Hendrik

Hello Paul and JRH, There's no Belgian Academic Palms award - no doubt you're referring to the Palms of the Order of the Crown, which rank below the knight class of that order and thus would be too lowly an award for such a distinguished gentleman as in the picture. I'm voting for the French Academic Palms on this one ... Cheers, Hendrik

Paul, I'm afraid there's not much more I can tell about it other than what's on my website ... the man's widow didn't have more details on that. More generally speaking, in 1943 the "usual" route to get out of Belgium to join the forces in Britain went via France, Spain and Portugal. In this case, the lads made their way under their own steam but there were also the resistance related escape lines for allied aircrew etc. that more or less followed the same direction. Those were better organized and capture in Spain was less frequent although it still occurred. Especially the "Comet Line" still has a great reputation as such an escape line - its name was derived from the speed with which aircrew were transferred to non-occupied territory. But that's an entirely different story. As to what Lievin Dewael and his friend went through, I can't even start to think what went through a 16-year old's mind when making the journey by train through occupied France - no doubt having to be very much on the alert to dodge German checkpoints and/or inspections. Then crossing the demarcation line with Vichy France and making their way over the Pyrenees mountains on foot and so forth. And all the time, in the back of their minds, knowing that being arrested by the Germans would see them end up in a German work camp ... Cheers, Hendrik

Ha ! To save on government money I'd say ... Belgium being a tri-lingual country in which Flemish, French and German are spoken and some people being rather sensitive about it all, the obvious solution is to use English operational names when feasible with the added advantage of having to make bars in more than one language. Gone are the days when bars for "RODE DRAAK" and "DRAGON ROUGE" had to be manufactured to please those involved ... a mere "RED DRAGON" would now suffice So, all in all, just Belgian politics ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Paul, Don't really know what you're after as to the "background" ... do you mean on the escape part of the story or on Belgian forces in Britain at the time or the Piron Brigade in particular ? Cheers, Hendrik

... and, finally, the Commemorative for Albania 1999 Cheers, Hendrik

... Commemorative Medal for Iraq 2003-2006

... same but 2nd class (both are hallmarked 825 grade silver)

Hello Gents, A few Italian Red Cross awards found their way into my collection Here goes : Long Service Cross,1st class, with "FIDELITAS" bar for civilian volunteers

One of the latest addition to the Belgian awards : a bar for those that served in the Tsunami relief operations ... This "Tsunami Solidarity" bar is worn on the ribbon of the Commemorative Medal for Foreign Operations. Cheers, Hendrik

Just got hold of another source on this medal : Decorazioni e Distintivi della Croce Rossa Italiana by Alberto Galazzetti and Filippo Lombardi (ISBN 88-7364-038-9) which states the medal was created in 1916 in three classes (gold, silver and bronze) in two diametres : 28 and 22 mm. Later, in 1928, sizes were reviewed for the gold class only : 28, 22 and 18 mm. Thus, no mention of the 31.5 mm diametre ... The ribbon is white with the Italian tricolour at each edge. This type of medal was replaced by the Republic's model in 1959 Cheers, Hendrik

Part 3 : In a nutshell : the recipient, aged 16 at the time, not keen on possible deportation to Germany for forced labour decided to join the Belgian forces in Britain. Went through occupied France and Vichy France, crossed the Pyrenees on foot, was imprisoned in Spain but made it to Britain in the end via Portugal and Gibraltar. Was posted to a Belgian forces anti-tank company and eventually landed in Normandy exactly two months after D-Day with the Brigade Piron. Participated in the liberation of Belgium and Holland (wounded twice) and ended the war as a sergeant on the occupation force in Germany. More detailed information and some scans of documents can be found on my website : Hendrik's Medal Corner under the heading "Hall of Honours" (last item in that section). Cheers, Hendrik

Part 2 :

Hello Gents, I had the opportunity to photograph a group of medals belonging to a Belgian WW2 veteran a few days ago. Part 1 :

... and a little addition to this wonderful thread : THE TRIPURA 1939-1945 WAR SERVICE MEDAL Sadly without ribbon which might be yellow with red edges and a central band of of red-white-red. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Mike, g deploige is currently on holiday till about the end of the month. I'm sure he'll react to this on his return home... Who's the person that replied to you about the invoice ? Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Jeff & V?t?ran, I think this is the medal you are referring to ... If so, I think its award was not limited to the Carribean only and that it could be earned by prison officers in other colonies as well. Is that correct ? Cheers, Hendrik

