Here’s some more information about this ID Badge. The ship on the front of
the badge is a Liberty Ship. Liberty Ships were a class of cargo ships used
in WWII known for their utilitarian design and fast manufacture. There are
only two Liberty Ships extant, the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien
(http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.com/) berthed in San Francisco, and the S.S.
John W. Brown (http://www.liberty-ship.com/) berthed in Baltimore. 

Links to the shipyards that built Liberty Ships can be found at
http://www.liberty-ship.com/. In the Contents area, click on “Yards”. This
may help your patron track down which shipyard issued the badge.

Several folks have suggested that the badge was an award for those
contributing to the building of a specific ship. That might be true if the
ship were a huge liner, an aircraft carrier or something that was a “large”
project – in terms of shipbuilding. But, the Liberty Ships were produced as
fast as possible – somewhere between a week and a month per ship. Here is a
short synopsis  from the S.S. John Brown’s website that explains the ships: 

“In the early days of the program it was evident that the sheer quantity of
ships was essential and the solution was "ship built by mile and chopped off
by the yard." New shipyards were created by a syndicate formed by Todd
Shipyards Inc., and the Henry J. Kaiser group. 
Once the production lines got under way, the time it took to build a Liberty
dropped to as little as 28 days. On the average, it took 592,000 man-hours
to build a Liberty ship. The construction of one Liberty ship required 3,425
tons of hull steel, 2,725 tons of plate, and 700 tons of shapes, which
included 50,000 castings. 

The Kaiser shipyard in Oakland, California, built the S.S. ROBERT E. PEARY,
from keel laying to launching, in 4 days 15 hours and 30 minutes. The PEARY
was then outfitted, painted, taken on sea trials, the crew was trained and
the vessel fully loaded with 10,000 tons of cargo. The PEARY sailed seven
days after the keel was laid. 
It was felt that if the ship could make more than one round trip it would be
cost effective. Luckily, the Battle of the Atlantic swung to the Allied side
and only 196 Libertys were lost in combat. Approximately half the surviving
fleet was sold at the war's end, and some of those were still in service in
the early 1970s some 25 years later.”

I've found our WWII home front war effort both interesting and inspiring. I
hope your patron is able to learn more about her father's wartime service.

Becky Fitzgerald
Executive Director
Susquehanna Museum
________________________________________
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Rebecca Fitzgerald
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 8:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about a pin

Actually I believe this piece is a ID badge of sorts. The number on the back
identified the worker to whom it had been issued. The badge was worn to gain
access to wartime shipyards, where security needed to be tight. Pot metal
was used because of cost and the scarcity of other metals during WWII. Since
wartime workers were fairly transient, the badge could be collected when a
worker left the shipyard’s employ and reissued to the next worker. 
 
At http://www.citicom.com/~lbagnato/pjmemorabilia.htm you can see a similar
badge and a red, white & blue visitor’s badge just above it.
 
 
Becky Fitzgerald
________________________________________
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Full Name
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 8:13 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question about a pin
 
Ms. Roberts:  
 
I think the advice about this pin being a recognition piece is probably
correct.  I would also add that this piece is probably not bronze but
perhaps pot-metal with a bronze finish, since it sounds like it was
"stamped" rather than cast, since the detail of,"  the imprint of everything
else on the back of the pin from the front," would indicate that it was
stamped.  If it was cast, then bronze might be possible but the back would
probably have been different than the front, much like a coin.
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/26/2005 12:13:13 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Hi Ms. Roberts:

    This is a wild guess but, I would say that it was a recognition piece
given to shipyard workers.  It was probably given for the number of hours
worked or for completion of a certain number of ships, possibly Liberty
ships.  While this is only a guess and I have no documentation of such items
being given, that is the best explanation I have.  This might lead your or
your patron to do further research into war time ship production.    

Rachel Roberts wrote:
Good morning, listserv-ers!  We recently received the following inquiry:
 
"I have a pin, I think it is bronze, it is the size of a silver dollar, a
flag shield with thirteen stars are at the top of this pin, and around the
pin it says War Service, Ship Building, in the center there is a ship, with
smoke coming out its stack, and poles and lines, like maybe it could be
sailed, the imprint of the water is underneath the ship. This is imprinted
into the center of the pin. On the back is a # 59941. and of course you can
see the imprint of everything else on the back of the pin from the front.
And of course the clasp."
 
Does anyone out there have any suggestions for this patron?  The pin
belonged to her father, who has passed away, and he didn't know anything
about the item.
 

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