Belgium Some more Belgian medals

[Marcus H]

A Resitance medal, 1940-45 Campaign medal and Political Prisoner medal with 5 stars !! I've read it only onlt was permitted between 1 to 4 stars ??

[Marcus H]

Some of my WW2 ones, I'll find the others.

Medals: Colonial War Effort 1940-45, African War medal, Medal for the Military Fighter in the War, 1940-45 Commerative War medal.

No bars or anything of interest on the humble ones.

[Marcus H]

Two Voluteers medals, one isfor those whom volunteered for duties in WW2, the other a 1950's version incepted in need I think in the advent for the Korean War.

[Marcus H]

Reverse of Volunteers medals

[Hendrik]

Hello Marcus,

Officially bars would have a maximum of 4 stars (denoting 2 years of imprisonement) and medals would have supplementary bars on the ribbon to indicate longer periods. However, manufacturers in Belgium (and a few other countries) don't always follow the rules ...

Similarly the crossed sabres on your WW2 Commemorative Medal appear to be a bit too large as would befit the official standard of 6mm wide.

Nothing to worry about though as I've seen veterans wearing this medal with huge crossed sabres ...

Cheers,

Hendrik

[attachmentid=17062]

[Hendrik]

Yes, the second type was primarily used for the Korean War (with a bar denoting service there) but also as a retroactive award to those entitled to the WW2 medal that had never received it before the application date for it expired (3 July 1951). In the latter case a "1940-1945" bar was added on the ribbon. The same goes for WW I volunteers ("1914-1918" bar) although there can have been only a very few of those that hadn't received the proper WW I medal at the time.

Volunteers that had seen combat action received a bar "PUGNATOR" (originally in bronze, later in silver).

[attachmentid=17066] [attachmentid=17067]

[Hendrik]

Here's one with a few bars ...

[attachmentid=17068]

[Marcus H]

Wonderful Hendrik !! I find Belgian medals hard to obtain with the bars, I can find them boxed, but bars and devices are difficult. I need to upgrade several of my medals to show these.

Thsnk you for your help.

Kr

Marcus

[Marcus H]

On these Military Medals, these are 1st Class because of the longevity cheveron, thus denoteing a furhter 5 years service, the medal would be a 2nd Class if these chevrons where devoid and reporesent 10 years service........is that correct ?

So with this ribbon it a Long Service medal, but when for barvery the ribbon is red with the national colours on the border, Article 4 is that sort of right ?

Which one of these is a 1950's and pre 1950 ? waht era would these two medals purport too ?

Edited November 25, 2005 by Marcus H

[Marcus H]

Reverse, scanned the opposite away around to the above picture.

[Ed_Haynes]

I may be wrong, but it has always been my assumption that Belgian medals were like French medals, that there really was no "official" striking of anything. Sure, there are medals made by the mint, but they are equally as official as awards manufactured by any other maker. The "award" is the certicicate and you then go out and buy your medals on the open market.

How close to correct am I?

[Bob Hunter]

Interesting thread. Thanks for the information.

[Stijn David]

Hi Marcus,

Nice to see some of your Belgian baby's. About the Military medals as you call them i can already tell you the following :

1) the one with the lion on the reverse is the post 1952 type.

2) the one with the "A" monogram is to date between 1919 and 1934

Can you give us close ups on the centers (both front and reverse?), this can help in identifying them further.

Otehrwise i can only encourage you to obtain the following publication found on the following link (dealing in great detail with this award) :

http://www.skf-vzw.org/nederlands/index2.html

Go towards the publicaties/publication tab

Cordial greetings,

Edited November 25, 2005 by Stijn David

[Hendrik]

Marcus, Ed,

... bars and devices are difficult ... I'm afraid I have to agree although I suppose they would be slightly easier to find here in Belgium locally then elsewhere. Also, more specifically on the Korean War medal that you show a picture of, battle bars for those (or for the WW2 commemorative medal) are not available very often. Took me years to find the cute one you'll see below ...

