People's Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-89

[Ed_Haynes]

May we post PR Kampuchea (a.k.a. "Cambodia") awards here?

Maybe better here that lost among the broader "Soviet" stuff??

Edited October 15, 2006 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

Order of Labor

[Ulsterman]

Good lord- I had no idea those ultra Maoists even had medals. Where did you get that?

[greg.hays]

Very cool! Do you have info concerning award criteria? I am utterly ignorant on most things I see in this forum but it's still one of my favorite places to try to learn something new.

[Ed_Haynes]

There is very little information on anything from Southeast Asia and especially on the socialist states.

It SEEMS that this award came in three classes, but evidence is sparse.

[peter monahan]

Ed

At the risk of sounding petty / officious / etc, can I hope that a Kampuchean forum would come with the same kind of disclaimer as is common for TR stuff? Something along these lines, maybe:

"The fact that we collect their medals and awards does not mean that we in any way endorse the activities of these murderous b***ards".

Sorry, sermon over.

Respectfully,

Peter

[Ed_Haynes]

Peter,

I am not sure that any of us automatically approve or endorse the acts of the issuing bodies of any of these medals. For example, I surely don't celebrate British imperialism in India in my main collecting field!

The difference with Nazi stuff is the swastika, and the power of that now-offensive symbol is such that special treatment is needed. And, as you know, this generates ongoing problems for Hindus.

I see no use -- on this forum, though I am told that Another Forum still plays gleefully in this sewer -- to get into the "whose atrocities were bigger", especially when this game is usually played with the conscious intent of asserting that Adolf and his "Aryans" weren't all THAT bad, when compared to ___.

If we were to be brutally honest, there are few "saints" among the folks who issued any of the medals we study and that the deeds these medals represent were often "war crimes". Everyone is or can be a "murderous b***ard"?

We are, I hope, approaching all this as historians and not as patriots or politicians?

Ed

[Ulsterman]

Good lord- I had no idea those ultra Maoists even had medals. Where did you get that?

Ah-my mistake! I forgot about the Vietnamese invasion, although my best friends' Uncle was a Vietnamese tank colonel who once regaled me fascinating stories about how they toppled the Khmer Rouge ("we lined the tanks up and drove them in").

Anyway, the Khmer Rouge didn't issue medals and were driven back into the jungles by mid 1980.

The Vietnamese/Soviet backed Peoples Republic, far more benign than the Khmer Rouge, issued a series of medals according to the CIA survey of 1987. Their army of @ 35,000 was mediocre and the Vietnamese did a lot of the hard fighting against the Khmer Rouge remnants (as did a surprisingly large number of Thai "border security patrols"), but they issued a series of Vietnamese style medals 1982-90/1:

1. Order of Angkor

2. Fatherland Defense Order (in 2 classes)

3. Victory medal (1st,2nd and 3rd classes)

4. Labour medal (see above posting)

5. National Defense Medal (1st,2nd,3rd classes) see bottom below-

as well as a number of diplomas for building socialism etc.. There may also have been a "friendship medal" awarded to Vietnamese troops, although some authorities suspect this is also the victory medal.

This below-about 3 cm in diameter is an unknown medal: possibly a modern Chinese tourist fake (although its so obscure, who would bother?). I strongly suspect it's a "good worker" type badge -if it is real.

Made of light stamped brass and painted red .

Edited March 9, 2007 by Ulsterman

[Ulsterman]

A "friendship" medal?

Issued by the Vietnamese backed Cambodian regime from @ 1981-89, these were commonly called "friendship" medals and given to Vietnamese advisers fighting the Khmer Rouge. However, i also suspect it may be the afore mentioned "Victory" (aka Liberation) medal, although it seems to come in only one class.The class of a medal seems to be denoted by the number of devices on the ribbon.

This one has been tinkered with and I have others that have the full ribbon. Straight from the markets of Saigon, where I suspect they are being sold to tourists right now.Almost certainly made in Saigon too, as the style and construction mirror other Vietnamese awards.

[922F]

A booklet published in the late 1990s or early 2000s, formerly available on eBay, illustrates all classes of the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian regime's decorations in full color. It also lists award criteria. The Cambodian language booklet's blue cover depicts the Order of Angkor, as I recall. A French translation was available at one point, perhaps someone out there has one?

[ThaiDave]

A booklet published in the late 1990s or early 2000s, formerly available on eBay, illustrates all classes of the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian regime's decorations in full color. It also lists award criteria. The Cambodian language booklet's blue cover depicts the Order of Angkor, as I recall. A French translation was available at one point, perhaps someone out there has one?

I'd be really keen to get a copy of this booklet if anyone has it - English or French.

Also see my site: www.indochinamedals.com/prk/index.html