Greece - Devices to Greek ribbon bars

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

Hello,

Just wonder if someone could post any photos of the devices that were used with Greek ribbon bars to denote multiple awards. Thanks in advance.

Lukasz

[Megan]

Hendrik Meersschaert's site suggests that - during the WW2 period at least - small crowns were used. Take a look at http://users.skynet.be/hendrik/eng/39greece.html

At the moment, my Greek section only shows some orders and decorations where grade, rather than repeat award, is shown by devices on ribbon bars. As always, feel welcome to help yourself to anything that will aid you in building a Greek ribbon chart.

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

Thanks Megan, I think I once saw some small spiral devices attached to service ribbons for multiple awards. I searched for them everywhere I could, on the Net, on my hard disc and in the books on Greek awards I have - nowhere! Was it only me or were they real?

[Megan]

Antonio Prieto Barrio's charts show some use of small 5-pointed stars to denote multiple awards. I don't recall any 'spirals' - but I'm in Greece end of May, will have a nose around.

[Kev in Deva]

Hi Lukas,

from the book:-

GREEK MEDALS by GEORGE STRATOUDAKIS.

WAR CROSS 1916 - 17,

devices on ribbon denote:-

1st Class : Bronze Laurel branch.

2nd Class : Bronze Star on the ribbon

3rd Class : Plain Ribbon.

A small silvered star is added to the ribbon for each subsequent award to or mentioning in the "Order of the Day" to the same person.

So you can have a large Bronze Star with 1 - 4+ small silver stars.or another example a bronze Laurel leaf and 1+ small silver stars.

MEDAL OF MILITARY MERIT 1917.

1st Class : Gold (gilt) laurel wreath on the ribbon.

2nd Class : Silver (or silverd) laurel wreath on the ribbon.

3rd Class : Bronze laurel wreath on the ribbon.

4th Class : Plain ribbon.During the last years of issue a laurel branch was used as differentiation of the Classes instead of the wreath.

On the jacket ribbon the diffences of the Classes was shown by adding a laurel branch either in gold, silver or bronze.

MEDAL OF MILITARY MERIT 1947 REPUBLIC 1974.

1st Class : ribbon with a gold (gilded) laurel branch.

2nd Class : ribbon with a silver (silvered) laurel branch.

3rd Class : ribbon with a bronzeNavy Medal 1925. laurel branch.

NAVY MEDAL 1925.

1st Class : Gold Medal with gilt anchor device added to the ribbon.

2nd Class : Silver Medal

NAVY MEDAL 1935.

ditto.

NAVY MEDAL 1974.

No devices.

LONG SERVICE & GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL FOR N.C.O.'s 1937.

In the Naval version a small gilt sword is added to the Ist Class.

LONG SERVICE & GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL FOR N.C.O.'s 1974.

1st Class : Gold Laurel leaf on ribbon.

2nd Class : Silver Laurel leaf on ribbon.

3rd Glass : Bronze Laurel leaf on ribbon.

WAR CROSS 1940.

A small crown either gilt, silvered or bronze according to the class of the medal was added to the ribbon for each subsequent award or mention in the "Order of the Day."

MEDAL for OUTSTANDING ACTS 1940.

A small silvered crown was added to the ribbon for each subsequent award to the same person.

More to follow.

Kevin in Deva.

[Kev in Deva]

GREEK MEDAL DEVICES, Continued:-

ROYAL NAVY CAMPAIGN CROSS (established 1943).

For officers, petty officers and sailors of the Royal Hellenic Navy who served more than six months on a ship that participated in naval battles or naval operations during WW2.

For each six-monzh service a small star was added to the ribbon of the medal, which was either metalic or embroided:-

Gold (gilt) for officers,

Silver (silvered) for Petty Officers

Bronze for sailors.

AIR FORCE "FLYING CROSS" 1945.

For each subsequent new award to the same person a gilt crown was added to the ribbon.

AIR FORCE "FLYING MEDAL" 1945.

For each subsequent new award to the same person a silvered crown was added to the ribbon.

AIR FORCE "CROSS of MERIT" 1945.

