JPL

Here is the latest on this sad story. Medal collectors could be put off trading with New Zealanders because of the actions of former National Army Museum registrar Keith Davies, according to a dealer who bought his stolen medals. Details of charges against Davies have revealed the haul of antiquities he stole from the Waiouru museum between 1995 and 2002 is much more than just 744 war medals valued at $233,155. A World War II German soldier's pack and a helmet plate, a military statuette and 100 military histories valued at $25,700 are among the items taken. Davies, 57, pleaded guilty yesterday to seven charges of false pretences, theft, obtaining property by deception and theft as a servant. A rare charge of unlawfully exporting New Zealand antiquities was withdrawn. Read the complete article: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/medals-theft-tough-collectors-4453980 Don't forget to view the very interesting video. Jean-Paul

Not too often we see the awarding of Jamaican awards, so thought this news article might be of interest to forum members. Jamaica awarded the late reggae singer Dennis Brown with one of its highest civic honors, a fitting tribute for a musician who is more beloved than Bob Marley among many Jamaican reggae fans. Some 12 years after his death, the former child star who became known as the Crown Prince of Reggae was posthumously conferred with the Caribbean island's Order of Distinction for his contributions to reggae, which has played a huge role in Jamaica's culture and economy. Read the complete article: http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/article/Jamaica-awards-Dennis-Brown-with-national-honor-2222753.php Jean-Paul

Here is yet another update on this topic: The Supreme Court said that it would decide whether a federal law making it a crime to lie about being awarded a military medal or decoration violated free-speech rights. The justices agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the "Stolen Valor Act" passed by Congress in 2006 because the law went too far in infringing on constitutional freedom-of-speech protections. Read the complete news story here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/us-usa-military-medals-idUSTRE79G3F720111017 Jean-Paul

Hi Colin, Amazing work of art - Well done! Jean-Paul

Hi, According to the book "Honors, Medals and Awards of the Korean War 1950 - 1953" by Kevin R. Ingraham, this medal is the "Allied Korean War Veterans Medal" and is sponsored by the (R.O.K.) Korean War Veterans Association. Allied veterans on K.W.V.A. sponsored tours and reunions in Korea are awarded this medal during formal ceremonies by the Koreans. Hope this helps. Jean-Paul

Another news story. When Corporal Matthew Ball was serving in Afghanistan, he was shot at, had his leg impaled, his skin punctured with shrapnel and his face and head burned. But still he tried to pull Lieutenant Timothy O'Donnell out of harm's way, plunging into fire to get to him. The 25-year-old Linton soldier will be awarded the New Zealand Gallantry Decoration for his actions on that day in August 2010, it was announced yesterday. Read the complete article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/5715731/Soldiers-heroism-to-be-honoured Jean-Paul

Hi Mervyn, Yes, would be nice to add any citations instead of keeping us guessing. Here is the link to the London Gazette website and this "Official list" does contain a bit more information for a few of the recipients. It also contains a small number of US awards to British troops that were not listed in the MOD press release. Here is the link to the 8 page Supplement - use the NEXT button to navigate to the other pages: http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/59924/supplements/18713 Jean-Paul

Here is the latest British Operational Honours List: http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/OperationalHonoursAndAwardsList30September2011.htm JPL

Another award of the Soldier's Medal. Sgt. With risked his life to save an Iraqi soldier who was critically wounded when his Iraq National Army truck crashed and caught fire in 2005. Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Former-Army-reservist-receives-Soldier-s-Medal-2174997.php#ixzz1YKf59dSy Jean-Paul

According to news reports, both Conrad Black and Garth Drabinsky may have their Order of Canada revoked as a result of their convictions. Found this link to a Wikipedia website which contains information of this topic along with a complete list of former recipients that have had their Order of Canada revoked. Thought this might be of interest to others and useful for reference purposes. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_from_the_Order_of_Canada Jean-Paul

Hi Jeff, Thank you for the information. Jean-Paul

Hi Jeff, Thanks for the excellent images of this rare award. I must admit that I really like this concept of a "made to order" award denoting the actions in which the recipient took part in. This certainly takes away the possibility of the recipient "adding" bars to his award. Is the ribbon for the Cross the same as for the medal? The image of the Cross doesn't show enough of the ribbon. Thanks Jean-Paul

Here is another interesting news story: A rare medal won by a Falklands war hero who left his post as canteen manager to fire a machine gun at Argentinian aeroplanes is expected to fetch up to £50,000 when it goes up for auction. Civilian John Leake won the Distinguished Service Medal - one of just 12 awarded for action in the war - after he went from serving the crew to gunner during the 1982 conflict. His ship, HMS Ardent, was a sitting duck and numerous direct hits killed 22 crew but he continued to shoot planes out of the sky. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032180/HMS-Ardent-medals-Falklands-War-hero-auction.html#ixzz1Whg8zbzM Jean-Paul

