Hendrik

I agree with Megan on the Military Merit Medal as it's the only one I can think of that somehow fits the vague naming in the Who's Who. And, I believe it to have been awarded fairly liberally for war services of all kinds, not "heroism in combat" only. I don't see how service in Egypt would have been rewarded by a Greek medal - a post-1920 award for WWI services seems far more plausible. Cheers, Hendrik

The original and officially awarded medal is in the dark bronze colour as shown in Alex's picture. Privately manufactured medals exist in silvered bronze, silver, silver with gilt centre and gilt crown and even with the medal's wreath painted or enamelled green ... I wouldn't be surprised if one day a pure gold one turns up in some auction. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Noor, OK for Nos. 1 - 3 and I suggest : 5. Colonial Medal 6. (French Colonial) Order of Ouissam Alaouite, Commander's class and 7. Medal of Sports Education, bronze class Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Chris & Steve, Let's call them "cronies" of P?tain : selected friends of the Mar?chal received these personally from his own hands between 1941 and 1944. The decoration is known to have been awarded to the late former president of France, Fran?ois Mitterand, among others. I believe PK is right about this one not having been awarded : awarded ones were numbered on the reverse (Mitterand's was No. 2202). I'm in full agreement with PK's price level as well. Cheers, Hendrik

Gents, I stand corrected ... a major it is ! Knowing next to nothing about uniforms, I only looked at the general officers page thinking the man looked too old to be anything less Cheers, Hendrik

Hi, I also think it's a brigadier general ... have a look at this : http://www.esercito.difesa.it/root/Uniform...palline_1gm.asp - the last link on the page deals with general officers. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Noor, Definitely Belgian ... from left to right : Order of Leopold, Military Cross 1st Class, Commemorative Medal for the Reign of King Leopold II. The palm on the Leopold Order's ribbon indicates a wartime award - very likely to be a WWI award as I think my old eyes can see an "A" (for King Albert I) on it. Cheers, Hendrik

Quite right, Mike ... Paragraphe 3 : Concession de la M?daille Militaire aux Officiers G?n?rauxR. 140. La M?daille Militaire peut ?tre exceptionnellement conc?d?e par d?cret pris en conseil des ministres aux mar?chaux de France et aux officiers g?n?raux, Grand-croix de la L?gion d?honneur, qui, en temps de guerre, ont exerc? un commandement en chef devant l?ennemi ou qui ont rendu des services exceptionnels ? la d?fense nationale. which, translated, means the Field Marshals and General Officers that already had been awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour could, exceptionally, be awarded the Military Medal by France's ministers united in council, for exceptional services in the nation's defence while being a commander-in-chief in wartime and opposing an enemy. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Ricardo, The light colour of the bronze used for the medal (copies are usually darker) and the crown suspension (different shape and solid instead of open with copies). The medal was originally awarded while wrongly mounted on the ribbon so the yellow stripe being on the right is how the Brasilian sailors would have received it :-) Example of a copy : Cheers, Hendrik

As with the other set, a NCO's ribbon bar of the late 50's - early 60's ... 2. Indeed the WW2 Croix de Guerre with a bronze star, I think, which indicates a citation on regimental or batallion level, 3. Combattant's Cross once again 4. Correct : WW2 Commemorative Medal 5. Yes, the WW2 Italian Campaign Medal 6 and 7. Yes, see remarks on first set. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Noor, This is definitely not an officer's bar : ribbon 1, the M?daille Militaire, is an award for NCO's and soldiers only (bar one exception but that isn't valid here). Ribbon 2 = Croix de Guerre TOE (Th?atres d'Op?rations Ext?rieurs - Foreign Theaters of Operations) - the star stand for a citation. In the picture the star looks silver which would mean a citation on divisional level. Ribbon 3 = Croix du Combattant Ribbons 4 & 5 : you've correctly identified those Ribbon 6 : correct, the official title of the medal is M?daille Comm?morative des Op?rations de S?curit? et Maintien de l'Ordre, which could be translated as Commemorative Medal for Security and Peacekeeping Operations. Ribbons 7 & 8 : correctly identified as those Laotian awards Ribbon 9 : again correct but this an award of the T'hai Federation (not to be mistaken for Thailand ! The T'hai Federation was situated in present-day Vietnam). In view of the Security & Peacekeeping being there, I'd date the ribbon bar as being likely to be late 50's - early 60's. Cheers, Hendrik

