love4history

Besides "military" these medals are also sold as "freemason" because of the presence of the "ageold freemason symbol of a beehive" and some tools...

Nevertheless these medals can become a very attractive collection in themselves as there are different (crossshaped) variations for work in a labour organisation, health insurance, agriculture, women's versions, different models trough the ages, different grades... a full collection should amount to about 100 medals (rough guess...)

Yes it was Kev.... were you the one getting it?...

I didn't really give chase because like I said these badges were supposed to be returned and were reused for the next casualty... so IMO you can't really say that it was attributed to anyone.... rather used by...

I went after his BWM for a while though but price went too high so I had to give up ...

Not a real award or decoration but related and somewhat resembling the SWB in purpose.

This buttonholebadge has the writing in front: "soldat Belge hors combat" and is numbered at the back. It was given to Belgian soldiers on convalescenceleave in France. Purpose was to easily recognise this category of soldiers and not mistake them for deserters. So unlike the SWB which was to avoid public scorn this badge was meant to avoid the MP's The personal details and badgenumber were registered by the hospitaladministration and the soldier was supposed to give back the badge once the leave ended.

Can you imagine what research fieldday one would have if these registers would somewhere, somehow by rediscovered?

and a detail

And?... what's the difference?

Here's the certificate for the Obilic medal, awarded to a Belgian

Anyone that could translate the exact meaning please?

found !

I found a picture of my variant Obilic medal .

The pic is rather small, a biger one will follow next week, lets see if you can find out where the difference is to the other two types (not regarding the size) !

Cheers

M

Well,... I'm not really sure as the pic's indeed too small... but maybe the armour is drawn with less detail?

Hello Sasayu

Thanks for the additional information. I had already noticed the difference in size. Is it so that the gold medal is 36 and the silver 30? or do both medals exist in both sizes?

Is there any way to see the difference between the medals produced in Switzerland and those in France?

Thanks

cheers from Flanders!

Hello Bifter

I'd say: wellcome to the club! ... as far as I know the swords should be pointing upwards and there's no difference between combatant or non-combatant awards...

If you need more info on Belgian awards: you'll probably find Hendrik's site the best online-source by far on the subject: http://users.skynet.be/hendrik/index.html and it's even in English Have a look

Yep, just across the border in St.Laureins, about 12 minutes from Oostburg (Dutch Zeeuws Vlaanderen).... very close to Eeklo (Belgium)...

You'll be sad then with him moving to Belgium eh?..

Hello Roeland,

Well.. as there is a picture you will have the opportunity to compare the faces once you have received the frame.... might be the best identification in this case... by the way: been visiting treasurehunt have we?

cheers

Not really sure if this is your man, but so far I can only find one Aim? Gerard in the Guldenboeken, and his decorations approximately fit the bill. But if you have no further info (picture to compare with or the unit) we can't be 100% certain though... this man was in the 12th lineregiment. Spent the whole of WWI in the army (8 frontstripes) and indeed, has earned the Yser Medal and the Fire Cross. The fact that he was a Sergeant Major may also lead to believe he might have received the Military Decoration further on in his career. The lion on his CdG is not mentioned though....

Hello Ulsterman,

Well, next to the medals to Serbian nationals a certain number of these medals were sent by the Serbian govt to the allied countries whose govt in turn was responsible for granting the medals to the individuals..

As for the silver medal in my collection, this was actually granted to a Belgian and the order of the day mentions:

"D'Hoolaege Charles, private, warvolunteer, 10th lineregiment, 2nd compagnie, machinegunner of excellent conduct and very courageous under fire. Has been at the front for 44 months. During the attack of Kortemark on October 14th 1918, seeing the officer in charge of the attackgroup killed, he took command of the group and attacked the objective under heavy enemy machinegunfire"

Hi everybody,

Ulsterman, it's my understanding that the gold medal was awarded to officers and the silver to NCOs and troops. If anyone has more to tell about these medals, please do, as my knowledge about them is limited...

I have noticed that someone changed the title of the thread though... but things rather become confusing... these gold and silver medals were instituted in 1913 by King Pierre I... so the "government in exile" addition in the title is wrong.... the "government in exile" medal discussed further on in the thread is a sidetrack to the site of ordenmaster and is not about the gold and silver Obilich medal as seen on the picture...