Another news article on the awarding of a Soldier's Medal for saving life in Afghanistan: Matthew B. Blain now stands amid a most select group whose members include statesmen and four-star general Colin Powell as well as rescuers who entered the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack. At a relative’s home in Laguna Beach last Saturday, former Army sergeant Blain was pinned with the Soldier’s Medal for heroism by one of the four commanders of the Fourth Brigade Combat Team, who arrived from their post in Ft. Bragg, N.C., for the duty. “This is my first in 27 years,” said Col. Brian Mennes, explaining to Blain’s friends and family that the medal is the nation’s highest honor a soldier can receive for valor in a non-combat situation. The award, established by an act of Congress in 1926, requires the same degree of heroism as that of the Distinguished Flying Cross. Blain’s act of heroism involved risking his own life to rescue four people from a river in Afghanistan swollen by a flash flood. The roadway beneath a convoy he was leading collapsed last February while on patrol during inclement weather. One vehicle slid off the riverbank and rolled into the rushing water, trapping three paratroopers inside and ejecting a cultural advisor through the turret. Blain catapulted from his vehicle, ditched his gear and ran towards the submerged vehicle. Without knowing the depth or current of the water, he jumped in and first hauled the drowning cultural advisor to the riverbank. He then returned to the vehicle, pulling open the hatch and cutting straps that allowed the trapped soldiers to exit. The unit had lost two other soldiers in non-combat water incidents earlier, Mennes said. “I was so scared I had to do something,” Blain later told his father. “I just ran down the embankment and flew through the air.” Mennes, addressing the group at the home of Gary and Cathy Daichendt, expressed his appreciation to Blain’s family for “volunteering their most precious possession. You let me lead guys like this,” he said. Blain also received commendations from the mayors of Dana Point and Huntington Beach and a veterans group, each with ties to the family. Blain admitted he didn’t even describe his exploits to his wife for two weeks because she was seven months pregnant. Discharged after six years of service in February, the 25-year-old recently relocated from Dana Point to Azusa to enroll in Azusa Pacific College. He enlisted after graduating from Laguna Niguel’s Aliso Niguel High School. The award took on special significance for the soldier’s father, Brian Blain, of Dana Point. His own father, George, a disabled veteran, returned markedly changed by his military service, haunted by nightmares that he refused to talk about until his last years. The award, “is a fitting end to what my father did in WW2,” Brian Blain said. “Matt completed the circle.” Here is a link to the complete article which contains a High Resolution image of the recipient wearing the medal: http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/2011/08/26/soldier-leaps-special-company/ Jean-Paul

Hi Dan, No problem. The font size looked ok when I was doing up the post, but after I posted the topic, the font came out very small. This is the second time that this has happened to me. Is it something I'm doing wrong? Jean-Paul

Another very interesting news article: When Ann Deluca-Smith was clearing out boxes in her parents' Rochester Township home last year, she could never have guessed the family treasure she would stumble upon. Tucked away in a storage box in her parents' attic, Deluca-Smith discovered a trinket reserved for America's most valorous soldiers: a Medal of Honor awarded to her great-great-great uncle Charles Higby during the Appomattox campaign of the Civil War. The family had been aware of the award, but only vaguely, as they had learned of it through a 2000 newspaper article detailing Beaver County's four Medal of Honor recipients. Other than that, they had little idea of their ancestor's accolade or his life story, explained family spokesmanJay Deluca, of New Brighton. "My mother was a Higby, and the best we can figure is that it ended up with my grandparents," Deluca said. "My grandmother was terminally ill and the house was sold and the possessions were just kind of cleaned out of the house, and it was put in boxes that my mother took out and put in our attic; we never even knew what it was." Now the medal is being kept at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland, as the family decided it would loan the large, gold colored medal hung from a small flag resting beneath a golden eagle to the museum for display. The context surrounding Higby's award, which reads "From the Congress to Charles Higby," is ambiguous. He was given the medal for acts of gallantry between March 20 and April 9, 1865, meaning his act of bravery could have come at any point during that window. What Kraus and Higby's descendants do know is that Charles Higby captured and turned in a Confederate flag, which, by late in the war, had been deemed grounds for receiving one of the medals. Read the complete article: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Pa-woman-recovers-hero-s-medal-from-Civil-War-2135733.php Jean-Paul

Being awarded the prestigious Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays decoration for promoting Japan-New Zealand relations was the "icing on the cake" after more than 30 years' involvement with Japanese people, Wanaka man Russell Duff. He understood only two or three other New Zealanders had been awarded the decoration. Mr Duff developed an interest in Japan more than 30 years ago when he hosted Japanese tour groups in Otago. He has since had a strong involvement in promoting Japan as a tourist destination for New Zealanders and has assisted with receiving inbound tour groups from Japan. Read the complete article: http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/174614/top-japan-award-icing-cake Jean-Paul

