Carol I

As for most of the other Romanian orders, there is no official list of recipients for the Order of the Crown of Romania. However, information should be available in principle from at least three sources: the archives of the old Chancellery of Orders (at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Monitorul Oficial (the official government journal) and the British equivalent (London Gazette?).

The diary of the Romanian minister of the time, Grigore Gafencu, has recently been published and I presume it contains details about what happened after the declaration of war. Anyhow, the personel of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow was evacuated through Turkey. In the summer of 1944, the Romanian minister in Berlin was a Germanophile who issued an order that recommended to all the personel under his authority not to recognise the new Romanian government and its decisions. Those who did comply with this order were placed under house arrest, pending the decision of the German authorities. As they could not be exchanged on the front line with their German counterparts, about 200 Romanians were then sent to special concentration camps in Germany and Austria (Krumhubel, Ramingstein and Maria Worth). In May 1945 they were liberated by the Allies and sent to Italy. Later, some of them returned to Romania, while others left for other countries.

As far as I know, the roll of the order has not been published. I presume information exists in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , since at that time the minister was also the Chancellor of Orders.

Elmar and Ian, thank you both for the replies. I'll post the full image of the medal from Megan's site (thanks!).

In the treasury of the National History Museum of Romania there is this baton identified as "Marshal baton offered to King Ferdinand by King Alexander of Yugoslavia". Was it the official model of the Yugoslav marshal's baton or only a personal gift?

Detail of the decoration Can it be identified?

Detail of rank insignia

I mixed up the photos. This was the husband of the lady. May I ask again for your help to identify the details (rank and decoration)?

Gold is one of the most resistant metals to corrosion, so it has the most chances to resist in many environments.

Evidentiat = Distinguished

James, here is an image of the collar of this order. On display in the treasury of the National History Museum was the collar, sash and sash badge and the star of the order. However, I do not know whether these items came from two sets (a Grand Cordon and a Grand Collar) or only from the Grand Collar set.

Thanks, Dragomir. Do you have a better image of this order?

The inscription says: "1997: Bladder stone removed during the prostate operation".

Actually, the AVSAP organisation was disbanded in 1962 and its assets were taken over by the UCFS (The Union for Physical Culture and Sport). Anyhow, congratulations for reading the lengthy article in Romanian. :beer:

Thanks Eddie for the addition. However, I was not asking about the existence of other organisations, but whether there were competitons in other countries as well.

Another intructor badge (from eBay)

Is it on this piece?

Am I blind or the piece lacks the state markings for gold?

Thanks, James. I'll try to see if this leads anywhere. You've given quite a lot of useful information on this rare order and even on the Romanian recipients. :beer:

Thanks again, James. I agree that a Grand Cordon would be more appropriate for the Prime Minister of the time than for the King, however it would still require a confirmation. If you can find the reference or at least the information regarding the name of the recipients it would be great.

Thanks James for the reply. Indeed I have come across the insignia. It is in an exhibition at the National History Museum. The funny thing is that according to a newspaper article the museum officials do not know who the recipient of the order was. They took a guess between King Carol II, King Mihai and Prime Minister Antonescu. I excluded Carol II because of the dates, so I had two choices left. According to your information, if the recipient was King Michael there must also be a collar somewhere. But was coud it be that he only received the Grand Cordon? May I ask what is your source of the information? I could write to the museum and let them know who the recipient really was. :beer:

I presume Puyi wears the collar of the Order of the Orchid Blossom in this photo from Wikipedia. :unsure:

Do you have information on the Order of Orchid Blossom from Manchukuo? All I know is that it was the premier order of the Manchurian state. Thanks.

Christer, I have recently seen in the small aviation shop in Bromma Airport a similar book by Rolph Wegmann: Brittiska N?dlandare 1940-1945. Beside it there were two other books by Bo Widfeldt dealing with the American, German, Polish, Norwegian and Finish airmen: Tyska N?dlandare 1939-1945 samt uppgifter om flygplan fr?n Polen, Norge och Finland and Amerikanska N?dlandare 1943-1945.

Some details: Asociaţia voluntară pentru sprijinirea apărării patriei was established through decree no. 415 of 30 November 1952 and ceased its activity following decree no. 135 of 3 March 1962.