Megan

Gold Decoration of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic

Cross of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic:

Nice... The first award is described as the "Cross of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic" and is to be awarded for heroism in combat or excellent command in combat. The second is the "Gold Decoration of the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic" and is to be awarded to those who protect human rights and freedoms, preserve human life and property, and act in defence of law and order. Also established is a medal, the Commemorative Medal of Honour for the 90th Anniversary of the Czech Republic, to be awarded to those who have made significant contributions to the development of the state (but which appears to be going to be awarded to most members of the armed forces!). Thanks for spotting this, Antonio. Scuttling off to update my site....

As always, I have more than I've yet found time to put on the website! Must get round to it....

And the Medal "For Patriotic Achievements":

3rd Class:

2nd Class:

1st Class: Instituted: 26 November 1962. Awarded: To those who possess patriotic merit and are known for their support and contributions to the people in the battle for national independence, liberty and progress.

Having (finally!) settled down to read the 3rd Edition - I have a week off so decided to do something about the People's Republic of Albania - I am well impressed by a magnificent work.

Yep - you are right about the usefulness of the caption, James - I intended to type it in then forgot! When I have some time (not tonight, it's a parents' evening at college!) I will see how many of the medals mentioned I can find a picture of, and post them for comparison.

We can now work through the gongs (for the curious, working from the full-size image which was indeed massive, cropped each in turn then enlarged, but did not sharpen as was reaching unacceptable levels of grainyness). 1. The neck badge: 2. The miniature bar: 3. The stars: 4. The sash badge:

OK, home now. To start, the picture in more-or-less full - I trimmed the edges so as to maximise the important bits like face & medals (we can assume legs, don't need to see them!).

James has kindly sent a copy of his picture to me, I'll have at it when I get home!

If you would care to e-mail a copy to me I can put my image-fiddling skills to use...

On uniforms: during the 19th century the fashion was to dress your army like which ever one was doing well at the time on the battlefield. During the 2nd half of the 20th century the tendency was to dress your army according to which side of the Iron Curtain your political leanings were, or if non-aligned, in the style of whichever power you were most friendly with.

Nicer than the picture I've got! Thanks for showing it.

Thanks, Richard - I was going on the ribbon as I've not actually seen the full decoration before!

Interesting - not seen that before.

And the reverse - very distinctive!

Here is the obverse of the Commemorative Medal of 100th Anniversary of Patriotic War 1812 - sorry, no ribbon (it came on that of the Order of St Vladimir - red with wide black edges): Does look decidedly like your piece...

Could well be right, James - I learned those names from my father, who did in fact have a brief secondment to the Colonial Office although most of his career was in the Home Civil Service. Most civil servants, at least those with any interest in gongs, would recognise the terminology, though.

Do you have an image of the reverse, please?

Actually, the nicknames for the various levels of the Order of St Michael & St George were in common use, certainly within both the Home Civil Service and the Foreign Office, for some considerable time before Yes, Minister was aired. For those who don't know them: CMG = Call Me God KCMG = Kindly Call Me God GCMG = God Calls Me God

Thank you, Antonio - much appreciated!

Thanks for that, Antonio. I have plenty more Spanish pictures to come. You have your own images of these two, but when I find ones you are missing I will e-mail them to you so you can use them on your wonderful site.