Megan

Reverse:

Instituted: 28 June 1930.

Awarded: To active combatants in wartime.

Obverse:

Military Merit Medal... but I cannot really tell you anything more than its name!

Lovely, thank you.

You are correct, Wilco - the first post shows the 1st class obverse & reverse, the second post shows the same for the 2nd class.

What puzzles me is why there are two classes, when there is also provision for changing the ribbon depending on how many times an enemy marksman got lucky. All I have found on that is, if my German hasn't let me down, is that repeated awards of the SAME CLASS will get you the striped ribbons. Perhaps the class of award depends on the severity of the injury.

2nd Class. These are both for 1 wound... like the old Austrian Empire version, additional stripes are added to the ribbon for further awards (or continued lack of the ability to duck!).

Verwundetenmedaille, in 2 classes, instituted 11 June 1975.

1st Class.

In post-1962 Algeria, 3 medals on this theme are known. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of them, and only know the ribbon of one!

1. Medal for the Gravely Wounded, Invalids of War - awarded to those severely injured and left as invalids during the war of liberation.

Ribbon:

2. Medal of the Martyrs of the War of Liberation - awarded to those who lost their lives in the struggle for liberation.

3. Medal of the Wounded - awarded to military personnel wounded in the course of duty.

Browsing around this place (remember I'm new here!) it seems that this thread is getting a bit unwieldy - my fault, keep adding the high-quality versions of what I'm putting on my website as France is the 'page a day' country for this month. What would be the best way to break it down? A thread per order/medal, or is that overkill the other way? It might give a coherent space to discuss variations and history, and so on...

Thoughts?

Ordre des Arts et Lettres

Ordre du M?rite Maritime

Thank you, Guy.

Does anyone know how many types of the Ordre du M?rite Agricole there were? Your Commander cross is the 1st type (date 1900 on it), yes? The one I posted (and the Officer) seem to be of better construction than the Knight, & I have seen Commanders & Officers of the quality of the Knight... so is that 3 different types?

Aaaargh. Think I'll go & do the Order of Maritime Merit instead

Thank you, but it is only polite to ask... Too many people just grab whatever they fancy!

However, anyone who wishes to use anything I post on here is more than welcome.

And the Knight (not as nice unfortunately!)

Ordre du M?rite Agricole

You are probably right about the M?daille de la R?sistance, Hendrik. Is it OK to use your pictures?

Do you good folks think that the early London version is different enough to be shown as a '1st Type' of the M?daille de la R?sistance?

I have just added the Ordre des Palmes Acad?miques to the website. That seems to have passed through 2 earlier forms before the 1955 version awarded today. I think I have seen earlier ones, but am not sure which is which (yet!).

Here's the 1955 (current) version: -

Commander

Officer

Knight

When the Royal Ulster Constabulary was awarded the George Cross, they changed the ribbon of their Service Medal so that it had blue edges.

http://www.medals.org.uk/united-kingdom/un...-kingdom044.htm refers. If you want I can post a decent picture when I get home!

M?daille de la R?sistance

Does anyone know the precise terms of award, or the difference between the one with rosette & the one without?

The 'little epaulettes' are collar tabs - originally intended to indicate that the wearer had passed Staff College but now generally worn by everyone of about Colonel or above rank. The dark red on dark blue colouration would fit with your man being a medical officer rather than a line one.

M?daille de la Gendarmerie Nationale:

This is all quite interesting.

There seem to be 2 sorts of 'shoulder ornaments' going around, those which are used to denote a unit distinction of some kind and those which are regimental in nature.

In the British Army, some regiments have one as a regimental distinction. It's just part of the uniform - for example, sergeants and above in the Cheshire Regiment wore a dull red one on the left shoulder. This was a single loop right around the arm with a little noose, the loose end being attached to the button on the left breast pocket... a bit of a problem for me as in those days the female No.2 Dress tunic didn't have breast pockets! Just to confuse things, as an internal and more unofficial thing, Cheshire soldiers who had passed the Regular Radio User course wore a white lanyard on the right shoulder, a bit more fancy, braided thing.

Unit distinctions come as Battle Honours (borne on the Colours & the Drums) or very rarely as specific badges, but it is rare for a medal to be awarded to a unit rather than an individual - a George Cross to the Royal Irish Regiment is the only one which comes to mind right now.

I cannot recall any UK regiment wearing a foreign... er, I think there's an Orange Lanyard knocking around in the ancestry of what was the Queen's Regiment but I do not think it is still worn by the current regiment. And a couple of US Presidential Unit Citations, which are worn as a sleeve badge rather than in US fashion over the right breast pocket.

Does indeed, thank you Hendrik.

I only recently learned that the official wound award was 'ribbon only' as it happens.

I don't actually have a collection! At least not of 'things' - having got interested very early, by about 13-14 I had purchased just about everything that pocket money would stretch to... and then made the discovery that for the same sort of expenditure I could get a book about a whole lot of medals, rather than a single item. So I switched to information-gathering, and the results are now on the Internet!

As for my father - conscripted 1940 into the Royal Artillery, then they realised he'd just gained a 1st class honours (summa cum laude) degree in German & transferred him to the Intelligence Corps, and after various exploits in North Africa he ended up in an Anglo-American intelligence unit which went up Italy about a day behind the front line, analysing German radio traffic intercepted by the Enigma decoders at Bletchly Park. He got a US Bronze Star, the chap he shared a desk with - an American who remained a lifelong friend - received the UK MBE. In 1947, my father joined the Civil Service - having taken the entrance examinations while still in uniform in Rome - and he rose to be the head - 'Permanent Secretary' - of the Welsh Office, for which service he received a CB (1972) and then the KCB (1976). He departed this life in 1989.

I know that the wound ribbon is the official version (and the medals have been added by various enterprising folks), but do you know how you are supposed to wear a wound ribbon? Is it worn as part of your ribbon bar, or is the way someone has attached one to his Croix de Guerre, as shown in your picture, correct usage?

I know about the fourragere being a unit award, and worn - when in uniform - on your shoulder; and that the miniature ones on medals are an unofficial way of showing your entitlement when in civilian dress.