France New addition

[love4history]

Hello gents,

Just got this small collection and I thought I'd share it with you... The medals are pinned to a paper backing which states all the 'seven' seas the sailor sailed. Apparently he saw war duty as well.... anyway I'll let you have a look at it... and any and all comments or ideas are welcome...

One question: the colonial medal (bottom row second from right) seems to be of a very light and very thin aluminium(?)... was this standard for this medal? It almost seems like a medal out of a chewinggum vending machine....

[Hendrik]

Hello Love4History,

An odd combination of medals for a French sailor ... but first to your question on the Colonial Medal : that is normally made of silver or silvered bronze. However, locally manufactured types do exist (mainly Indochina made) and that may account for the one you have there. Having travelled so extensively around the world, I would have expected at least one bar on its ribbon.

Some other remarks :

- in the picture the sailor wears the M?daille Militaire and his Croix de Guerre seems to be showing a palm device ... the Military Medal is not in the group and the CdG you have has a star device instead of the palm.

- The Serbian War Commemorative Medal is present twice : once to the left of the CdG, showing the reverse and once on the bottom row, left. Only the latter has the correct ribbon but it's the other way around : red, blue and white. A bit strange to see it in this group as it would mean the sailor was part of a French military mission in Serbia - possible I guess ...

- The Italian War Commemorative Medal is a surprise within the that group : I don't think foreigners received it from the Italian government but am not 100 % sure on that. Maybe someone else can confirm this ?

- The Orient and Dardanelles medals to the right of the CdG look just fine ! I like those

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Veteran]

Hello Love-4History

This group is interesting, and Hendrik has made a few points I totally agree with : the photo and the medals don't quite go together. The Military Medal and Croix de Guerre shown on the portrait are absent in the group. They would be the star awards of this display if all medals belonged to the same sailor.

The Serbian Commemoratvie medal could be OK : in 1931, French soldiers and sailors who had helped the Serbian Army escape through Albania to the Adriatic islands were allowed by the French government to accept the offer the Yougoslav government extended. A diploma was also given.

The same happened when Italy gave their commemorative medal to soldiers and sailors who had come to strengthen the Italian troups and Navy in their struggle against the Austrians in 1915 and later (acceptance was allowed for Frenchmen by special decree of the President of the Republic in 1924).

If this man was on board a ship of the French Adriatic Fleet, both medals would make sense. The Dardanelle and Levant medals also suggest that he was on board a ship of the Mediterranean Fleet.

The Colonial medal, if extremely light, might be an "ersatz" metal manufacture of later date (in the 1940s). All WW1 period, before and between tht two wars were silver, sometimes as Hendrik indicates, silvered metal. It lools like a particular make dating 1942-48). It does not seem to belong.

An interesting part of the photograph is the band around the sailor's bonnet : FUSILIERS MARINS; they are the equivalent oF the Marines on board ships in the French Navy. But contrary to the British R.M. they are part of the ship's company, not a distinct outfit. They are sailors who are trained to also fight as infantrymen. During both wars full units of Fusiliers-Maris were formed. During WW1 they formed a Brigade, similar to Drake and other Battalions of the Royal Navy. During WW2, the were an armoured regiment within the 2nd French Armoured Division (Leclerc's Division).

An unusual reunion of awards and memorabilia. Couls probably be argued much further. I am glad you enjoy it.

Regards

Veteran

Edited December 11, 2007 by Veteran

[love4history]

Hello Hendrik and Veteran

Much appreciate your opinions!

I had a bit of a mishap with this frame in the fact that the glass in the frame was broken when it arrived. On the other hand this gives me the opportunity to examine the medals and the inside more in detail.

The picture of the man is not a painting or a drawing, or a photograph. It rather looks like a print cut from a book or so... so I don't consider it to be a portrait of the actual sailor but rather something which was added as decoration... which would also explain the "missing" MM and the difference in CdG (which is a 1917 by the way)

I don't dare to venture to say if the sailor in fact was a fusilier-marin or not. The anchor emblem on the lower left is of a veteran organisation "amicale des cols bleus" (sorry if there are typos... don't have the actual badge with me here). I don't know if that can give us a clue. There is also an anchor device added to the collar of the print.

The frame was still solidly closed. The back didn't seem to be tampered with at all. The strong decoloration of the ribbons is in line with the strong decoloration of the paper background. You can see the outline of the medals on the paper background. There's also less decoloration where the (old) stickpins were in the ribbons. All points to the fact that the medals have been in that frame for a long time and this was not a recent "composition" (Most importantly, the whole feels, looks and smells right when you hold it in your hands... which is often underestimated ) I have no doubts as to the originality of the lot. If the sailor in fact earned all these medals is not proven (he might have snatched them during a brawl in a Napels harbourside tavern as well... ) But as I can learn from your posts, the medals do seem to add up, but with questions concerning the colonial medal...

I do enjoy looking at this group... conjures up images of old black-and-white sailor movies and days long gone in my mind...

[love4history]

Sorry... double post... connection was slower then I had patience...

Edited December 11, 2007 by love4history

[love4history]

Concerning the colonial medal I found this on http://www.france-phaleristique.com/colo.htm

(full text in French below)

Medal without bar

Destined for all soldiers or sailors, with a total of 15 yrs of service for officers and 10 yrs of service for non-officers, of which at least 6 years have been served in the French colonies (general descripition, detailed geographical restrictions are below)

Given the apparent late manufacture of this medal ("war" material instead of silver(ed)) could this be considered as the "rest of his career"-medal in the French navy after WWI? The last medal he received for his # years of service.

M?DAILLE SANS AGRAFE

Elle est destin?e ? tout militaire ou marin, totalisant 15 ans de services pour les officiers et 10 ans de services pour les non-officiers, ayant servi au moins 6 ans aux conditions suivantes :

? pour la M?daille Coloniale, soit sur des territoires ou colonies, pr?cis?s par le d?cret du 5 octobre 1920 pour la p?riode de colonisation et, par l?arr?t? du 11 septembre 1963 pour la p?riode de d?colonisation ;

? pour la M?daille d?Outre-Mer, depuis l?arr?t? du 30 novembre 1988, dans l?un des territoires fran?ais et ?tats ?tranger suivants : Guyane, Terres australes et antarctiques fran?aises, B?nin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Comores, Congo, C?te-d?Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guin?e-Bissau, Guin?e ?quatoriale, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritanie, Mayotte, Niger, R?publique centrafricaine, Rwanda, S?n?gal, Tchad, Togo, Za?re.

Le d?cret du 5 octobre 1920 pr?cisait : le droit au port de la M?daille Coloniale sans agrafe est accord? aux militaires et marins, indig?nes except?s, pr?sent sous les drapeaux ? la date du 27 mars 1914 ou post?rieurement ? cette date, ayant 10 ans au moins de services effectifs, pour les hommes de troupe et 15 ans au moins pour les officiers et qui, en outre, ont servi en activit? et avec distinction pendant 6 ans au moins dans les territoires du sud de l?Alg?rie et de la Tunisie, r?gions sahariennes comprises, dans les colonies et pays de protectorat autres que la R?union, l?Inde fran?aise, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, les possessions fran?aises du Pacifique et des Antilles.

Les demandes d?attribution sont ? effectuer aupr?s du cabinet du minist?re de la D?fense, au bureau des d?corations.