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Payton House
Lusitania Medal
Lusitania Medal Story
Hi, My name is Lucy, but you may know me as the Lusitania medal. I am here to tell you about myself, so let’s start from the beginning. Way before I was created, there was a ship called the Lusitania. I have never seen it in person, but the main reason for that is because it was sunk by a German submarine U-20 in British waters a long time ago. WWI was going on, America had not joined the war because they did not want to get caught up in all the drama, and when I say drama, I mean alliances broken and new friendships made. That is a different story though. Back to the Lusitania. . . it was a British ocean liner with american passengers on board, and like I said, America was not in the war yet, so you can imagine how that felt when the Germans sank the boat and 124 U.S passengers died. On top of that, 1,198 other passengers drowned and the boat wasn’t even a military boat. That is just the base though, if you're wondering how I came into the scene I can tell you. After the Lusitania sinking. . . those poor innocent people. . . a German artist named Karl Goetz decided to make a medal for the Lusitania sinking (that is how my siblings and I got thought of). WWI was brutal and many people were dying, so the best way to get more people to volunteer was to use this for momentum. When Goetz made me, he made me depict the whole scene of the Lusitania sinking. On one side, I show the Lusitania sinking at it’s stern with a bunch of artillery pieces and airplanes on deck. On the other side, I show a skeleton selling tickets to a long line of unwary passengers. At first I was confused, but on the night that I was supposed to be shipped out, I heard a voice talking about me . . . Click here for more!