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Chris, Thanks for the heads up - I have written to the author. Regards, Owain Chris, E-mail bounced back with email address incorrect. Can you check? Thanks, Owain

Jan, From my notes - see below. Owain Obverse A circular medal with an embellished border, within which to the right a vertical rocket and rifle (AK-47). To the left the inscription in two lines. “Combat Proficiency” At the top a red painted star and at the base a red paint scroll with the abbreviation. “P.D.R.Y.” Reverse Plain grainy reverse. Size 36mm diameter bronze-gilt of both Hungarian and Soviet manufacture. The differences between the two versions are minimal with the Soviet medal being slightly darker and an aluminium back plate to the ribbon with the Hungarian back plate being of brass or brass coloured metal. Ribbon 23mm – red – the Hungarian ribbon is somewhat lighter in shade. Suspension By a loop affixed to the top of the medal.

Gentlemen, It appears that for her services May Chadwick was gazetted as MBE in July 1943, but as she already had on from 1933 - nobody had twigged she already had one - it was cancelled and replaced by the MiD. Indeed the 23 September 1943 notes after her name: Mrs May Chadwick, M.B.E. (Substituted for the notification which appeared in the London Gazette (No. 36093 dated 16 July 1943.) Surely this is indeed a scarce if possibly unique occurrence. Owain

Gentlemen, Success - a typed recommendation from the Medical Directorate, GHQ, PAIFORCE: WO-373-88 (Page 50) Unit - Civilian Rank & Name - Mrs May Chadwick, MBE (in free hand) (Alwiyah Baghdad) This lady who is a retired Matron of considerable experience, volunteered her services in September 1941 and has continued to give voluntary help in 24 Combined General Hospital since that date. She has shown untiring energy and resourcefulness, which have been responsible for considerable improvement in the comfort of hospital patients and the efficiency of the Nursing Staff under her administration. Honour or Award - MBE (crossed out and Mention in freehand) GJ Gill, Major-General, Director of Medical Service PAIFORCE Henry Maitland Wilson, General, Commander in Chief, Persia-Iraq Force (*Known as 'Jumbo' Wilson) March 1943 It would appear that the recommendation was for an MBE but as she was already had this honour (LG 2 January 1933), the recommendation was changed (?) and she was awarded a Mention - LG 23 September 1943. A scarce award to a civilian?? As she is noted a 'civilian', I take this as confirmation (unless someone knows better) that she had no entitlement for a 1939-45 War Medal from which ribbon she could wear the 'Mention'. Regards, Owain

Paul & Co, My Great Aunt & Great Uncle retired in 1958 (no children) and sadly as they left the Revolution overthrowing the Monarchy happened and according to my late Grandfather all of their personal effects were looted and thus the medals disappeared. I attach a picture of them on holiday in Nice in the 1960's - Charles died in 1970 and May in 1978. Regards, Owain

Noor, A very useful comment for which many thanks. Owain

Gentlemen, Thanks to Emmanuel for this post. 'Tamreen' translates as 'Exercise' and I detail below my notes - also published in JOMSA Nov-Dec 2015. Kind regards, Owain Saudi Arabia - Exercise Abdullah’s Sword Medal Owain Raw-Rees, OMRS # 3088 & OMSA # 4978 In April 2014 Saudi Arabia conducted its biggest ever military operation “Exercise Abdullah's Sword”, which lasted for a month and simulated an invasion of the country on three fronts – East, North and South. Activities included offensive and defensive operations on land, sea and in the air and included participation of over 130,000 personnel from the Armed Forces, National Guard and the Ministry of the Interior. The military exercise coincided with the ninth anniversary of the accession of King Abdullah. The exercise concluded on 29 April 2014 with a televised parade at the military base at Hafr Al Batn in the north east of the country. This base known as King Khalid Military City was the base from which many of the coalition forces during the Gulf War / Operation Desert Storm led the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. The parade included the Saudi intermediate range ballistic missiles purchased from China in 1987. The exercise and parade served as an important message of deterrence to the regimes in Iran and Iraq. Design of proposed medal and badge of the military exercise - see attached - which reads, “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Defence, Abdullah’s Sword, Presidency of the General Staff, 1435 H”. Further to the completion of the Exercise it was announced a decoration of Exercise Abdullah’s Sword was to be granted to all members of the Armed Forces who were serving on 17 Sha’ban 1435 Hijra corresponding to 15 June 2014. To date the actual medal has not been seen. Bibliography · https://twitter.com/_1ksanews1/status/483745958744690688 · http://www.okaz.com.sa/new/issues/20140418/Con20140418693083.htm · http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ar/originals/2014/04/saudi-arabia-military-show-signal-washington-tehran.html# Owain Raw-Rees, Riyadh, February, 2015

Gentlemen, I have now been able to source replacements of all of May Evans's awards, viz, MBE, ARRC, War & Victory, WW2 MiID and a Rafidain 5th Class. The War and Victory are un-named - probably erased, and I wish to have May's name added. Can anyone suggest the correct format for naming? MISS M. EVANS STAFF NURSE Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. or STAFF NURSE M.EVANS Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. or S/NURSE M.EVANS Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. or S.NURSE M.EVANS From a study of such medals sold by DNW it would appear that Q.A.I.M.N.S.R. only appears on issues of the 1914-15 Star and thus the War & Victory Medals are named without unit so the latter naming S.NURSE M.EVANS would appear to be appropriate. I have yet to track down any documentation concerning her 1943 LG MiD but as I am now back in UK a trip to the PRO in Kew will be necessary. Kind regards, Owain

John, Looks good but missing its suspension loop and a chip on the enamel on the reverse. These are not uncommon and a better condition one will appear. Owain