This topic continues in the US Federal courts. Here is the latest article on this topic: Feds Ask Supreme Court to Validate Stolen Valor Act The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to uphold a 2006 law making it a criminal offense to lie about being decorated for military service. The Stolen Valor Act makes it unlawful to falsely represent, verbally or in writing “to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States, any of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration, or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item.” A federal appeals court declared the law unconstitutional last year (.pdf). The measure imposes penalties of up to a year in prison. The issue before the justices comes from the San Francisco–based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled if it were to uphold the law, “then there would be no constitutional bar to criminalizing lying about one’s height, weight, age, or financial status on Match.com or Facebook, or falsely representing to one’s mother that one does not smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, is a virgin, or has not exceeded the speed limit while driving on the freeway.” The case the Justice Department asked the high court to review concerned defendant Xavier Alvarez. In 2007, he claimed that as a Marine, he had won the Congressional Medal of Honor. He made that public statement during a local Los Angeles suburban water board meeting, in which he had just won a seat on its board of directors. The government said Alvarez should be prosecuted because the speech fits into the “narrowly limited” classes of speech, such as defamation, that is historically unprotected by the First Amendment. Congress, when adopting the law, said fraudulent claims about military honors “damage the reputation and meaning of such decorations and medals.” Alvarez was the first person ever charged and convicted under the act, which has ensnared dozens of defendants. Alvarez pleaded guilty, was fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 416 hours of community service. He appealed his conviction to the 9th Circuit. The justices did not immediately decide whether to hear the government’s petition, filed last Thursday. Here is the link to the article: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/stolen-valor-act-2/ Jean-Paul

Came across this interesting article: A medal awarded to a courageous Presbyterian missionary is to be auctioned in Hong Kong later this week. The silver-gilt and enamel Order of the Striped Tiger decoration was awarded to Dr Frederick O'Neill for his work as chaplain to the Chinese Labour Corps in France during World War I. Dr O'Neill, a native of Dungannon, County Tyrone, was 27 when he was sent by the Irish Presbyterian Church to Manchuria in north-east China in 1897. He and his wife, also a Presbyterian missionary, were to survive several periods of conflict during their stay in the country. In 1917 he was attached by the YMCA to the Chinese Labour Corps, whose members were recruited by the British government and sent to France to support troops by carrying out manual labour tasks. It was on his return to China after the war that he was awarded the Order of the Striped Tiger. Dr O'Neill retired to east Belfast where he died, aged 82, in 1952. His Order of the Striped Tiger decoration will be auctioned in Hong Kong on Thursday by numismatist specialists Baldwins. It is estimated to fetch US $5,000-$6,000. Read the complete article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14615360 Jean-Paul

Here is the latest list: http://www.gg.gov.au/content.php/page/id/77 Jean-Paul

Try this link: http://webspace.webring.com/people/pr/rmcmp/birchall.jpg Jean-Paul

Frank, There are actually two types of PA WW1 Victory medals as can be seen here: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/49864-state-local-veteran-organizational-issue-medals/page__p__459072__hl__+pennsylvania%20+wwi%20+victory%20+medal__fromsearch__1#entry459072 Jean-Paul

Hi Veteran, Thank you for clearing this up. The word "quota" was used by Frank (TacHel) in his translation of the revised regulations for this medal. After reading his post again, he does state that this was a quick translation and the proper terminology may have been missed. In any case, we do appreciate the posting of the regulations by Frank which has greatly added to our knowledge on this interesting medal. Also nice to see the image of the bronze medal awarded to Doc Wilson. Well Done! Jean-Paul

The Australian government has accepted the recommendations of the independent Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal inquiry into recognition for Australian Defence Force personnel who served as peacekeepers from 1947 onwards. The tribunal recommended that no change be made to the existing practice of awarding the Australian Service Medal or Australian Active Service Medal as the appropriate form of recognition for participation by Australian Defence Force personnel in peacekeeping operations. It rejected suggestions that the government establish a new medal for general or specific recognition of peacekeeping service. Neither will the government take any action to recognise awarding of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to UN peacekeepers. The tribunal released its report last November after conducting a year-long inquiry into the issue of whether a special medal should be awarded to those who participated in more than 50 peacekeeping operations since 1947. Those pushing for this change argued that peacekeeping service was special, unique, dangerous, frustrating and undertaken in more difficult operational circumstances than all other operations, apart from war service. The tribunal said in most cases, those participating in peacekeeping operations received more than one medal, awarded by Australia and organisation such as the United Nations. Read the complete article: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8281479/no-extra-medals-for-peacekeepers-govt Link to the Tribunal Recommendations which also contains a link to the complete report: http://www.defence.gov.au/media/DepartmentalTpl.cfm?CurrentId=12202 Jean-Paul

Hi Doc, The main reason I posted this article is that I had never seen a reference to a medal being revoked in the US. In Canada, there is such regulation and this does happen occasionally for a number of reasons. Would be interested in hearing from other forum members to see if regulations regarding the revocation of military medals in their particular country are in place or not. Jean-Paul