Carol I

Alexandru Socec was degraded in the beginning of 1917 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Read more in Punish Rumanian General in "The New York Times" of 10.02.1917 and in Why a General is "Doing Time" by Hamilton Fyfe from "The War Illustrated" of 17.03.1917.

See the post on "The Charge at Robanesti" from 07.06.2009 on the Great War Forum.

The man behind the photo: General Samsonovici Nicolae, Chief of General Staff (21.06.1927-11.08.1932) and Minister of War (11.08.1932-14.11.1933) Photo Gallery of the Ministry of National Defense

The name of the order in Romanian is Ordinul Crucea Regina Maria (The Order of the Queen Marie Cross). It was organised in three classes named simply 1st, 2nd and 3rd. An image of the first class of the order awarded during WWI and after (but before WWII) can be found on Megan's site. Second and third classes were not enamelled and were worn on the chest. Orange was indeed the colour of the ribbon of the order. Let me know if you have other questions regarding the grades/classes and divisions of the Romanian orders. It might not be easy in the beginning to understand the differences between them.

Is the officer Joseph Boyle? Some photos show him wearing the wartime Order of the Star of Romania with swords, not the peacetime military insignia. Are you familiar with the different insignia of the Romanian orders: civilian, peacetime military, wartime?

Do you know the type and the division of the awards? Megan's site could be a good starting point to look for information on these awards.

Her name was Louise Gürtesch (born Gellner).

Kevin, can you zoom in the marked area? The name on the hangar could tell us where the photo was taken.

The MS initials are those of Monetaria Statului (the State Mint).

I think it is TECUCI, not Tecna. It could be PLOIESTI, not Ploiesn. The handwriting is rather deceiving.

Hello, Corabia... As far as I know, "Stakhanovite" is the English version of the Romanian "Stahanovist", so I do not know where my mistake was. :unsure:

The text above would translate into something like "Distinguished in the socialist competition on the branch" and the one on the star into "Stakhanovite".

The Order of the White Rose of Finland

Possibly the Polish Order of the White Eagle.

I think MFA stood for Ministerul Forţelor Armate (the Ministry of Armed Forces). The name of the ministry was changed in 1972 to Ministerul Apărării Naţionale (the Ministry of National Defense).

And a provisional award certificate from 1945 for deeds against Axis forces. So, maybe this is not the right section for this topic. Can someone in power move it to Central & Eastern European States: Non Communist Era as it would probably get more exposure there? Thanks in advance!

There might be in the military archives, but as fas as I have heard, research there is not easy. Not released by the soviets. He became part of the soviet-sponsored Tudor Vladimirescu Division. The Romanian Wikipedia page mentions that 58 officers of the division received the Victory Medal on 09.02.1946. Probably Alexandru Antoniu among them in that February day.

Thanks, Rob. I'll keep your offer in mind if I become interested in information in Victory Medal certificates.

Sorry, I have no experience about this.

Thanks!

Quite, prisoner both at the soviets and the germans, member of the Tudor Vladimirescu Division (his ticket out of soviet prisoner camp), editor of an army magazine after the war. Could you please send me his name?

The documentation appears to confirm the scenario advanced by Kevin.

No one has Romanian award certificates in their collections? Are they really that rare? :(

There could be several inocent explanations for this bar, this one included, but there are also many crooks around, so to quote you again: Take a look at the image below to see a complete piece. Source

I do not have the book myself, but I remembered I have an image of its cover. The note on the back says that it is based on the collections of the National Military Museum and it covers a period starting in the 1840s or earlier and goes at least until WWII. This is why I said that I do not know how much it goes into the RPR period.