Similarly WW2 bars only come up very occasionally. I was lucky years ago to be able to find a number of those with a manufacturer that stopped producing and got rid of his stock. The result of that haul is on my site :-)

Marcus, you are quite right on those Military Long Service Medals and the ribbon change for the Art. 4 bravery types. The two you have there are types from the reign of King Albert I (the unilingual French one with the "A" cypher on the reverse - very much pre-1950) and the current type (bilingual, lion on both sides, post 1950) which was started under King Baudouin and has been maintained till the present day. Prior to the Baudouin type there are 3 others : Leopold II, Albert I and Leopold III but the number of variations due to various manufacturers making all of these is enormous. A couple of fellow collectors here in Belgium have managed to make a complete book on just those ! "Only" took them 5 years to compile it

Ed, re : How close to correct am I? ... very close in my opinion.

The whole topic of "official" versus "non-official" is quite complicated especially where French medals are concerned. Maybe that warrants a new thread on French medals ?

Sticking with the Belgian stuff for the moment, there's even no Belgian Mint making them : all are/were manufactured by private firms and indeed - except for "special" awards to foreign or domestic politicians, heads of state, VIP's of all kinds, etc. - the "common" recipient merely received a certificate from the grateful government and had to go about purchasing the award ... only the wealthy get them for free

With Belgian medals I take the view that if they have been instituted by a Royal Decree they're official, if not (e.g. created by veterans' or patriotic societies, etc.) they should be deemed non-official ...ahem, the Belgian Red Cross then being semi-official, I guess ???

Very useful things those emoticons !

Ed, as an aside : interested in the French "Levant Medal" aka the Syria-Cilicia Medal, it's a bit in your area I think ? I've so far come across 7 medal types and some 27 ribbon bar types (official and non-official !!!). Hence my previous remark on starting a new thread.

I'm currently looking for the original texts on the institution of the Vichy France and Free French types... feel free to let me have any info you may have on those !

[attachmentid=17083]

[Marcus H]

Hi Stijn,

I will send you that e mail with some of the info you require on packets and cases....sorry about the delay. I'm taking a break in TR militaria for a while, and concentrating on Belgium and then some British Gallentry groups....I've set my eyes on an MC and DSO couple of groups. Thought I'd spend some time on my own history and my beloved Belgium medals.

But I'm still working on the book of course, but you'll find me more on here for a while than moderating on the WAF

Is this pic better ? I got a little confused, as this one looks very 'stay-bright' finished, where as the 50's version is more toned down, dull if you like and gave the impression of being older. Although, the chevron on the 50's is hollow and thin with three prongs and the earlier chevron is more heavy, solid, one prong and a 'slip' bar for the ribbon and is of a very good quality.

Thank you Hendrik,

Good to see you on here, I've used your invaluable site many times for reference on medals, Belgium in paticular.

I'm trying to collect the 'official' awaded medals as you say and variations in them like the numerous ones in the Yser (I can't find the Flemmish ribboned version anywhere though), but I think I've a few which aren't 'official' and finding a reference to them is near on impossible.

Bills Belgian medals has some, and that to is a useful guide.

This long service medal, I remember some time ago a friend in Belgium told me that there were something like 115 variations (or it could have been 121 ???) !!

Edited November 25, 2005 by Marcus H

[Marcus H]

The left pne is a Commerative Veteran of King Albert Medal 1914-18 but the bright red ribboned one I've really no idea on, something similar perhaps but more modern ?

The 14-18 medal came in a grey cardboard box with a quilted liner in the bottom.

[Marcus H]

Reverse, again adversely

[Marcus H]

And then there's the Commerative Medal of the Reign of King Albert, I think this was instituted in 1962.

Can anyone tell me why this one has a palm device on it please.

