West Indies Campaign Medal, Navy, “877” (Lt Levis, USRC Morrill)

West Indies Campaign Medal, Navy reverse, numbered “877″ and edge-engraved “LT F.A. Levis [877] USRC Morrill”. Ribbon worn through at the brooch.

2nd Lt Francis Adelbert Levis was the navigator aboard USRC Morrill, a patrol boat built for the US Revenue Cutter Service in 1889 and which qualified for a Sampson Medal for its crew. In 1910, Levis was a captain in the USRCS, commanding the cutter Snohomish, which had been built as a lifesaving cutter based at Neah Bay, Washington. In 1916, he was in command of CGC Seneca and the International Ice Patrol. Born in 1865, Captain Levis retired from the Coast Guard in 1916, died in 1946 and is buried in Waverly, New York. He is confirmed on the roll for this medal. Medals to Revenue Cutter Service officers are extremely rare.