Quite right : a not so common medal ! Besides the selected Brasilian crew members, the Belgian delegation on board also received the medal. A number of unawarded surplus ones were discovered in a Brasilian warehouse a few years ago and were "brought home" by a Belgian medal dealer. A word of warning : quite good copies of this medal do exist. Ricardo, yours looks fine, even to the ribbon being inverted which is - if I'm not mistaken - the usual error with originals : officially, the green stripe is to the left when viewing the obverse of the medal :-) If you ever spot another one, feel free to contact me ! Cheers, Hendrik

... Brussels area ? Have a look on eBay : item no. 120358803432 ... Cheers, Hendrik

... just looked up the price for the bronze 2nd model type in a 2002 (!) dealer's catalogue : 16 Euros. I'm sure its price hasn't doubled in the meantime ! Cheers, Hendrik

Here's the 1st model : Also awarded unnamed. The one on the medal-medaille site is the second model (never heard of there being two types of the second model !) with a palm device that shouldn't be there ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Gents, Here's the WW2 model in bronze : These medals were awarded unnamed ... Cheers, Hendrik

Quite right, Michael ... as were members of the Belgian sections of the Royal Navy and the RAF. Noticeable among the former are a few awards of the Naval General Service Medal with "Minesweeping 1945-1951" bar - the 118th Flotilla had been sweeping mines since about 1942 and continued to do so, with Belgians still serving in it, after the war's end - and a bunch of DFC's to the latter group. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Gents, Agreeing with Bison, the first one in the picture is one I've not seen before either : it appears to be a 1st model in bronze ! Nice find Chris ! As to the one in the middle : certainly inspired by the Delande type but the chevrons are so lacking in detail that I do think it may well be one made in one of the French colonies at the time. Cheers, Hendrik

A literal translation is not possible I think. Closest I can get is "In gratitude (from) the health security organization" ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Anatoly13, What you have there is an unofficial medal, awarded to members of the health security organization as a token of gratitude to its members. Don't know much about these unofficial ones but I suspect it probably exists in 3 classes : "gold", silver, bronze. A900 is indeed silver (the A = argent, the French word for silver, 900 indicates the silver content : 900/1000). Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Veteran, Excellent !!! Many thanks for clearing the 1870-75 period up governmentwise ... MacMahon, of course, I recall reading his name before. I'm a wiser man today than I was before - thanks to you Regards, Hendrik

Hello Veteran, Thank you for clearing up the finer points on the dates of the various "r?gimes" as well as for your too kind words ! I am quite surprised to learn that the 3rd Republic only started officially in 1875. Does that mean the 2nd Empire (officially) lasted till that year or was there some sort of interim government form set up at the end of the Franco-Prussian War ? Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Darrell, It's just a wee more diversified, I think : 1st Republic (1792-1804) 1st Empire (1804-1815) Restoration (1815-1830) July Monarchy (1830-1848) 2nd Republic (1848-1852) 2nd Empire (1852-1870) 3rd Republic (1870-1947, incl. Vichy & Prov. Gov.) 4th Republic (1947-1959) 5th Republic (1959-now) I would appreciate Bison and/or Veteran checking this for accuracy ... Cheers, Hendrik

And, currently residing in the Paris L?gion d'Honneur Museum : If I recall correctly, it once belonged to a chap called Joffre ... you may have heard the name before Cheers, Hendrik

Note the silver palm in the left picture (top palm) ... And now for some specials : A silver cross instead of the usual bronze one, non-official, of course.