An extremely rare WW1 husband and wife volunteers in the American YMCA - Young Men’s Christian Association - gilt and enamel pin badge with bar ‘ Eagle Hut’ and suspended eagle, with official certificate of gratitude and appreciation for serves as a voluntary worker in ’The Eagle Hut’ for Mrs Olsen and certificate of gratitude and appreciation for serves as a voluntary worker in ‘The Cosmo’ for Captain J. E. Olsen, with related patriotic pin badges.
Y.M.C.A. Eagle Hut pin badge, 50mm x 29mm, gilt bronze and enamels, with Spink and Son makers details impressed to the reverse of the badge which is in the form of a downward pointing red triangle with rectangular band running horizontally through it containing Y.M.C.A. with blue background enamel. The lower point of the badge fitted with a loop which holds the blue enamel background bar ‘Eagle Hut’, which in turn is attached to the gilt eagle emblem, fitted with loop and ring suspension at the top of each wing, worn with blue cloth backing and safety chain.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Together with a small American flag enamel buttonhole badge and the recipient’s original certificate of appreciation from the American Y.M.C.A., 19cm x 14cm, awarded to Mrs Olsen for her voluntary work with the ‘Eagle Hut, London’ during the Great War, ink signed by the Chief Secretary for the United Kingdom and the Chairman of the Voluntary Workers Committee.
Also the original certificate of appreciation from the American Y.M.C.A., 19cm x 14cm, awarded to Cape J. E. Olsen for his voluntary work at ‘The Cosmo’ during The Great War, with a Norway - America friendship enamel badge and American Flag and Eagle badge, possibly for service at ‘The Cosmo’.
During The Great War, one thing that US troops – like their British comrades – could be thankful for was the Young Men’s Christian Association, the YMCA.
The YMCA supplied British servicemen away from home in the UK and overseas with a place to eat, drink, relax, and write letters home. As American troops arrived in large numbers, the organisation committed to supplying a home from home for them in England’s capital.
Operating from mid-August 1917, the YMCA’s Eagle Hut was officially opened on 3 September by US ambassador W. H. Page (and this can be seen in surviving Pathe film)).The Eagle Hut was established by four American businessmen based in London: E.C. Carter, Robert Grant, Grant Forbes and Francis E Powell. It stood at the point where the Indian High Commission and some of Bush House now stand, slightly west of the bottom of Kingsway on the north side of Aldwych.
The hut served around two million meals in the two years it operated – from August 1917 to August 1919. It was said to serve 3,000 per day, 4-5,000 on busy days. American pancakes were the most popular items offered, with 1,000 sold every day, as well as 13-15,000 ice creams per week during the summer.
The hut was run by 800 of volunteers – most of them women – and included 410 beds for servicemen staying overnight. It also had a billiard room and other games were played.
The King and Queen visited the Eagle Hut on Independence Day, 1918 - they both tried American pancakes!
As well as sports, food, and accommodation, the Hut also provided information for the troops. The YMCA also organised theatre trips and sight-seeing trips for them, to places like Kew, Windsor, St Paul’s, the Tower of London and the Old Cheshire Cheese pub.
In August 1919, the hut finally closed its doors. A dance was held to mark the occasion. A decade later, the then US ambassador, A. B. Houghton, unveiled a plaque to be placed in the wall of the buildings on the site of the Eagle Hut, paid for by the ‘Eagle Hutters’, a group of American businessmen who had volunteered at the Hut during the war.
Captain J. E. and Mrs Olsen, together with their daughter Grace all served as volunteers with the American YMCA.