Paul, Nick, I am advised by James Younessi that the badge reads as detailed below. Kind regards, Owain “One Hundredth Birthday Anniversary [Platinum Jubilee] of His [Imperial] Majesty Reza Shah the Great” “Wrestling [Greco-Roman] Federation of Iran”

Mark, Many thanks for the information - always good to put some 'history' on a medal. i suspect the 'stringing' of the medals is indeed a marketing ploy although it may have been done some time ago - despite having being to Yemen many times I have not been since 2011 and since about then the tourist trade has been non-existent. Gay's medal is outside the scope of my collection and for the time being will go into the rainy day drawer. Owain

Gentlemen, I illustrate below a recently acquired Belgian miniature group of six including a 1935 Jubilee. I believe the group to be incomplete as whilst there are two Great War medals - Croix de Feu and Engages Volontaires there are no War or Victory Medals. The rosette & galon on the Order of the Crown indicate a 1st Class/Grand Cordon award. The group may well be that of a diplomat. Kind regards, Owain

Gentlemen, Notwithstanding the awfulness of the situation in Yemen some business continues and I detail below a necklace or bracelet of five GSM's recently received: 4 x Clasp ‘Arabian Peninsula’: 8267 Pte. Saleh Bin Saleh Audhali, A.P.L. (Aden Protectorate Levies) 2369 Jundi Mohammed Qassim Al Kaldi, M.R.A. (Mukalla Regular Army) (Jundi = Soldier) 284 W/Arif Aon Bilasqaa, K.A.C. (Kathiri Armed Constabulary) (Wakil Arif = Lance Corporal) 776 ?OR Salim Awadh Barbasheid, W.T.G. (Wahidi Tribal Guard) 1 x Clasp ‘Cyprus’ 22703598 BDR. D.J. Gay, R.A. (Royal Artillery) Some common or at least familiar units - APL and MRA, but in almost 30 years of being in the region and collecting I have never seen the KAC or WTG issues. The latter naming has been partially obscured but nonetheless I am happy to give it a home. Any suggestions as to what the rank may be? Corporal? Usually the rank designation on the Tribal Guards issue is T.G. (Tribal Guard). How Gay's GSM for 'Cyprus' ended up in the lot is a mystery - possibly stolen when he was based in Aden? If this is the case and he qualified for the 'Arabian Peninsula' clasp, would it have been issued on an official replacement? If so and this can be substantiated perhaps I should add an 'Arabian Peninsula' clasp? Kind regards, Owain

Gentlemen, I attach a series of images I took at the Abdine Palace - apologies they are not of the highest quality, but they do show the variety of badges in this scarce series. The quality of production is superb. Regards, Owain.

Rusty, I attach an image of such a Royal Household pin - this one reads, 'Farouk The First'. I am unaware as to the specific designation of this particular badge. In the Abdine Palace in Cairo there is a good display of such badges with many variations - I will see if I can find some more images. There is also a small display in the Jewellery Musem in Alexandria. Regards, Owain Rusty, I attach two further images - these are from the Jewellery Museum in Alexandria - sadly not best quality. All read, 'Farouk The First". Regards, Owain

Antonio, I am advised the unidentified ribbons are as follows: 3rd Row - No.3 - A Ministry of Interior award dating from circa 2009 - apparently some 2,000 MoI staff were awarded the ribbon 'of Distinction' however it appears that no medal accompanied the ribbon. 4th Row - No.1 - Abu Dhabi Police Diamond (60th) Jubilee ribbon - 1957-2017 - probably only awarded to the Abu Dhabi Police - again it appears that no medal accompanied the ribbon. Kind regards, Owain

Gentlemen, I recently obtained the is attractive group of five miniatures - France, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan and Morocco. Can anyone identify the Moroccan piece? The central disc bears the Arabic text, "Allah, Nation, King" - a common phrase on Moroccan awards. The crown suspension is also common to many Moroccan awards. I attach an mage of a full size awards with thanks to Emmanuel Halleux. Manufacturer is Bertrand of Paris Many thanks, Owain

Gentlemen, I detail below an image of a recently acquired Belgian group with an Order of the Nile - Commander Class - another variant. Regards, Owain

Dave, The last word 'Kuwait' is clear but the rest...... Owain

Thanks for sharing Emmanuel. I attach images of the another such medal but this time from Mexico. A miniature also exists. Owain

Rusty, Your research into the Order of Ismail is excellent and much appreciated. You should consider turning this into a research paper or book! Owain

Rusty, A great summary on the dimensions - your thread and research has become the 'go to' location for the details of this order. Thank you for your research. Regards from Riyadh, Owain P.S. With regard to the Rauch set of miniatures illustrated in your previous post, probably to a French recipient, it would appear that one of the awards is an 'extra' either added by the recipient to his chain - rather than get a longer chain, or perhaps added much later. Has the Ismail been squeezed in? The fact that the chain includes an Egyptian Monarchy Order of Ismail and a Republic Order of the Nile is of interest - the latter was for recipients of the rank of Prime Minister of similar. the Ismail would chronologically been awarded first but it appears to be an 'extra' in this group although in seniority it may be the junior foreign award by rank or grade.

Hendrik, The sequence of badges is as follows: 5 years - green 10 years - yellow 15 years - red 20 years - blue 25 years - black 30 years - orange The text on each badge reads , "Number (in words) Years Service", e.g . "Twenty Years Service". Weight varies slightly from 10.1 grams to 10.8 grams and the dimensions are 61mm x 28mm. Regards, Owain

Nick, I suspect it is a hand out for visitors as a souvenir. Nice quality base metal but somewhat spoiled by the 'stick on' plate. I doubt it has any commercial value other than as space filler. Owain

Emmanuel, Great pictures and fascinating history - thank you, Owain