ErikMuller

I found another KNIL-officer wearin this decoration. This is a picture of Lieutenant-General H.A. Cramer, commander-in-chief of the Royal Netherlands-Indies Army (KNIL). The decorations are: Commander in the Order of Orange-Nassau with swords (neckdecoration) Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands Cross for Important War Actions with clasp Officer's Long Service Cross Mobilisation Cross 1914-1918 Unknown decoration Commemorative Medal for the 64th Birthday of H.R.H. Soesoehoenan Pakoe Boewono Senopati Ingalogo Abdoerrachman Sajidin Panoto Gomo X, Soesoehoenan of Surakarta-Hadinigrat (1929).

Detail of a hole.

The strange thing is that there is nothing on the back to attach the star to a uniform. Just small holes in the beam points.

What about this one?

Sweet! Do you have a name for this KNIL Colonel? Or a date for the picture?

Uhmmm... might be off topic, but what use does a medic have for a dog?

By the way Roel, I would really love a scan of the whole photo! Cheers, Erik

It its the award often refered to as the "Gele Ster" of "Gele Soeng". I don't know what its for, but it is indeed from one of the Sultanates.

Great! Hmmm... maybe the French Society should host next year's international meeting?

The reverse

The obverse

Hello gents, An friend of mine obtained the attached medal a couple of years ago. Although he has tried a lot of fora and societies to get information on it, we are still bazzled about what medal it is. The obverse shows the left turned busts of (I assume) King Peter I Karageorgevich and Prince Alexander Karageorgevich in a wreath of laurel which is bound at the bottom with a ribbon bearing the dates 1914 and 1918. At the top center of the wreath is a Royal Crown. In the lower part of the medal is the text "SERVICE . TO . SERBIA . DURING . WAR". The reverse shows an image of the Cross of Merit of the Serbian Red Cross with the text "SERBIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY . LONDON ." In the edge is engraved: "HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE CROWNPRINCE OF SERBIA" We got a couple of questions about this medal: Why was it awarded? What ribbon belonged to it? Was the engraving on each edge the same, or does my friend actually have the medal of the Crown Prince of Serbia? And any futher information anyone could deliver! Thanks! With kind regards, Erik M?ller

Unknown French soldiers, number one with a MM and C-d-G with palm, the other one with a C-d-G with star:

And being finished posting I suddenly realise, that this is a croix-de-guerre topic and not the M?daille Militaire topic. Sorry! Back on topic: Unknown French soldier with C-d-G, wound ribbon and fourragere:

Coupons:

Page 2:

Inside cover (page 1):

Yesterday I got a booklet for the pension of a M?daille Militaire-winner. I will post the cover, the first two pages and a page with coupons here:

What?s that badge he?s wearing under his miniatures?

velcro? And I thought we were lazy in the Netherlands: our soldiers have to pin metal hooks to their uniforms for medal parades. The awarding authority just have to slip the unopened pin over that hook.

No need to feel bad about mistakes, this forum is to learn from each other. And I won't claim that I never make mistakes! The rule that a Dutchman first have to get the lowest grade was put in during the reforming of the House Order of Orange in 1969. Before 1969 you could be awarded with any class as first award in the Order. Still I think that the man must have been awarded this cross after 1969, mainly because of the presence of the Inauguration Medal. The roll of recipients for the House Order of Orange will be published in bookvorm next year (if C.P. Mulder gets his funds through), so that will be publicly avaiable soon. The roll of recipients for the Inauguration Medal is located at the Chancellery of the Dutch Orders of Knighthood. Two chancellors back you could have open access to that, but the present chancellor is not that easy going with research in his archives. But than again: the list of persons with both a Cross of Honour of the House Order of Orange and an Inauguration Medal 1980 must be very long! Since 1988 no permission is required to receive foreign orders, so if our man received it after that year his award is not listed in the Dutch records. Furthermore, although permission was required before that that to many examples exist of people who didn't requested permission! Cheers, Erik

Not necessary: this ribbon could also be of the Cross of Honor of the House Order of Orange (not Nassau ). The best guess I have on finding the appropriate owner: start looking at the adjudant's sections of the Officers Lists I guess he's navy, but that's just a wild guess...

Since it is not a custom in the Netherlands to decorate cities, none of the Dutch city coats-of-arms have medals in them. Below is the image of the medal, taken from the annual rapport over 1946 of the City of Amsterdam. The text on the reverse reads as follows: Aangeboden aanhet Gemeentebestuur van Amsterdam uit grote Dankbaarheid voor de hulp die de hoofdstad aan Arnhems burgerij tot leninging van nood verleende 17 September 1945 (Presented to the municipality of Amsterdam as a token of Gratitude for the relief the capital offered to the citizens of Arnhem, 17 September 1945).

The City of Amsterdam was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Arnheim in 1946 "for the support of the Municipality of Amsterdam in the relief of the citizens of Arnheim after the plundering and destruction of houses by German occupiers from September 1944 to half of April 1945."

They didn't automatically got the Order. As I mentioned it, they were awarded the Order on the occassion of the inauguration of Queen Beatrice. Princess Juliana was awarded the Order for her Grand Mastership of this Order after her abduction (and thus handing over the Grand Mastership to the Grand Duke of Luxembourg). Presumably Prince Bernhard also received the Order at that time. When or why Prince Clause got the Order I don't know. In any case the Order isn't listed in his list of decorations in the 1987 Nederlandse Staatsalmanak. In any case: it is how you look at it, in my eyes Max van der Stoel was not the first Dutchman after 1919 to receive the Order.