ChrisW

Last photo... youngest HSU ever? ?

Besides the UK 4th Infantry Division insignia, which Peter correctly identified, the black/red triangle patch is the insignia of the UK 3rd Infantry Division, whilst the bottom "AF" patch is that of the Allied Force Headquarters in the North Africa invasion 1942/1943. I'd suggest you post these queries in a more relevant discussion forum than the Police Forces of the World.

UKR, Top photo: 1945-1984 In memory of the 39th [anniversary] of the establishment of the Syrian Arab Army Bottom photo: Martyrdom or victory

Thanks for posting, MConrad! There are some nice uniform details in this photo -- this Egyptian policeman is wearing the white cotton summer uniform (worn from April-September, approximately). Besides the cuff marking (which I think denotes a traffic policeman, but am not certain), note the white fez-cover, individual serial number on the collar, corporal's stripes on the right sleeve, and the sloppily-fastened belt.

My copy arrived yesterday, and it's very impressive. 350 pages, hard cover, with color photographs and drawings. As Owain said, it's entirely in Arabic, but the names of the medals are also given in English which is a big help for quick identification. The coverage is impressively thorough: Historical overview, glossary, and nice extras such as the medals awarded by the French Mandate, the UAR period (which includes many Egyptian medals), Russian and UN medals related to Syria, unit insignia of the French Mandate period, some photos of award certificates, and indexes and bibliography. Some random pages from the book... The book also comes with a four-page brochure describing the contents of the book and the author.

Correct email for the author: adnan.djaroueh@gmail.com Paul, would very much love to know your thoughts (and/or some pictures) whenever you have the chance! Many thanks!

Apologies, the email address is incorrect. I will attempt to follow up. Chris

Clyde Tinklepaugh posted this on OMSA.org a few days ago, and I hope he doesn't mind my reposting it here. (I don't have any additional details on this book yet, but if anyone else does please share!) An encyclopedia of Syrian medals has been released by OMSA member Adnan Georges Jaroua. This is a massive hard cover book, 9.5″ x 13″ and weighs 5.5 pounds. All illustrations are in color. In the encyclopedia there are: 241 orders, medals, decorations and insignia, arranged with their information and pictures, divided according to the countries participating with Syria in their issuance. they are divided as follows: 126 orders, 59 medals, 13 decorations, and 43 insignia. 105 Syrian orders, 26 United Arab Republic orders, 16 Syrian Arab orders, 59 orders during the French mandate period, 25 Syrian-Russian medals, and 10 Syrian international medals. 4 Sashes, 15 medallions, 70 badges, 32 award certificates, one administrative order and one purchase authorization. For additional information, contact the author; Adnan Georges Jaroua at adan.djaroueh@gmail.com

Vince, I can't help you with the one on the left but the one on the right has the flag of Suriname (in South America), and says (in Dutch), "Courage, Conduct, Faith" Best, Chris

Thanks for posting these, Rusty! Those are some beautiful details on the cases! As always, you've done an exemplary job on the in-depth research for this posting.

I was perusing the program of this year's Middle East Studies Association (North America) conference and was surprised and intrigued to see this paper among the otherwise highly arcane and specialized topics: Doga Ozturk, Ohio State U–Ottoman Orders and Medals in Egypt: Symbols of Ottoman Consciousness, 1841-1909 https://mesana.org/pdf/19_preliminary_program-8-20-19.pdf (this is on p. 48 of the program) I'm not planning to attend, but wonder if anyone is aware of the author or his work? (cross-posted to Turkey forum)

I was perusing the program of this year's Middle East Studies Association (North America) conference and was surprised and intrigued to see this paper among the otherwise highly arcane and specialized topics: Doga Ozturk, Ohio State U–Ottoman Orders and Medals in Egypt: Symbols of Ottoman Consciousness, 1841-1909 https://mesana.org/pdf/19_preliminary_program-8-20-19.pdf (this is on p. 48 of the program) I'm not planning to attend, but wonder if anyone is aware of the author or his work? (cross-posted to Middle East forum)

Pardon a bit of levity, but I saw this photo (on a well-known auction site) of what is probably the son of a very proud Egyptian judge, and couldn't help but think of this topic...

As always, some excellent research and great photos here. Thanks Rusty!

Further to Owain's comment, this appears to be a bouillon version of the Kuwait University logo (image taken from Google) Chris

Thanks for pointing out the two King Fuad II in exile orders! I skimmed through the catalog photos but missed that in the text. So the only difference is in the presentation boxes, not the orders themselves?

Paul, Egypt only issued campaign medals for the 1948 war and the 1973 war. The Victory Medal was issued to commemorate the first anniversary of the UK/French withdrawal from Suez in Dec. 1956 war, but there wasn't an actual medal for that war itself. And the 1967 war, Egypt didn't have much to celebrate about that. Best, Chris

The first one says "Public Security, Abu Dhabi."

This probably will be little more than the existing Navy Day medal with a brass disk on the ribbon with the Arabic number "50." http://www.sis.gov.eg/Story/130766?lang=en-us 29 May 2018: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi decreed issuing a commemorative Golden Jubilee medal for the Egyptian naval forces on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of Israeli Eilat destroyer. The medal will be awarded to all members of the naval forces in service on October 21, 2017.

Hello all, Wondering if anyone has seen any North Koreans wearing medals issued by Middle Eastern countries? North Korea had military advisors in Egypt and Syria, and possibly Iraq and other countries, during the 1970s-1980s. I suspect that some of the North Korean pilots working in Egypt (who reportedly were involved in some combat missions against Israeli aircraft) received Egyptian medals or certificates. If there are existing threads or posts here in GMIC I’d appreciate being pointed in the right direction, as this is not my usual stomping ground within GMIC. Thanks, Chris

A quick update: On 6 May the Armed Forces spokesman posted on their Facebook page an announcment for what seems to be a design competition for this medal. Facebook's translation, below, isn't the best, but it seems to be a coin-type medal rather than a wearable one.

Lukasz, The first ribbon is actually the Order of Liberation commemorating the 1952 Revolution, with the gold palm leaf for officers; this is one of the most commonly-seen ribbons among modern Egyptian medals, and almost always occupies the first spot in a ribbon bar. The Sinai Star ribbon is horizontal stripes of red/white/black. Antonio Prieto's ribbon chart is a useful guide.

922F and Rusty, Many thanks for identifying this! It hadn't occurred to me it could be a foreign award. Perhaps our general was a military attache in Riyadh.

She's definitely got a unique style, but he's wearing all the bling. He's a major general in the Air Defense Forces, wearing full-sized medals of the Military Star, Military Medal of Courage, Medal of Military Duty and Medal of Training. I'm having a little trouble placing the order around his neck -- Order of Merit? He's also got an unusual rectangular cloth or medal patch underneath the Air Defense Forces shield on his arm. I haven't gone through the ribbons in detail but they include most of the standard Egyptian commemorative and service awards from the 1950s and 1960s. Chris

Nick, Thanks for sharing this, and tough luck about being outbid at the last minute. That can be very frustrating, I know. This is a UAR era award, from the (Egyptian) Military Technical College. It looks like the brass bar at the top has some writing on it but I can't read it. Awards like this are commonly given to the top students from each graduating class, and also probably to some faculty or guests. Because Czechoslovakia did provide considerable support to Egypt during the UAR era, I would agree with you that a Czech or Slovak expert was presented with this award. Best, Chris