Carol I

An update on the Romanian Loyal Service Medal as promised: the regulations of the medal stated that it was awarded to Romanians and foreigners in recognition of civilian and military services brought to the state. Unfortunately this does not help with narrowing the search.

OK Kevin. My statement was based on a work on Romanian aviation badges, so if that was wrong, I am also wrong.

Kevin, the proficiency followed a class system with "1" the highest and "3" the lowest.

The 10 pengo Soviet occupation note is surprisingly similar to the 10 lei one issued for Romania (images from Ron Wise's site).

Hi Artur! This is a Romanian scout badge, but there is some confusion as to its exact use. Some sources say that it was for the recon officers from WWI, others that it was for the boy scouts who were active during WWI and yet others that it was for the officers who acted as boy scout instructors in the 1930s and 1940s. If you would have some information on the Romanian officer who gave it to your grandfather or even on your granfather's activity during the late 1930s, maybe you can shed some light on this.

One might judge the bar as belonging to a Bulgarian since the Bulgarian decorations appear in the first place, but on the other hand the the ribbons do not have the trifold style used by Bulgarians. What is also strange is the position of the Ottoman order. Wasn't it supposed to appear before the foreign medals?

Kevin, Prof. Librescu received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania and this was also mentioned in the article Ed posted.

To my knowledge there are no published rolls of the Romanian awards, except for the Military Order of Michael the Brave. However, there is some chance that some award lists are in the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that administered the Chancellery of Orders at that time.

Alex, it is a memorial to Romanian soldiers fallen on the Western front (Romanian point of view) while defending their homeland.

Unfortunately I do not have that much information on the Romanian medals. The Romanian Loyal Service Medal in the bar appears indeed to be the second class (silver) of the first type established by King Carol I. I will try to see if I can find something on the award criteria for this medal, but I doubt that it will advance very much the search of the name of the original owner of the bar.

Kevin, this is a monument to the heroes of the battle of Păuliş, most of them only cadets at the time of the battle. Here it comes: "Here, the soldiers and officers of the Păuliş Detachment fought heroically and sacrificed themselves between 14-21 September 1944 for the defence of the motherland."

That would identify it as a "Regency issue" from the end of WWII.

Take a look in Bulgarian Order of Saints Kyril and Methodius.

He's obviously wrong. They are different orders.

Actually there were three of them: - Order for Merit (1883) - Order for Civil Merit (1891) - Order for Military Merit (1900) Take a look on Dave Danner's site for images of all three.

No, they were two different orders. The Order for Civil Merit had been established in 1891, while the Order for Military Merit had been established in 1900. The latter had two versions, peacetime and wartime. The Order for Merit was a completely different order established in 1883.

The name appears in Latin letters just as in Rick's document: "Le 1r Secr?taire Alexandre Zamfiresco". No other information is given, but I guess he was a Romanian working at the Embassy in Bulgaria: First Secretary Alexandru Zamfirescu (written in the typical French spelling used at that time). The badge you have is the Commander's cross of the Order for Civil Merit (a completely different order than Rick's Order for Military Merit). Take a look in Bulgarian medals and ribbon bars for more images of the Bulgarian orders.

The Order of the Sword and the Order of Vasa are no longer awarded.

I think the key stands in the "for presentation to persons not eligible for the "service orders" of the Sword and the Polar Star". Another description I have found mentioned that it was awarded for agriculture, mining, art, manufacture, technical progress, commerce, education and the free arts (pretty much everything). Thus, I guess Order of Vasa has been the solution to award some people a Swedish order, without the prestige of the military Order of the Sword or the civilian Order of the Polar Star. None that I know of, but maybe some information exists in the Swedish State Calendars.

The information comes from the site of the Swedish Monarchy, the Orders section.

Are the awards of Marshals Malinovsky or Tolbukhin on display?

Apparently they all served with the Austro-Hungarian Army. Dumnezeu să-i ierte!

You're welcome Kevin. I've read the older posts and in the one below I would translate sinistrat as "hard-hit by a calamity". What could have happened on 17 September 1944 to be described as a calamity?

The text reads: "As a sign of thank to God for the creation of the Greater Romania and for the remembrance of the soldiers from Căstău who died in the 1914-1919 war".

One more note: the full name of this order was Ordinul Steaua Republicii Socialiste Rom?nia (The Order of the Star of the Socialist Republic of Romania).