Megan

Thank you (scurries off in direction of website...)

This is the Humanitarian Service Medal

Still plugging away slowly - http://www.medals.org.uk/chile/chile-text.htm if you want to take a look. Getting a 'framework' sorted first, then I'll put in what ribbons I know and the images that I have found so far. It seems to be a very undocumented nation! Have found a few regulations, though, which helps. At least my Spanish is improving

Just about identified most in that picture, thanks (your ribbon charts are very good, as usual, Antonio) but the images are not good enough for my site (even if I had permission...).

They were quick off the mark with this one! Like the way the ribbon reflects the Crimean flag, though.

I am trying to work on the Chile section of my site, but am finding information and images hard to come by! Can anyone help? Here's one picture I found: a naval officer in 2009 at a commemorative service. Typing in any of the names of medals that I have found results in lots of pictures of award ceremonies, but most of the medals are very hard to make out!

And here they are: - Order of Samoa, 1st Class Order of Merit Malietoa Cross

Nice. Gongz, any chance that you'd let me use those on my website? With acknowledgement, of course.

Amazing. Pity the catalogue is priced out of the reach of mere mortals...

Well, that gives me a starting point: 7 variants x the different levels. Now to find images to illustrate it all... and slot them into the right places!

Even knowing the sequence of changes would be a start... dates could start being approximate and get more refined in due course. How many types of the beast are there?

Yeah, this is a nightmare... trying to display this one within my site... Do the changes in design mostly go with the various Republics, etc., since the award was established? Ripping hair out. Think I'll go do a different medal

John has just sent me this image of the Grand Order of Samoa, which is the Head of State insignia rather than a proper order. He says he's got some more information to post soon

John has sent some images which he asked me to post for him. Army General M.A. Jaleel: A Pakistani Admiral who was awarded the Muleege Order: 2 shots of Police medal racks: And finally the Muleege Medal:

Runs off screaming....

Medal of Long Service & Ethical Conduct (Nishani ya Utumishi Mrefu na Tabia Njema) - civil version (of which I do not have a picture yet!)

Fascinating and comprehensive series, thank you for sharing this.

I have already gone grey! Do I need to start pulling my hair out as well?

Nice...

The 'ministerial' orders are indeed fascinating, I'm hoping to get pictures of all of them for my site, eventually. The four survivors are the Academic Palms, Order of Arts & Letters, Order of Agricultural Merit and Order of Maritime Merit, incidentally. Must have been some fascinating debate as they decided which ones to keep!

Subtitled, I think.

I remember that show!

Ordre de l'Economie Nationale Created by a decree of 6 January 1954 to to reward outstanding services to the French economy in the various fields of economic research, production, productivity, international economic exchanges and professional representation economically. Both French citizens and foreigners could be awarded this order, which was in three classes: Commander, Officer and Knight. It was discontinued on 1 January 1964, being replaced by the National Order of Merit. The ribbon is orange (sometimes described as saffron yellow) - the Commander being worn on a neck ribbon, the other 2 grades on the left breast with a rosette for Officers. The badge is gilt for Commanders and Officers and silver for Knights. Suspended from a gear/cog device, the badge is a complex 5-pointed star shape, white-enamelled and with a centre medallion showing an allegorical figure representing 'the economy' crowned with wheat surrounded by 10 bolts on the obverse. The reverse shows a globe surrounded by the points of a compass rose. Here is the Commander badge: -

Aaargh! Where does this go in the order of precedence?

I found it a thin article. Snow's assertions were not backed up with any evidence and the whole approach was one of knocking down ideas that are widerly held... but 'doubting leads to questioning, and questioning leads us to perceive the truth' (Abelard), here doubting merely led to counter-assertations rather than questioning and analysis, so no more reason to accept them than any other idea knocking around your head. An interesting thought I read recently was that a lot of the young men of the 'officer class' had been raised on the Classics, studying the view of warfare as presented in the Iliad and the Odessey; and that they went to war expecting much the same... and many of the poor souls were sent to meet their Maker before they could formulate a more realistic view, or having formed such did not get the chance to rise to positions of influence where they could do something about it.