For each subsequent award to the same person a gilt crown was addd to the ribbon

AIR FORCE "MEDAL of MERIT" 1945.

For each subsequent new award to the same person a gilt crown was added to the ribbon.

AIR FORCE, CONVOY ESCORT & ARMED RECONNAISSANCE MEDAL 1945.

Awarded on completion of 45 flights on supporting or identifying missions during wartime.

For more flights a small silvered crown was added to the ribbon:-

1 silver crown = at the completion of 85 flights.

2 silver crowns = at the completion of 120 flights.

3 silver crowns = at the completion of 150 flights.

CROSS OF VALOUR for the Gendarmery 1946.

Each subsequent award to the same person a gilt crown was added to the ribbon.

So it appears its either Crowns, Laurel leaves, or Stars added to the ribbons to denote repeat awards.

Kevin in Deva. :cheers:

[DKOSTAS]

Hello everybody,

Here are some pictures from my collection of devices on Greek medals:

1) the Cross of Valor 2nd class 1940 type (with small crowns).

This award is very similar to the Cross of Valor for the WW1. The only differene is the addition of a bar with the date 1940. For every new award a small silver crown is added to the ribbon. Maximum three awards were allowed for each class.

As far as the Cross of Valor WW1 type is concerned new awards were denoted by small silver stars again no more than three for each class

2) War Cross WW2

This example shows 1st class War Cross (gilt crown) with 2 bronze and 1 silver crowns on the ribbon. It has to be said that this War Cross had 3 Classes:

1st Class the Cross suspened from gilt Crown

2nd Class the Cross suspended from silver Crown

3rd Class the Cross suspended from bronze Crown

I hope I have helped a bit..

[RobW]

Hello Lukasz,

Here are a couple of pictures which may help.

War Cross 1916-17, 2nd class, with second award silvered star

Regards,

Rob

[RobW]

Medal of Military Merit 1917, 3rd class, with bronze wreath.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Rob

[Tim B]

Hi guys!

Does anyone have PIC's of these laurel branches to show as examples? I take it that they are similar in appearance to "palms" on other awards?

Here's some questions to anyone that may know;

1) On the WWI War Cross, is bronze the only authorized color of the laurel branch? Was there a silver or gold version?

2) How does the style of the laurel branch compare between the War Cross and that of the Medal of Military Merit? Are they the same style?

3) 4th Class : Plain ribbon. During the last years of issue a laurel branch was used as differentiation of the Classes instead of the wreath. I read this to apply only to the Military Medal of Merit and not to include the War Cross? Do we know any more information on this change?

Tim

Appears this one is not correct as shown: Added a reverse of the medal

Edited June 25, 2010 by Tim B

[Kev in Deva]

GREEK MEDALS by GEORGE STRATOUDAKIS.

WAR CROSS 1916 - 17,

devices on ribbon denote:-

1st Class : Bronze Laurel branch.

2nd Class : Bronze Star on the ribbon

3rd Class : Plain Ribbon.

A small silvered star is added to the ribbon for each subsequent award to or mentioning in the "Order of the Day" to the same person.

So you can have a large Bronze Star with 1 - 4+ small silver stars,

or another example a bronze Laurel leaf and 1+ small silver stars.

Looking at the ribbon pictured its got the wrong size stars on it, correct would be:-

A. one large bronze star,

B. one large bronze star with 1-4 small silver stars

C. one gold, silver, Laurel branch.

d. one gold, silver, Laurel branch and small silver star or stars.

The Medal of Military Merit 1917 only had Laurel wreath as opposed to Laurel branch on the main medal ribbon, but on the small jacket ribbon a small laurel branch was worn in gilt, silver, bronze to denote the grade.

Kevin in Deva. :cheers:

[Tim B]

Thanks Kevin!

The Medal of Military Merit 1917 only had Laurel wreath as opposed to Laurel branch on the main medal ribbon, but on the small jacket ribbon a small laurel branch was worn in gilt, silver, bronze to denote the grade.

