Hessen - War Honor Decoration

[Noor]

Hi all,

Here is my Hessen War Honor Decoration ( Kriegsehrenzeichen).

I wanted to get more information about this award.

Like I understand, this award was instituted in june 1916 by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig?

How many prox. those medals awarded and what means "ECE" on the reverse?

Thanks for looking!

[Ulsterman]

awarded 1915-1918/9 for homefront war service-commonly found in the USA as that's where US occupation troops were...originally for "all officers, NCOs, medics and other ranks for war service not in the face of the enemy", but later (1916) expanded for women who worked for the Red Cross but didn't merit the other Red Cross awards.

Bronze from 1916-early 1918, in 1918 made of war metal. Numbers estimated at @ 6-11,000 recipients-there may well be a roll of these of there.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Ulsterman

[Guest Rick Research]

The initials are for Ernst Ludwig and his wife Eleonore.

[Noor]

Thanks Ulsterman and Rick!

Its so nice to get some help here!

Regards,

Noor

[joemiller]

To amplify a little on this topic, here is a picture of a sister and a brother both with the same obverse that started this thread. On the left is the reverse of the Ehrenzeichen fur Kriegsfursorge, (raised letters) awarded beginning in September 1915 to men and women for acts which didn't merit a Military Sanitary Cross. Then, on the right, beginning in June of 1916, the Kriegsehrenzeichen (engraved letters) was created to reward merit by men only for acts which didn't merit a Military Sanitary Cross or a General Honor Decoration for Bravery. The Ehrenzeichen fur Kriegsfursorge reverted to a decoration for women only. I have always found the Ehrenzeichen fur Kriegsfursorge to be much more difficult to find.

[Noor]

Thanks for extra information joemiller! Interesting pieces. Actually as I understand there is not many of those medals around at all. Or what I wanted to say, they are not the most common ones but still it is possible to get them.

But my one has the same reverse, as your right one on the picture, but as you see, the ribbon is the same as the left one on yours.

Regards,

Noor

Edited June 1, 2007 by Noor

[dond]

Then I guess finding this combo would not be too common?

[Wild Card]

Hi dond,

Although I do not really collect medal bars, I have seen a few over the years; and I would have to say this is quite a rare bar. Maybe it is not high end exotic, but I just don?t think that you see these decorations on bars very often and that?s what I like.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[Guest Rick Research]

Don-- no indeed. The mix of frontline and home front for your former NCO called back up for wartime service is quite unusual.

Here's a similar Hessian war effort recipient-- only he never got anywhere near the front:

[Ulsterman]

I bought this a few years back: