An Ethiopian ( Derg) Campaign medal

[peter monahan]

Sorry I missed this earlier. I believe the Ethiopian Korea Medal is one of the Holy Grails of collecting for those interested in that conflict, as there were not huge numbers issued [3,500 ] and few seem to have made it out of Ethiopia.

Ulsterman, what di the OMSA fellows object to in your post? Enquiring minds wish to know.

[Ulsterman]

Yup, there are several variations of the Korean medal, the silver ones from Sweden being the best regarded.

A certain medal dealer in the UK claims these are not Korean War reissues. I claim they are. Those in the middle describe them as " "Commemorative".

Every medal that had Emperor Selassies' visage on it was mysteriously remade and reissued under the Derg. Many new medals were created and the old Orders abrogated ...but allowed to be worn until the Pseudo Marxists began to use this as an excuse to weed out the opposition (real or potential) on the Ruling Councils. Things got VERY ugly after Mengistu came to power. Very,very ugly....as in death squad,torture, kill your children in front of you ugly around 1984-88, Especially for older veterans of the imperial Guard and Korean War vets. North Korea had a few advisors in place in Ethiopia, there were thousands of GDR and Soviet specialists and tens of thousands of Cubans.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Ulsterman

[Colin Davie]

I'll make you a new photo when I get back home, couple of days.

Searched my laptop, don't know where these photo's went, I had about 5 pics but they're gone.

C

[ilja559]

May be somebody can help me with this medal identification.

[oamotme]

Ilja,

This is the scarce Derg issue Resistance medal - see earlier in this post and other posts - I don't think the ribbon is correct.

Regards,

Owain

[ilja559]

Thank you, Owain.

May be you have source where we can to see correct ribbon for Derg medals?

Regards.

Ilja

[Ulsterman]

Wow! that maaay be the correct ribbon. hold on to it for grim life, because I can't find one anywhere. the Patriot resistance medal itself, issued under HRH Sellassie, was very rare. a Derg era reissue is even rater.

Ilya, the only published work so far are 2 basic articles in Orden (in German) from @. 1980.

the reissues came later, as they not mentioned in the articles published decrees. almost ALL the Derg medals seem to have followed a Tricolour pattern of some sort, making reading a ribbon bar easy. The notable exception is the bravery medal.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Ulsterman

[redleg]

Coming into this a little late but I very much enjoyed this thread. I had the pleasure of staying a year in Addis Ababa. During that time I tried to accumulate as much phaleria from Ethiopia as I could from all periods: Imperial, Derg and Post-Derg. So you may find this useful. 1st picture is the first (Gold) and second (silver) class public service medals. They came in either East German or Czech plastic cases and were pretty ubiquitous around Churchill Avenue (the main avenue that held many of the antique and curios in Addis). The Second Picture is the military version of the 1st.

[congobrown]

DERG riband dilema.

Both the medals in the images below have been discussed in this thread before.  My dilemma is about DERG era ribands.

I have acquired several DERG era medals in the past that have the 'wrong' bars attached.  I guess that the sellers just mix and match to get a better price if they have medals without bars and bars without medals.  I think that the medals without ribands in the image here have the correct bars.  I also think that the medal in the middle has the wrong bar but that the riband is the correct one for this bar.  I believe this because of the 'factory' quality stitching to attach the riband - see the reverse.  My question to the wise heads here is therefore, what medal does this bar and riband belong to.  My Amharic isn't up to the task.  DERG ribands are difficult to source and I would love to match this one with the right medal.

[peter monahan]

Amharic speakers to the fore!   Sadly, both the problem - 'mix and match merchants' and the solution - identifying and finding the correct ribbons - may be beyond the scope of this group, though one can always hope that someone actually in Ethiopia will be moved to do the research and publish something useful for we dabblers. 

[jarodparker]

Regarding Congobrown's post. The bars read...

Left: Ethiopian Refugees 1928-1933

Center: For the fight for country and freedom 1928-1933

Right: For the fight for country and freedom 1928-1933

Edited November 25, 2016 by jarodparker

[peter monahan]

On 11/25/2016 at 01:53, jarodparker said:

Regarding Congobrown's post. The bars read...

Left: Ethiopian Refugees 1928-1933

Center: For the fight for country and freedom 1928-1933

Right: For the fight for country and freedom 1928-1933

Thank you, Jarod.  Do you read Amharic yourself or are you relying on some other source.  Either way, it's great to have the information and I am jsut curious - I suspect Amharic speakers outside Ethiopia are few and far between.

Peter 

[jarodparker]

Glad to be of service. I'm a native speaker, fellow collector and long time lurker.

Actually, there are large Ethiopian communities in the US (Denver, parts of Texas, Vegas, LA, Oakland and especially DC), the UK and Canada. LA even has an official Little Ethiopia neighborhood.

[peter monahan]

I actually thought, as I typed that message, that there are in fact lots of Ethiopians in North America - I've taught a couple over the years - so in fact I should have said 'non-Ethiopian Amharic speakers'.  [blush]

 I'm sure there's an interesting story too, as to how a gent with a name like yours is a native speaker.  One Amharic speaking parent at least, or raised in an Ethioian communit, I'd guess.  Anyway, thanks again for the translation and very glad to have you on the GMIC.

 

[Ulsterman]

Is the ribbon on the Derg refugee medal a Nigerian one? I reckon the Resistance planchet got swapped over- but maybe there was a rare variation? The Negerat was published right through the Mengistu collapse, so perhaps it can clear up some question. The LOC has a full run.

[Ulsterman]

Interestingly- in my annual google search of “ ethiopian medal veteran” I came across an Alamay picture of a veteran at last years’ Patriots Parade wearing the above resistance medal - AND that ribbon. 

[Shots Dave]

Here is the third "Resistance" / Medal of the Patriots of the Interior / Underground Medal made by Sevadjian. An obvious difference from the English Mappin & Webb version shown earlier in the thread is that the Emperor has medals on his uniform and another is the style of lettering.

After lots of searching I finally found this one, I just need the other 2 now !!

[Megan]

Fascinating, she says, having found this thread whilst searching for information to update the Ethiopian section of my website.

[Jah Jim]

On 22/11/2020 at 03:32, Shots Dave said:

Here is the third "Resistance" / Medal of the Patriots of the Interior / Underground Medal made by Sevadjian. An obvious difference from the English Mappin & Webb version shown earlier in the thread is that the Emperor has medals on his uniform and another is the style of lettering.

After lots of searching I finally found this one, I just need the other 2 now !!

 

Greetings.  Did you find all the Imperial Ethiopian medals you seek?  I buy, sell and trade them and have for over 40 years.