An Early American Pilots Grouping; Panama KIA

An Early American Pilots Awards - Panama KIA - Mexican Border Service Medal (bronze, numbered "19468" on the edge, 32 mm); and WWI Victory Medal, 1 Clasp - AVIATION (bronze, 36 mm). Un-mounted, on original ribbons with brooch pinbacks, light contact and wear, near extremely fine. Accompanied by a Ribbon Bar (with ribbons of both medals, 10.5 mm x 71.5 mm, swing bar pinback), a Naval Aviation Pilot Badge (bronze gilt, unmarked, 21.8 mm x 69.5 mm, horizontal pinback), a Naval Aviation Pilot Badge, Miniature (bronze gilt, unmarked, 10.5 mm x 25 mm, horizontal pinback), a United States Naval Reserve Forces Command Dog Tag (obverse engraved "ENSIGN" in the centre with "DEAN E. LOCHMAN" above and "U.S.N-R.F.C." below, reverse hallmarked with the British lion, marked with an anchor (made in Birmingham), maker marked "B.A.P&Co." and date marked "s" (1917), 29.6 mm), a United States Navy Department Bureau of Navigation, Naval Reserve Force Document (granting Dean E. Lochman the provisional rank and grade of Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve Flying Corps, Class 5 for General Service from October 1, 1918, signed and dated February 11, 1919, with blue Navy Department anchor seal, a typewritten notation inscribed "Registered No. 77 The lowest number of same date takes rank." vertically on the right side and signed J.R. Durnell, Assistant Registrar, 203 mm x 266 mm), a Photograph of Lochman in his Naval Aviator's Dress Uniform (black and white, 62 mm x 86 mm); a Photocopy of a Photograph of Lochman in Flying Gear Standing on the Pontoon of a Seaplane (99 mm x 150 mm) and three Seaplane Postcards (sepia-toned, two of which feature handwritten messages from Lochman, the third stamped "THE CLOVER STUDIO, PENSACOLA, FLORIDA" on the reverse, 86 mm x 137 mm each, the latter with a torn corner).  Footnote: Dean Edmund Lochman, Jr. was born on November 10, 1897 in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Edmund Lochman of Salem. He attended Lincoln, Bowditch Grammar School and Salem High School, graduating from the latter in 1916. Early that same year, he joined the Salem Cadets, who were the re-organizing into an artillery outfit. Just before graduating from high school, on June 25th, he was sent with the artillery to the Mexican Border. After five months, he returned from Mexico in November and entered business with the Salem Electric Lighting Company. When the United States entered the First World War, he was interested in Naval Aviation and applied for a discharge from the Army in order to enter the Navy. He passed his physical examinations and started a three months' preliminary course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Ground School. In October 1917, he was sent to Pensacola, Florida, to finish his work, later commissioned as an Ensign that December. In the new year, Lochman was ordered overseas on February 16, 1918, stationed at first in England, them transferred to a U.S. Naval Base on the south coast of Ireland, where he remained until the signing of the Armistice. He returned home on December 28, 1918. Lochman was anxious to continue his Aviation work. A month later, on January 26, 1919, he received orders to leave at once for New York, to prepare to go to Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. He was married that same evening to Miss Evelyn Bowler, of Salem, the two of them going to New York together. They sailed for Panama on February 6, 1919 and upon arrival, he was commissioned Lieutenant (Junior Grade), a rank he should have received the preceding October while in England, but for some reason, the commission was delayed. Lieutenant Lochman was killed in a seaplane accident at Coco Solo, Panama on May 19, 1919, at the age of 21. His body was returned to the United States, his burial taking place at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem.