France CRIMEA MEDAL

[Igor Ostapenko]

Medal with two bars - "TRAKTIR" and "SEBASTOPOL" .

Without name on the rim

[Igor Ostapenko]

But on medal I see - " ..... capitaine d'artillerie "

Help me please with name of officer !!!

[Hendrik]

But on medal I see - " ..... capitaine d'artillerie "

Help me please with name of officer !!!

Hello Igor,

Lovely medal with the rare Traktir bar ! The officer's name is just about impossible to read ... having a guess : Thierry Vernay ???

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Igor Ostapenko]

Thierry Vernay

May be ...

[Hendrik]

... or Henry (although the French would normally write that as Henri !).

[Djedj]

Bonjour Igor, and Bingo !

The name is actually "Fleury Vernay".

And a very unusual first name at that !

Obviously the engraving of the medal is post-Crimean, as Vernay was born on 11 June 1830 in Lyons, and was a young subaltern, a "Sous-Lieutenant" in the Crimea - He was attached to the "13e Regiment d'Artillerie" (mounted artillery).

He distinguished himself at Traktir with the 4th Battery of the 13th Regiment, which won him the Legion d'Honneur (very unusual for such a junior officer, so he really did deserve it).

As told by the history of the 13th Regiment of Artillery :

He will be promoted to Lieutenant on 26 May 1857.

In 1859 he will still be a "Lieutenant en Second" with the 13th Regiment.

In 1860 he transferred as "Lieutenant en Premier" to the 6th Battery of the "1er Regiment d'Artillerie a Pied", at Grenoble.

By 1861 the Regiment will have moved to Algiers - and Verany to the 14th Battery of the Regiment.

he was still there in 1863.

He was promoted to Capitaine on 3 March 1864, and in 1870, at the eve of the war with Prussia, he was "Capitaine en Premier" by the "9e R?giment d'Artillerie Mont?e", at Grenoble.

His battery (the 7th Battery of the regiment) was engaged at Froeschwiller :

(extracted from the "Revue d'histoire r?dig?e ? l'?tat-major de l'arm?e - 1902")

He is not listed anymore on the 1873 Annuaire Militaire.

Quite a bit of interesting service !

Congratulations - that's a very good one !

Jerome

[Hendrik]

Hello Jerome,

Wonderfull bit of research ! Many thanks for digging up the fascinating information and sharing it

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Igor Ostapenko]

Dear Jerome ,

Thank you ! MERCI !!!

Igor

[Djedj]

Pleasure Igor,

The researching itself is actually very pleasant !

As I've kind of grasped the juggling between the "Annuaires Militaires" and other sources, that's quite fast as well.

But you have a lucky one here, for I've researched quite a few French Officers, and such feats do not turn up so often !

Salutations,

Jerome

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks for this one. It is always interesting to see those bizarre unofficial French clasps.