Haven't seen many pics of these around so I thought I'd share

...

Sigh.... deep sigh..... perhaps.... one day.... If any of the forum members wants to invest in buying this group and selling it back to me in a, say 2-year, payment plan, please let me know...

Oh yeah, by the way.. forgot to mention.. this other member did some research as well and he actually came up with the text of the mention in the dispatch for which our man was granted his bravery medal!...

But I'll let him do the honours as it was his he who provided the information.

The other day my eye fell on an item sold on eBay as a "Russian (?) silver medal"

The fact that I had seen the medal in a referencebook before and that there was an out of place Belgian Albert-palm (WWI-era) on it caught my attention.

The seller at the same time sold a number of other WWI-medals, among which was this named Yser-plaque.

(naming not visible, is on the back)

I did some research on the name and this is what popped up:

confirming the Serb bravery medal to this man! All his other medals (CdG with two palms, volunteer medal) were on sale as well (although these were unnamed) and a couple of books belonging to this man.

The good news was this special group being on sale, the bad news was that it was once again torn into pieces. I bid on a few of them but concentrating my bids on the named Plaque and the Serb medal. And I won them! No luck on the other medals though.

But now I am the proud custodian of this partial group of Mr D'Hoolaege!

(picture of the back, bit fuzzy though)

(and the front)

Even more good news: a couple of days later his "firecard" popped up. Of course I went after it but to my big disappointment I didn't win it.

However, it turned out that another forum member here had been bidding as well. He won it AND he also succeeded in securing the CdG with the two palms (had been bought by a dealer and put on sale again immediately ) So I would kindly ask him to post a pic of these two additions to his collection

Between the two of us at least we salvaged the most important pieces of this group and although neither of us is willing to part with his part of the group for the time being, we have made a promise that the other one would get first dibs when it ever comes to parting with these items

Well actually I have been told in the past that these are two different colourtypes of ribbon. One being a later version then the other. But don't have more details. Maybe Hendrik knows more?

Hello gents.

Got this very nice group in only yesterday. The lot is framed and as the back paper cover seems untampered with and contains the original old "framemaker's" stamp, it looks like this group has not been changed since the late 40's early 50's when it was framed. Also, the red velvet inside has faded except for the places where the medals are, which presents further proof of this group being complete and belonging together.

The 6 medals are: The Political Prisoner's Cross 1940-1945 with two bars/7 stars (meaning this person was imprisoned for 3 1/2 years!!!, so late 41 or early 42 untill 45), the War Cross 1940-1945 with bronze palm, Knight in the Order of Leopold II with silver palm, the commemorative medal of the war 1940-1945 with two crossed swords and crossed lightnings (=intelligence work), memorial plaque for the union of intelligence- and actionservices, the Resistance Medal 1940-1945 and the FRENCH Resistance Medal

Excuse me for the bad quality of the pics. They were taken last night with poor lighting, but I wanted to post this one today so....

Nice standard piece Wilco. Could be the base for a new collection ..

Question for Veteran:

It seems that in the past you have investigated a BWM for an agent in Kew. Could you tell us what information we could expect to find there when we go for a search based on the medall roll number from the MIC of the recipient?

sincerely from Belgium

Hello Dante,

We have discussed the French agent/medal group but not the Belgian one it seems? Do you have more info on him? Name?

Goodevening gentlemen,

I discovered a whole list of names of Belgian subjects that were brought to notice for distinguished and gallant services and devotion during WWI (supplements to the London Gazette nrs 31551 and 31526 of Aug 26th 1919 and Sept 12th 1919) These people are divided in three parts: Volunteer Service Attached to the British Army in France (Section I), Volunteer Service attached to the British Army in france (Section II) and Volunteer Service Attached tot the British Army in France (C.O.A.)

Question: does anyone know what the difference is between those three groups?

Thank you very much

Oh Yes, forgot to ask: question for Dante: you mentioned that the medals for the Belgian agent were confirmed by Belgian Secret Service Records. I'm interested in the sources. What source(s) did you use. Do you have anything on paper that you could show us?

thanks

Roel