The Gambia

[Megan]

Order of the Republic of The Gambia

Instituted: 1972.

Awarded: To citizens and non-citizens in recognition of meritorious service to the people of The Gambia.

Grades: 5 (Grand Commander, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Member) plus a Medal.

Post-nominal letters: Grand Commander (GCRG), Grand Officer (GORG), Commander (CRG), Officer (ORG), Member (MRG), Medal (RMG).

To begin, the Grand Commander Badge:

[Megan]

Grand Commander Star:

[Megan]

Officer:

[Mervyn Mitton]

Megan - a nice set and attractive. Were they made in UK ?

When I ran the Ad. Agency in Sierra Leone,in the 1960's, I was supposed to' look after' Gambia, but it was a pest hole either side of a mosquito invested river, so I refused to go after the first visit. Seems to have changed now - but how visitors go on holiday without all the vaccinations I don't know.

[heusy68]

Megan - a nice set and attractive. Were they made in UK ?

When I ran the Ad. Agency in Sierra Leone,in the 1960's, I was supposed to' look after' Gambia, but it was a pest hole either side of a mosquito invested river, so I refused to go after the first visit. Seems to have changed now - but how visitors go on holiday without all the vaccinations I don't know.

Hello Sir,

Yes they were made in the UK,but not by Spink & not Fattorini.I have the case which goes with the Officer,but I do not have time to look in all the amount of case I have.But there is an inscription to a Judge of the Supreme Court for that Officer.

Also the Grand Commander set Megan posted the picture is the set awarded to Chiang Kai Chek President of Republic of China in 1972.All the decoration of Chang Kai Chek are displayed in the Chang Kai Chek Memorial in Taipeh,and you can take pictures.And believe me he got a lot of awards.

Nowday Gambia is among the very few country that recognise the Republic of China as the onliest China and who have no diplomatic relation with the People's Republic of China.The current President of Gambia,HE J.J.Jammeh visited Taipeh in 1996 and he was invested with Order of the Brilliant Jade and the then President of Republic of China was awarded Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic of Gambia.

Quality of awards of Gambia is very high for a so poor country,here I post Gambia Long Service & Good Conduct which is made of heavy silver (40 grammes!!) and very thick (3 millimeters).I now have take the weight of a british campaign medal,it's about 35 grammes!!

Before I began to collect I went to Banjul in 1984 (by Taxi from Senegal,and I have crossed the river on a small boat to go to the city,and amazing experience in itself).But in the early 90ies Gambia began to be a low cost destination for belgian & french tourist (cheaper than Senegal).

When you were in Sierra Leone were you interested by Orders & Medals already ?

I have some of them too.At a time Orders from Sierra Leone were made by Huguenin in Switzerland,and now by Cleave from London,but most of the medals were ever made by Spink and some of them come to market,directly out of the Spink drawers,when Spink was bought by a Singaporean Company in 2002.

From Sierra Leone prior the Republic was established (1971) we have very few datas except ribbon charts and the commonly seen General Service Medal.

Thanks.

Emmanuel

[Megan]

Thank you, Emmanuel... for those of you who don't know, Emmanuel is the source of many of the more unusual and beautiful items that grace my website, and are shared here too.

Keep 'em coming, wonderful and generous soul that you are!

[Mervyn Mitton]

Thankyou Emmanuel - No, when I lived in Sierra Leone it was very primitive - but, safe and I was able to travel around the Country. I think - as we get older - that we all regret the things we didn't collect. Medals that could have been bought for a few ?'s in those days are a fortune today.

Megan, what would an approx. cost be for a set like this today - they can't be cheap to make ? Mervyn

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen, recently I found this picture while surfing on the net. Gambia Armed Force Medal

No other mention than the picture itself.

Emmanuel

[heusy68]

Here you can see the insignia of Commander of the Order of the Republic of Gambia ( C.R.G. ).

Reverse is blank.

Emmanuel

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

This is the Order of Gambia Grand Commander set G.C.R.G that was awarded to Chang Kai Chem from Republic of China. I visited the Memorial Museum in May 2005, and as photo were allowed, I took many.

As I have shared many many photo with Megan over the years, the 1st photo from this post (on Gambia ), started by Megan on 12 July 2009, it is the sash from this photo. You can see it from exactly how the bow is shaped ( bent ).

Best regards.

     Emmanuel

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68

[heusy68]

Here the Grand Officer G.O.R.G. of the Order of the Republic of Gambia. As long as I can remember, the breast star is similar in size to the G.C.R.G breast star. That breast star is indeed huge (about 120 millimeters wide). It's silver-gilt & enamel.

Regards to all.

      Emmanuel

[heusy68]

In 2005, President Yahya Jammeh from Gambia ( 1994-2017 ), awarded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal with Grand Officer of the Order of the Republic of Gambia G.O.R.G.

But it's obvious the shape of the breast star has been modified.

Regards to all.

