Photo By 1st Lt. Lauren Warner | New York Air National Guard Master Sgt. Jason Borghi, assigned to the 107th Attack...... read more read more
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CORNING, N.Y. – Military challenge coins are nothing new. But a glass military challenge coin is.
Soldiers and Airmen who work at the New York National Guard led state vaccination site in Corning, New York, will be recognized with coins made of glass thanks to the Corning Museum of Glass and Air Guard Master Sgt. Jason Borghi, who came up with the idea.
On Thursday, April 8, Borghi, a member of the 107th Attack Wing, and Airman 1st Class LRico Richardson, from the 105th Airlift Wing, joined Corning Museum of Glass experts to craft 40 of these one-of-a kind items in the museum’s glass works.
The museum, which was created by Corning Inc.--the multi-national glass and ceramic technology company that makes the vials the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine comes in—hosts one of the top glass working schools and facilities in the United States.
The Corning Museum of Glass was established in 1951 by Corning Glass Works, now known as Corning Incorporated, on their 100th anniversary.
The museum, three miles away from the vaccination site at Corning Community College, is a not-for-profit museum that explores the art, history and science of glass.
The vaccination site has been distributing about 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccines daily since March 18.
"To hold a vial of vaccine and look back at the loss of life and the sacrifice made by the Guard, our families and the entire nation over the past year, is an insanely surreal moment,” Borghi said. “The first tray of vaccine I held, I literally started laughing to the point I had tears running down my face.”
When he realized he was working in the same town as the home to the company that makes the Pfizer vaccine vials, he decided he wanted to create a challenge coin from the same glass, Borghi recalled.
Borghi said it’s important to recognize the service members that stood up this vaccine site, because it is the first state vaccination center where the New York National Guard, which is active at 24 total sites, is the lead entity for the operation.
Borghi reached out to Corning corporate headquarters with his idea and to see if he could buy glass challenge coins from the company. The staff there directed him to the museum, which has the facilities to make these kind of small, one-of-a-kind glass items.
Eric Meek, the Senior Manager of Hot Glass Programs at the Corning Museum of Glass, explained that he received an email from Corning Incorporated about the potential of creating a challenge coin.
“We immediately said yes, we are going to do this,” Meek said.
They couldn’t use the same industrial glass used in the vaccine vials, but instead turned to a glass designed to be worked and stamped at 2300-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, Meek said. Then he and his staff of designers began working with Borghi to create the coin.
The design they settled on included a vial of vaccine in the center, surrounded by the Words “F Co. JTF COVID-19” on top and “Corning NY 2021” on the bottom.
The F Co. reference is the team's designation within the New York National Guard's Joint Task Force COVID-19.
As far as they can tell, there are no military challenge coins made of glass, Meek and Borghi said. That makes the project event more exciting, Meek said.
“When I was researching coins made in glass,” Meek said, “I found that in 1943, during World War II, they wanted to conserve copper. So, Corning developed a prototype of some glass pennies. They were never put in production, but a few of them exist.”
Meek reached out to Tobeyco Manufacturing, a Corning-area machine shop to produce a brass stamp for the coin once a design was in place. Tobeyco was able to make the stamp in an afternoon.
G. Brien and George Kennard, Corning Museum of Glass glassmakers, started the process of making coins by gathering a blob of the red, hot, molten glass from a 2,300-degree Fahrenheit furnace.
Then they dripped it onto the table, where the glass was cut.
Brien torched the glass and fire-polished any sharp edges left behind.
At that point, Borghi and Richardson used the brass stamp to place the logo on the coins, which had cooled to 1,000-degrees Fahrenheit, leaving a nice impression on the coin.
Following this process, the glass was placed in a kiln to cool down. It takes about 12 hours for the glass to cool from 1,000 degrees to 100 degrees overnight, Brien explained.
Borghi was prepared to cover the cost of the glass-made coins for his fellow Guardsmen; however the museum decided to donate the coins to the men and women supporting the vaccine site, Meek said.
“To work at the vaccine site is a great privilege. Airmen and Soldiers are more than willing to take on this responsibility, especially knowing that we are helping stop the spread of COVID-19,” Richardson said, “It was an honor to be able to help create the challenge coins that will be presented to the service members working the vaccine site.”
Richardson and Borghi both agreed that this was a once in a lifetime experience. Both Airmen said they were honored to be a part of this event. They were looking forward to seeing the coins awarded, both men said.
The glass-made challenge coin will be a very significant and memorable coin to recognize the Airmen and Soldiers, Borghi said.
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2021 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 393368 |
| Location: | CORNING, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: | CORNING, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 680 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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