France portrait of a member of the R?sistance

[Naxos]

thought I share this interesting portrait

Hardy

[Bison]

Amazing picture, thanks Hardy !

It is amazing because this veteran wears a "mix" of official an unofficial medals.

First raw :

- Croix du combattant

- M?daille de la R?sistance

- Insigne des bless? (Wounded badge) (unofficial, but allowed)

Second raw :

- Comm?morative 1914 - 1918 WWI

- Association du M?rite International (unofficial)

- M?daille Interalli?e WWI

Third raw :

- Oeuvre Humanitaire (unofficial)

- M?rite Philanthropique (unofficial)

Thanks again for sharing :beer:

[Veteran]

I fully agree with Bison. The array of medals worn by this gentleman is puzzling... to say the least.

The "M?daille de la R?sistance" should also be worn before the Croix du Combattant; the badge worn at the button-hole indicates he belonged to one of the Forces Fran?aises de l'Int?rieur (F.F.I) units during the maquis or/and liberation of France.

Nevertheless a very typical portrait picture of the late 1940s, I would say.

Regards

Veteran

[PKeating]

I think the Bless?s medal relates to the 1914-1918 medals, which would make it an official award, no? The M?daille de la R?sistance is his only 1939-1945 award and he wears the miniature lapel badge of the FFI combatants' badge, a numbered silver award given to resistance veterans with a matching certificate.

Edited November 25, 2008 by PKeating

[Bison]

The "insigne des bless?s" was never officialized in France.

The only official way of wearing a wounded badge in France is to place a small red star on the ribbon of the commemorative medal corresponding to the war or operation.

Therefore, if you were wounded during WWI, the red star would be on the Commemorative 14-18 and so on...

But the veterans were never content with this regulation and continued to wear a big red star with ribbon (and an additional small red star for each wound). With respect to the wounded, I can understand, it was 'tolerated'.

Nowadays, this medal is still worn by the wounded in recent operations. There is a project to officialize it...

Regards

Bison

[PKeating]

Merci, cher ami. Voil?! On apprend quelque chose de nouveau tous les jours! So, in brutal Anglo-Saxon parlance, it is in fact "bling". To be honest, I think that it should be made an official award.

PK

[Bison]

Mais vous parlez parfaitement fran?ais ! Un v?ritable plaisir !

Yes, you are absolutely right, it should be an official award, and it must be !

Bien amicalement

Yours

Bison

[Bison]

And to be more precise, here is an example :

Cheers

Bison

[Bison]

And we find also this, for four wounds :

[Bison]

And another, different model, two wounds :

And there are many other different variations of 'wounded badges'

[Bison]

To conclude, a beautiful picture of Adjudant-Chef Vandenberghe, commando platoon leader in Indochina "the black tigers" :

You can count the number of mentions and wounds

A legendary heroe... a serious guy I would say.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Bison

[PKeating]

To conclude, a beautiful picture of Adjudant-Chef Vandenberghe, commando platoon leader in Indochina "the black tigers" :

You can count the number of mentions and wounds

A legendary heroe... a serious guy I would say.

Oh yes...I think that if he shouted at you to get out of bed and on parade in a very cold morning, you would move very fast! One very serious guy!

PK