Wilco, Thanks for the background information on the clasp ! Cheers, Hendrik

Excellent one with the not so common bar for Indonesia ! Well done Wilco Can you give more particulars on the requirements for obtaining the bar ? Hendrik

Hello Gents, Having gone to the Museum today to get my copy of it, I can vouch for the excellence of Guy's excellent book ! Cheers, Hendrik

You're probably thinking of the two ribbons that go for the 1940 Croix de Guerre : one is a pinkish red, the other a darker red. The light coloured one is supposed to be the early ribbon and its corresponding palm(s), if any, should then be of the "LIIIL" type (with the last L inverted). The darker ribbon signifies a later award for either WW2 or the Korean War and its palm(s) bear only one letter "L". With regards to the colour difference in the WWI CdG ribbons, I'd say that's probably due to various manufacturers producing it at the time. Cheers, Hendrik

I fear that's not going to be easy as I think the group as presented is incorrect and incomplete : -grand cross from the order of the crown - possibly abbreviated as "gc C" but where is the breast star belonging to this class ? It's not in the pictured frame ! -knight in the order of the crown with swords - irrelevant as the higher grade of grand cross would be the only one mentioned -knight in the order of Leopold II with swords - "ch LII gl", very lowly class for a general ! -belgian croix de guerre/war cross with leaves and lion - "cgb" -French croix de guerre/war cross with leaves - "cgf" -Yser medal - "y" -firecross (vuurkruis) - possibly "cf" or "cdf" -The Commemorative Medal of the 100th Anniversary of National Independence - don't know the abbreviation for this one -victory medal - "v" -commemorative 1914-1918 medal with 3 silver bars and 1 golden bar - "co" -special decoration, 1st classe - very suspicious about this being in the actual group : a civilian long service medal for 25 odd years in industry ! Odd general that would have earned that one. I'm assuming this is a mix of medals from two people out of the same family. -commemorative medal for the regime of King Albert I - don't know the abbreviation ... -Veteran cross - irrelevant : a non-official award and thus would not be in the list -ww2 commemorative medal - would not be in the 1939-40 list Cheers, Hendrik

Sounds good to me ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Steen, Can't figure out all of them (and they are in French as suspected) but here's what I suggest : g.o. L p : Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold, I'm assuming the "p" stands for "with palm", i.e. indicating it's been awarded for wartime services. Not quite sure though : the Grand Officer decoration is a breast star and thus has no actual palm visible on it. g.o. C p : Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown with palm ... (same remark as above) C LII gl : Commander of the Order of Leopold II with swords (crossed swords indicating a WWI veteran) cgb : Belgian War Cross (Croix de Guerre belge) - unfortunately no indication of ribbon devices such as palms etc. which surely would have been awarded. y : Yser Medal (or Yser Cross) v : Victory Medal co : Commemorative Medal of the 1914-1918 War cm 1re cl. : Military Cross 1st class (officer's long service award) ct : ??? o. LH : Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) cgf : War Cross (France) DSO : Distinguished Service Order (Great Britain) o. BE : Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Great Britain) cgi : War Cross (Italy) c GL : Commander of ... ??? Are you sure about the GL ? If it's GI, it could mean the Greek Order of Georges I gc ES : Grand Cross of ... ??? - I guess the "E" could stand for "Etoile" (Star of ... ) ? gc ON : Grand Cross of ... ??? These last three are obviously non-Belgian orders but my mind's a blank when I try to figure out what they could be. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Steen, Interesting ! Could you give an example of some of the abbreviations used ? I guess they will be in French but they could also be in Flemish ... Cheers, Hendrik

I agree, the French do on occasion display the "Nelson touch" ... Indeed the situation there was somewhat complicated and muddled as can be deduced from the INDOCHINA clasp that was authorized for the Colonial Medal : - first instituted on 18 March 1936 to replace the existing TONKIN, COCHINCHINE and LAOS ET MEKONG clasps - revived by Vichy France on 13 September 1941 for war operations between 6 September 1940 and 28 January 1941 mainly against the Thai invasion of northern Cambodia and the Japanese landing at Hanoi and Haiphong - abolished by the Free French in 1944 - restored on 2 February 1949 The EXTREME ORIENT clasp is more straightforward : instituted on 5 August 1946 for opposition to the Japanese attacks and capture of the French garrisons of 9 March 1945 (service period 9 March - 23 September 1945) and to the Ho Chi Minh led Vietminh rebellion. Cheers, Hendrik