Megan

To which French medal do you refer? (There are 2 on the bar.) I take it you mean the last one, which is probably one of the quasi-official ones the French are very fond of, the wording of which suggests an organisation working with prisoners of war providing education/welfare services. The other, on the white ribbon with tricolour edge, is the Médaille de la Reconnaissance Française in silver (Medal of French Recognition) awarded for services to war casualties.

Best ribbon resources online are Lukasz Gaszewski's Ribbons of Orders and Decorations of the World and Antonio Prieto Barrio's Cintas de Condecoraciones

Sahil, as I am a friend of Ed Haynes, I've told him about what you have been writing here. He can be a bit erratic in his responsiveness but hopefully he'll surface soon and talk to you.

All I know about this one is that it was instituted on 25 November 1901 with the name of Medalla de la guardia nacional in three classes (gold, silver, and bronze).

Fascinating stuff, thank you for sharing Emmanuel. Nice day out for the Sultan and his mates

That's the style awarded during WW2.

Rats! That's a shame...

Tasty!

Excellent.... many congratulations on netting the elusive beastie!

Nice, Ilya - but it ought to be on a dark blue ribbon with white edges, the dark red ribbon is for army awards. This one was awarded during the presidencey of Joyce Banda (no relation to H.K. Banda!) who held office 2012-2014. First one I've seen with her picture on it.

Thank you, Nick, that's appreciated. Something to keep me busy

Very nice, Nick, thank you for sharing. May I be cheeky and ask if you'd permit me to use these images (with acknowledgement, of course) on my website?

Here's a recent picture of King Toupu VI, who was giving a speech to the Tongan parliament this week.

I do hope the courage of ordinary people in the face of mindless criminality will be marked by awards - there are several stories worthy of at least a George Medal. However, I think we should consider the establishment of a terrorism-specific award on the lines of the Spanish Royal Order for Civil Recognition of the Victims of Terrorism (Real Orden de Reconocimiento Civil a las Víctimas del Terrorismo). Oddly enough a Spanish man who demonstrated great bravery by taking on one of the criminals with a skateboard and sadly lost his life has been awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by his home nation instead.

Nice! Thank you for sharing, Frank...

Thanks for the information, Frank. Never mind the CIA, I'm interested

I'd agree: St Michael and St George.

Fascinating thread - finding out about these modern awards can be very difficult!

At work - I'll see what I can dig up when I get home!

Thank you!

The Order of Democracy of Simon Bolivar (Orden de la Democracia Simón Bolívar), to give the beast its full name, was insitituted in 1980 and is awarded in six classes (Grand Cross with Gold Star, Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight) for 'extraordinary services to Colombia'. This would be the top class, I imagine (except they have taken to calling it 'Grand Cross with Collar' now): a delight to see such a set - haven't managed to find images for my website yet, alas.

The double-sided swords type was issued from about 1856 to 1975!

Beautiful, thanks for sharing!

What does the reverse look like?

Nice - Medaille für hervorragende Leistungen in der Leicht- Lebensmittel- und Nahrungsgüterindustrie der DDR (Medal for Distinguished Service in Light and Food Industry) (instituted 1975).