     Emmanuel

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

Here is the Medal of the Order of Republic of Gambia ( R.M.G ), it's of silvered metal. I had never have had the opportunity to make measurement & weight. But it is what it is.

Regards to all.

     Emmanuel

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

On 18 February 2020, President Adama Burrow had been invested with the insignia of Grand Master of the Order of the Republic of Gambia : G.M.R.G.

Obviously it's a new set of insignia.

If any one has a better photo, feel fee to post.

Regards to all.

     Emmanuel

.

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

Here you can see CDS Masanneh Kinteh , Lieut General. He had been Chief of Defense Staff on 2 occasion, and from 2012 to 2017Chief of Mission in Havana.

He is wearing the Senegal Order of the Lion Commander on his neck.

The 1st Medal with red/white/red ribbon, I have no idea what it could be.

On his medal bar : 

Row 1 : Order of the Republic of Gambia Officer ( O.R.G.) , ribbon look like UNMIL United Nation Peacekeeping Medal ( UN Mission in Liberia from 2003  to 2018 )but odd if this medal is struck & hung from a straight bar , General Service Medal , Long Service Medal ( similar to the one I ounce bought in the UK, but seems to be hanged from a straight bar.

Row 2 : Medal of Special Honor ??, ribbon looks like UNAMSIL United Nation Peacekeeping Medal ( UN Mission in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2005 ), but again odd if this medal is struck & hung from a straight bar , Medal of the Order of the Republic of Gambia ( R.M.G.), the last one could be a Republic of China Medal (till 14 November 2013, the Gambia had diplomatic relation with the Republic of China ( Taiwan ), then they shifted to have diplomatic relation with People's Republic of China.

Concerning the "odd mounting" of what coud be his 2 UN Peacekeeping Medal, it is possible that a local military tailor had cut the suspension knob of his 2 medal, to mount them as CDS Kinteh wished them to be mounted. As long as I know there is just 2 Gambian General that wear 10 + Awards.

Former President Yahya Jammeh made a State Visit to Taipei in 1996 and another one at end of June 2012. All in all, between 1996 & 2012, President Jammeh went 9 times to Taipei.

In April 2012 President Ma Ying-Jeou ( President of the Republic of China ), made a State Visit to Banjul.

From this high number of exchanges, we can guess, that some high staffed members from both countries get awards from their counterparts.

Best regards.

    Emmanuel

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68

[heusy68]

This is a link from February 2019. In which is is explained what are the medals awarded by Gambia, it's approx in the second part of the article.

https://mamostv.tv/gambia-even-at-54-we-can-get-it-right/ 

You can see CDS Msanneh Kinteh, who is wearing a Republic of China Order of the Cloud & Banner breast star, on his upper right part of his uniform.

The photo is downloaded from the link, but just in case the link would be inactive, somewhen in the future, the photo will last longer.

The other officer (on right of CDS Kinteh ) is wearing Medal of the Order of the Republic of Gambia ( R.M.G. ), then 2 United Nation Medal ( the first one for UNAMID (ie Sudan) , the second for UNMIL ( Liberia ), his fourth medal I cannot see.

Regards to all.

     Emmanuel

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68

[heusy68]

And just because I do not wish these precious informations to be lost. Here are the part of the text (in the link above), related to the National Awards of Gambia

[heusy68]

[heusy68]

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

Sadly there seems to be not that much good photo of Major General Yankuba Drammeh, from the Gambia Army. He also served in various post, incl some diplomatic, as he was Ambassador to Turkey, and later Consul General in New York.

On his first row : Member of Order of the Republic of Gambia ( M.R.G. ), then Officer of the Order of the Republic of Gambia ( O.R.G. )

On second row : ECOWAS Operation Liberty Medal (in Liberia 1989-96), UN Medal, UN Medal for UNMIL ( Liberia ), AU ( African Union ) AMIS Medal (for Sudan).

On third row : General Service Medal (likely), Medal of the Order of the Republic of Gambia ( R.M.G. ), Gambia but what ?? , ?? unknown but could be a Republic of China Medal

The "larger" medal which seems to be a fourth row, seems to actually be a kind of qualification badge, or from a military school.

If any one on this forum get better photo of these medals, feel free to post.

Regards to all.

    Emmanuel

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,

We would need a lot of good photo from Gambia General (the first photo is General Lang Tombo Tamba )

The 3rd photo was posted by another GMIC Member some years ago, unfortunately I do not found the post. But if he recognize himself, I hope he won't be angry on me for this borrow. According to the very similarity of qualification badges on upper of his medal bar, I could bet, that the Officer on the left hand side of this photo is also General Lang Tombo Tomba.

We still miss a good photo of the General Service Medal, and from the Medal next to it (often a medal is seen as a pair at right of the GSM).

From all these photo, it seems that Gambian general likes very much, Military School, or Qualification badges given to them by foreign entities.

Regards to all.

     Emmanuel

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by heusy68