I understand now, the difference was just on the small ribbon and not the medal's suspension ribbon. That makes more sense and follows what Megan shows here as well: http://www.medals.or...e/greece017.htm

So, concerning the War Cross then; am I to assume the bronze star is supposed to be noticeably larger than what is pictured in Rob's example above? Or are the silver stars supposed to be smaller than the ones shown in both Rob's and the one I show? Either way, I take it to read they should not be the same size?

Regards,

Tim

Edited June 25, 2010 by Tim B

[Kev in Deva]

Thanks Kevin!

The Medal of Military Merit 1917 only had Laurel wreath as opposed to Laurel branch on the main medal ribbon, but on the small jacket ribbon a small laurel branch was worn in gilt, silver, bronze to denote the grade.

I understand now, the difference was just on the small ribbon and not the medal's suspension ribbon. That makes more sense and follows what Megan shows here as well: http://www.medals.or...e/greece017.htm

So, concerning the War Cross then; am I to assume the bronze star is supposed to be noticeably larger than what is pictured in Rob's example above? Or are the silver stars supposed to be smaller than the ones shown in both Rob's and the one I show? Either way, I take it to read they should not be the same size?

Regards,

Tim

Hallo Tim

From my understanding of whats written in the book on Greek medals, the one pictured above in post 8 should have a large bronze star (which would denote 2nd Class) with a small silver star under it and not a large silver as shown as it was never authorised for this award.

I will try to take a picture of the illustrations on page 36 in natural daylight tomorrow and add to this post.

Kevin in Deva

Edited June 26, 2010 by Kev in Deva

[Tim B]

Hello Kevin,

Again, many thanks my friend! I like to have good file PIC's for reference and unfortunately, there just isn't that much out there in the field of Greek ODM's; not that I've found online anyway.

Here's another example that has "muddied" the waters for me on these attachments. Yesterday, I thought perhaps this might be an example of one of those "last years of issue" pieces that utilized the palm (laurel branch) vice wreath but, after your clarification that the change only applied to the small ribbon (bar), I now believe this example is yet another fabrication.

Thanks again!

Tim

[Tim B]

I'm going to delete my last two posts here and start a separate thread on the "Military Medal of Merit", so this thread does not go off topic and sticks to the ribbon attachments. Should have done it initially, sorry.

Tim

Edited June 26, 2010 by Tim B

[Tim B]

Deleted and moved to new thread.

Tim

Edited June 26, 2010 by Tim B

[Tim B]

Hello Kevin!

Thanks for posting that image showing the ribbon attachments. That clearly shows a noticable difference in the size of the stars.

Also interesting, is the style of the "laurel branch", which looks strikingly similar to the French style "palm" used during the same time period.

What do you make of the one I show in the last post?

Tim

[makedon]

Thanks Megan, I think I once saw some small spiral devices attached to service ribbons for multiple awards. I searched for them everywhere I could, on the Net, on my hard disc and in the books on Greek awards I have - nowhere! Was it only me or were they real?

Hello Lukas,

The spiral devices were meant to be for some Air Force medals, but they were never issued. It would be interesting to see them, if they had ever been manufactured!

[Herr General]

Does anyone have pictures of the:

NAVY MEDAL 1925.

1st Class : Gold Medal with gilt anchor device added to the ribbon.

2nd Class : Silver Medal

NAVY MEDAL 1935.

ditto.

NAVY MEDAL 1974.

No devices.

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo H.G.

In the book I mentioned above page 56 shows pictures of

The Navy Medal 1925 but does not show the gilt anchor.

Also a picture of the 1935 Navy Medal but with no devices.

and there is a picture of the 2 classed of the 1974 Navy Medal.

If you like I will take pictures and add to this thread.

Kevin in Deva. :cheers:

[Herr General]

HI Kevin,

That would be great! Please post some photo's?

[Kev in Deva]

Sorry for the quality my scanner is sick, so I used my camera.

Kevin in Deva.

[Kev in Deva]

Kevin in Deva.

[Kev in Deva]

Will try for better pictures in daylight as the electric light has cast a yellow tinge to the pages.

Kevin in Deva.

[makedon]

Navy medals, Gold and Silver, 1974