Megan

Well, if you see any images on my site that would be of use, give me a shout and I shall send you the large high-quality versions...

Impressive site with good images and excellent information. I'll link to it from my Bulgarian section...

Interesting, thank you for sharing, David.

Fascinating stuff, Emmanuel, thank you for sharing!

It was awarded for services rendered during the war against France It had 3 classes: Grand Cross, Knight 1st Class and Knight 2nd Class, but it appears only an undifferentiated Knight was ever made/awarded. The ribbon is a reddish-purple with white edge stripes. The first type of badge (1814) is described as a Brabant cross (the trefoil ends one), the second type is a German cross, issued in 1815. Awards ceased in 1816, with there being some 147 awards in total. Sorry, that's all I have to contribute!

Of course Megan will!!!

Top left: fairly general 'Russia' SSI. Top right: MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) - this patch is worn by police officers. Bottom one: Refers to a city called Stavropol, which was founded in 1777. The badge shows the city's coat of arms.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge - in fact, all 3 grades (Basic, Senior and Master) Senior EOD: star in the centre of the bomb. Master EOD: star & wreath above the bomb. The Basic badge is awarded some 18-24 months of service after completing EOD training. The Senior one is awarded after 3-5 years as an EOD specialist, and Master after 7-15 years usually in a senior/supervisory role. It was created in the 1950s and is currently awarded - all services use an identical design.

My notes say that it was awarded to all living members of the Royal Household on 10 May 1934. Still looking for a good picture of the beast for my website...

If you want to know more about the medal itself, try Knights of Orange: Orders of the Netherlands by Antti Ruokonen.

Having now tracked down the transcript of the award ceremony and the citation, it seems that my surmise was correct, Biden did get the Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

I think that what happened was that Biden was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, a sort of higher grade of the regular beast. The insignia of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction consists of a pinback star that is identical to the regular neck badge only bigger (79 mm x 83 mm) worn with a sash over the right shoulder that has a rosette worn on the left hip that has the central part of the badge in the middle (there isn't actually a badge hanging from the sash like most grand crosses). The thing is, nobody ever wears the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction in its full form... even when presented they generally bodge the larger star onto a neck ribbon and hang it round the awardees neck - and this, I think, is what we are seeing here. Here's a picture of the beast, courtesy of e-Medals:

And here I was thinking it stood for "Run Away Someone's Coming"!

Very expensive, alas

Thank you both for continuing to broaden our knowledge!

Fascinating, thank you for sharing... but then, I love your site anyway, it is full of wonderful bits and pieces.

Possibly my greatest regret at being female is that I cannot play Santa! You, Mike, make an excellent one

It does indeed, Frank, and so I can enjoy these beasties here without having to scamper off to figure out how to incorporate them into my website....

One thing to be said for them: they are not medals!

"bsap10535" is quite correct, a gorget patch replaces the collar dog once one reaches a rank at which the gorget patch is appropriate. And "bigjarofwasps" has the right of it as well, the gentleman pictured is correctly turned out. (I did once take a firefighter to task over 'order of medals' when he'd come round for a home fire safety check, he was wearing one of those metal pin-on bars upside down. He was quite pleased to be shown how to wear them, and actually came back when he received his next medal to ask where it ought to go!)

Remember that you do not GIVE offence - someone else CHOOSES to take it. Their problem.

Beautiful medal, thank you for sharing Frank.

Beautiful, Arnaud.

Excelllent information, thank you

Oh no.... poor you!