France British awards to French soldiers

[Bison]

I just bought a Military Medal awarded to a French soldier during WW1. Very happy with this, but there is no name engraved on it, unlike for the British ones.

By chance I get this document with it :

[Bison]

And I had the opportunity to get some other pics :

DCM :

[Bison]

And another from the Grande Chancellerie de la L?gion d'honneur, for another DCM, signed by the President, in 1921 :

I should be very happy to read your comments on these documents.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Very nice indeed!!! I almost cried when I saw it ... and that I had missed it :-(

I have a very rough conditioned MM document to a guy who got a number of CdG for recon missions...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here are some statistics...

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1600...=military+medal

And a French miniature....

[Bison]

Thank you Chris for the link! I have missed this topic. Very interesting figures.

[JBFloyd]

MM awards to Allies were generally not named. As this medal is a French-made copy, I would not expect it to be named.

[Bison]

In the first post, it is a French-made MM.

But with it is also this one, not named, and British-made I suppose. This is the medal I bought.

It was very probably awarded to private Henri COSTE, 22nd Infantry Regiment.

Observe :

Edited December 27, 2008 by Bison

[Bison]

Reverse :

[Chris Boonzaier]

Very nice indeed.... I am green with envy! :-))

[Veteran]

Very nice ! British medals are easy to tell from the French-made replacements : they swivell around a vertical axis appended to the suspension. French-made medals are always soldered to the suspension.

Jeff, you are right about MOST British medals awarded to foreigners being un-named. The WW1 Navy DSM were an exception, I have 2 - both to French naval ratings,

The very few MM, DSM for WW2 which have been seen around were named when awarded to Frenchmen. I also have a military BEM to a French corporal, named.

Thank you for sharing these very scarce medals when they are with their papers.

Best regards.

Veteran

Edited December 28, 2008 by Veteran

[PKeating]

Rare material indeed! I had seen French-made miniatures like the MM but had no idea that French firms produced full versions of these awards. The relative size of French and British miniatures frequently poses an aesthetic problem for veterans whose medals can be mounted together. I believe that some French awards and more common campaign and war medals were manufactured in miniature by British firms like Firmin just after WW2. I had this problem a couple of years ago when obtaining French miniatures for Peter Churchill, who served with N? 4 Commando's Free French contingent in 1944 and 1945. In the end, I think Peter mounted them as shown here and wore them under his British miniature group but it would have looked better, of course, to have them mounted in proper order of precedence, all together as they would be on his full size rack.

PK

Edited December 28, 2008 by PKeating

[JBFloyd]

Not to get too far away from the original MM, but the naming of British awards to allies brings up some interesting sightings. I have a GVI MM to an American named "?Top Sjt O.O. Raaum, US Army?. It's with the original citation to Raaum for actions on 23 February 1945, in Julich, Germany, when he recovered a wounded man and carried him 500 yards under fire to safety. Raaum was in the 29th Infantry Division.

"Top Sjt" is not a rank in the US Army, although it is commonly applied to the First Sergeant or the senior NCO of a unit, so somewhere in the nomination process, Raaum's proper rank was never inserted in the paperwork.

A GVI BEM in my collection is named "Staff Sgt W.G. Moore", with no indication of his nationality. A GVI DFM carries the recipients service number, rank and and name (15099086 Tech Sgt R.A. Day).

[Bison]

Pictures...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Fantastic pics... is the guy from the 4th Zouaves?

best

Chris

[Bison]

New arrival in my collection with this group (there is also a cross of officier de la l?gion d'honneur) :

observe

Croix de guerre 1914 - 1915 with 5 mentions : 1 palm, two gold stars, one silver star and one bronze star;

Military Cross;

The two are displayed with french mounting plates (see reverse), which are not very common.

I have a name for the owner of this group. I found him in the L?gion d'honneur database. But I didn't succeed in finding him in the London Gazette data base for the Military Cross. Do you know if we can find & confirm the names of Allies who were distinguished with British awards???

[Bison]

Reverse, look at the mounting plates :

[Bison]

Detail of the MC :

Regards

[Gunner 1]

Bison wrote:

I have a name for the owner of this group. I found him in the L?gion d'honneur database. But I didn't succeed in finding him in the London Gazette data base for the Military Cross. Do you know if we can find & confirm the names of Allies who were distinguished with British awards???

British awards to foreign soldiers were not published in the London Gazette but rather were placed on War Office Lists. I have many of these lists and would be happy to look up your man if you send me his name. Regards, Gunner 1

[Bison]

Good evening Gunner 1

The name is probably 'ROUSSIER', because this is the name of the family where this group is coming from... I don't know neither the rank nor the unit. He was probably an officer because he awarded the L?gion d'honneur and not the M?daille Militaire.

In the data base of the L?gion d'honneur (Leonore data base), there is only one 'ROUSSIER' matching: Jean ROUSSIER, born in 1893 in Saint-Etienne, France.

Thank you for your help!

Best regards

Bison

[Gunner 1]

The Military Medal to Henri Coste was published in the War Office List of 30 October 1916. Gunner 1

[Bison]

Thank you so much ! Is there any citation ?

Is there any Jean Roussier or simply Roussier for the MC?

You are fantastic :jumping:

[Gunner 1]

Bison: I can find no French officer with the name 'ROUSSIER' in the lists of British Military Cross recipients that I have. It is possible that I might be missing a few lists. Regards, Gunner 1

[Gunner 1]

There is no citation given in these lists - just the rank, name, and unit. Regards, Gunner 1

[Bison]

Thank you very much for your efforts.

For the owner of the MM, Henri Coste, you confirm the French documents arrived many month later after the publication... This is the administration, no change!

For the MC, your research allows me to stop the 'Roussier' name and not waste time in this direction.

He is probably a next to keen of this family and I will search this.

I will keep you aware if I find something new.

Thanks a lot again