Kr

Marcus

[Stijn David]

Hi Marcus,

Thanks for the ehads up, sometimes taking a break is not so bad after all => it makes you see things more in perspective and what they really are + besides it is only a hobby

To ID these Military crosses is really difficult (at least for me as i do collect the literature of such subjects but not the medals on its own ). At this point of time there are no less then 15 so called types identifyed on the crosses fro 1919 and 1934 and it is rather normal that other types can ID again. Belgium is after all a country where everything is possible

Are there markings to be found anywhere on the medal, suspension ring or else ?

Cordial greetings,

[Hendrik]

Hello Markus,

I'm not at all into "unofficial" awards such as these King Albert Veterans' Crosses but the abbreviations on the reverse refer to the name (in French and Flemish) af a Belgian veteran society and can be translated as "Royal Federation of Veterans of King Albert". I suppose it is an award for service to that federation.

The small palm device on the King Albert Commemorative Medal doesn't belong there at all : it's usually seen on the King Albert Veterans' Cross in the left of your picture. No clue as to what it represents as, once again, it's a non-governmental award.

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Vatjan]

There is a nice and rather rare variation of the Korea medal.

In Belgium, as mentionned above, you have to buy your own medal when you earn one.

Now, when the first +-450 Belgian Korea volunteers returned, they arrived together with their Dutch collegues at the Amsterdam (Netherlands) airport.

The Dutch government had prepared a batch of medals to be given to their soldiers.

When the Belgian government heard this, they proceded very quickly to have their own medal ready, to be able to present it to their soldiers.

It would just not look good to have nothing to offer, when the Dutch were pinning medals on the chests of their heroes

They succeded in finishing the medals but not the ribbons, so they took an existing (unofficial) ribbon and had two white lines embroidered on them, to match the proposed design.

So, only the first 450 odd soldiers to receive the medal, for free I should add, got the (ribbon) variation that is now fairly rare.

Edited November 28, 2005 by vatjan

[Hendrik]

got the (ribbon) variation that is now fairly rare.

I think you can call this ribbon variation "very rare"

Very nice example of the medal on this original ribbon - good show !

[Marcus H]

Quote: In Belgium, as mentionned above, you have to buy your own medal when you earn one.

Surely not the case today though ? I served with BELU Forces in Bosnia, they formed part of our defence at Lipa (they were at TSG) and they were issued their medals before their departure home ?

So in Belgium all official medals earn't for durations of peace keeping, or wars/conflicts like Korea, WW2, WW1 and other, the soldiers had to buy their own campaign, victory & service medals etc.

What exactly is the criteria for awarding of medals, or is there some where I could find further information about this please ?

Kr

Marcus

[Paul R]

I noticed that a few of the medals had red crosses on them. Does this indicate that the awardee was a medic or wounded?

Paul

[Hendrik]

Surely not the case today though ? I served with BELU Forces in Bosnia, they formed part of our defence at Lipa (they were at TSG) and they were issued their medals before their departure home ?

As far as I know, that still is the case today and has been so since WW I (maybe even earlier ???) I'm sure your eyes weren't playing tricks at the time but couldn't those medals be UN or EU ones ?

If the Belgian medal, it would have looked like this one (minus the bars) :

[attachmentid=17560]

Pardon my ignorance but what does TSG stand for ?

So in Belgium all official medals earn't for durations of peace keeping, or wars/conflicts like Korea, WW2, WW1 and other, the soldiers had to buy their own campaign, victory & service medals etc.

Afraid so, at least veterans that had returned to civilian life did ... your Bosnia experience may mean this is not so for military personnel still on active duty. Will try to find out. Also, as a friend of mine recently told me after having been awarded a long service medal for his years of service with the Belgian railroads, he only received the certificate without the actual medal which he has to purchase himself if he cares to do so.

What exactly is the criteria for awarding of medals, or is there some where I could find further information about this please ?

Well now, without wanting to appear to be promoting my site too much, you might venture over to www.medals.be ... and return here to start new threads and/or ask further details