am working on are similar to the one of Civil War General Daniel Sickles. Those I do strictly for resale. I did not actually create this one. This is a beautiful display and includes a very rare Civil War Medal of Honor, a photo of Sickles, a note from him and a 3-d scene of him in uniform. Click here to see this display. Most of the ones I am working on are like the displays described below.
The displays I create are 8" x 10" album pages that are in a heavy poly holder that is punched to fit a standard 3-ring binder. I am primarily looking for any autographs I do not have. Quite often I end up with duplicates and when I find a more appropriate or nicer one for the displays I am creating for Jennifer and myself, I will offer one for sale to help subsidize our collection and the creation of the gift displays for recipients and recipients' next of kin. You can get an idea of what I need by looking at the displays below. I prefer one that is on a 3" x 5" or smaller piece. I may purchase an 8"x10" photo if I do not have that hero represented, but will dispose of it when I find something that will fit my displays. I may have a nice smaller signature, but if I find a nicer or earlier one I will replace the original and offer it for sale. The vast majority of our collection of displays are not matted, but rather are in poly protectors in three ring binders. If we want to periodically change out our displays, all we have to do is to remove one from the album and put it in an 11" x 14" mat and frame.
In early 2000 I came across a small collection of German Knights Cross recipient's signatures. The Knights Cross was Germany's equivalent of our Congressional Medal of Honor. I have started looking for more of these signatures as well as England's Victoria Cross recipient signatures. While some of these I intend to retain for my own collection, most were acquired for resale. As an example, the most successful U.S. submariner was MOH recipient, Eugene Fluckey. His German counterpart was Otto Kretschmer. Both my Fluckey and Kretschmer displays are among my prized possessions. More recently my German partner obtained two very large collections of Knights Cross recipients at two German estate sales.
Portions of my collection is available for display at no charge at any military organization. For details, please contact me at (936) 676-6375 or at cy@hotlinecy.com.
My Great Grandfather's Southern Cross of Honor
Mrs. Alexander S. (Mary Ann Lamar Cobb) Erwin of Athens, Georgia, conceived the idea of the United Daughters of the Confederacy bestowing the Southern Cross of Honor on the Confederate Veteran while attending a reunion of Confederate veterans in Atlanta, Georgia, in July of 1898. Mrs. Erwin and Mrs. Sarah E. Gabbett of Atlanta are credited with the design of the Cross. The design was the Maltese Cross with a wreath of laurel surrounding the words "Deo Vindice (God our Vindicator) 1861-1865" and the inscription, "Southern Cross of Honor" on the face. On the reverse side is a Confederate Battle Flag surrounded by a laurel wreath and the words "United Daughters of the Confederacy to the UCV."
Mr. Charles W. Crankshaw of Atlanta was chosen to manufacture the Crosses, but the first order was not given until a copyright was secured by the UDC on February 20, 1900. During the first eighteen months of the Cross' availability, 12,500 were ordered and delivered.
Only a Confederate veteran could wear the Southern Cross of Honor, and it could only be bestowed through the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Money could not buy the Cross; they were bought by loyal, honorable service to the South and were given in recognition of this devotion. The first Cross ever bestowed was upon Mrs. Erwin’s husband, Captain Alexander S. Erwin, by the Athens Chapter, Athens, Georgia, on April 26, 1900.
Click here to see my great grandfather's Southern Cross of Honor - Wesley M. Yarborough, 48th Georgia Volunteers. Wesley lost a leg at Petersburg, survived the war and returned to his plantation in Mayfield, Georgia where became one of the premier philanthropist of that part of the country. He had freed his slaves in the late 1850's and when he went to war, one of those freed slaves insisted on accompanying him. That freeman brought him back to Mayfield, Georgia. I found the Southern Cross in the box that contained all of my late father's medals and ribbons. While it is difficult to read on the scan, there is a silver plate affixed to the bronze medal that reads WMY - Co. B. Volunteer 48th Ga. I am hoping one day to find the Certificate of Eligibility for this medal. While this is not my great grandfather's Certificate of Eligibility, if you are interested in what one looks like, please click here. I plan to mount the medal in the case with my father's coffin flag, medals and ribbons.
My displays are available for display at any veteran's or Civil War Roundtable event at no. If you would like me to schedule a presentation, please contact me at: cy@hotlinecy.com. There is no fee other than out of pocket travel expenses.
Certificates of Authenticity - I will include a COA with all of my displays if requested. However, you should never purchase a valuable item based upon the seller's COA. That is nothing but a piece of valueless paper. What my COA does do is to let you know that I stand behind the authenticity of the item. Most of my autographs are acquired from registered dealers of UACC or the Manuscript Society and the others are from collectors I have a great deal of confidence in. Others I have personally collected from the hero. The ones I personally collect are not for sale even though it may be a duplicate. In addition, I have a large selection of reproductions of known authentic autographs that I use to check items against.
Can You Help Me? - I am in the process of putting together a reference book of known authentic hero signatures. If you can provide me with a high resolution jpeg of an authentic signature, along with the name, outfit, and a few descriptive words, along with your address, if that signature is used in the book, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book when it is completed. I am primarily interested in American Medal of Honor recipients (1861 to present), English Victoria Cross recipients (1854 to present) and German Knights Cross recipients (1939 to present). I am also interested in the same information related to heroes of other countries. Please email me that information at: cy@hotlinecy.com.
Inexpensive Displays
I also create beautiful inexpensive displays of heroes that do not have an authentic signature affixed. Contact me for details on facsimiles.
Proceeds from all of my Medal of Honor displays are dedicated towards covering the cost of the displays I create for recipients, recipients' next of kin, selected veterans' organizations and veterans' museums.
Other Medal of Honor Information
Rather than covering the history and other information available about this most prestigious of all decorations, I have included links to what I consider the two finest sites on the subject. There is little I could add to # 1 and #2. They are both outstanding sites. Site 3 and 4 also contain excellent information. Site #5 is a new site, but is loaded with incredible information.
1. - The official site for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society can be found by clicking here.
2. - Doug Sterner has designed a wonderful site - Home of Heroes. Doug's site is by far the best and most comprehensive site relating to the Medal of Honor. Doug even hosts personal web pages for some MOH recipients. To visit Doug's site, click here.
3. - Page dedicated to RVN MOH recipients, with pictures. Click here.
4. - Bob Carr's page dedicated to WWII and RVN U.S. Marine MOH recipients. Click here.
5. - Valor Remembered. To visit this marvelous new site, click here.