LANGUAGE in the UN KOREAN WAR MEDALS

[demir]

Gentlemen,

As is known according to the UN official web site :

"The Korean Operation was established between the period 1950 to 1954. The ribbon bears alternate narrow stripes of white and blue, the colours of the UN. Personnel were eligible to receive the medal after a period of 30 days service in the Mission.

The following countries provided troops to this Mission: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Columbia (UN doesn't know the correct word - Republic of Colombia), Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America." (India and South Korea Missing)

Some countries did get English version medals others their own languages. Taking this into consideration, is this a correct list:

AMHARIC : Ethiopia, DUTCH : Netherlands, (Belgium ? Maybe both Dutch and French) ENGLISH : Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Philippines, FRENCH : France, Belgium, Luxembourg, GREEK : Greece, ITALIAN : Italy, SANSKRIT: India, KOREAN : Korea, SPANISH : Colombia, THAI :Thailand, TURKISH : Turkey

Thanks for your help

Demir Erman

PS: My UN Korean War Collection:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=31830&st=0

Edited March 25, 2010 by demir

[JBFloyd]

The Belgian UN is in French and there was no Flemish version. French Canadians could receive the French version. I've never seen reference to a Sanskrit version.

[peter monahan]

An Indian Korea Medal is named in English - still part of the Commonwealth back then, before Republic status in 1959. There were two issues of the UN Korea Medal to the Indian Army, both named in English apparently. This site gives more Info: http://www.korean-war-medals.com/india/medals.shtml

BTW, Urdu is a lingua franca for many Indians of different linguistic/cultural backgrounds and is still, I believe, the official language of the Indian Army, as it was under the British. The script used to write it is called "Deva Nagri". I don't know its relationship to Arabic/Persian script. Sanskrit is an ancient language, used to write the Vedas [Hindu scripture] and only spoken now in a few religious sites and groups in India. I don't believe it is used for writing, except for religious texts.

Edited March 28, 2010 by peter monahan

[demir]

Thanks Peter,

The page answered all my questions.

Best wishes

Demir Erman

[demir]

Thanks to JBFloyd and Peter Monohan's threads and the web page of http://www.korean-wa...com/index.shtml created by J.P. Willsher

participants, language and the amount of the UN Korean War medals are :

KOREAN WAR PARTICIPANTS

1 Australian, 2 Belgium, 3 Canada, 4 Colombia, 5 Ethiopia, 6 France, 7 Greece, 8 Luxembourg, 9 The Netherlands, 10 New Zealand, 11 The Philippines, 12 SouthAfrica, 13 South Korea, 14 Thailand, 15 Turkey, 16 UnitedKingdom, 17 USA

MEDICAL HELP

18 Denmark; hospital ship "Jutlandia"

19 India; a mobile army surgical hospital

20 Italy; Itallian Red Cross Hospital 68.

21 Norway; hospital staff of 59 and administrative staff of 47.

22 Sweden; 200-bed mobile field hospital.

The UN Korean War Medals are issued in these languages and amounts:

AMHARIC, DUTCH, ENGLISH, FRENCH, GREEK, ITALIAN, KOREAN, SPANISH, THAI OR TURKISH

1 AMHARIC : Ethiopia 5,650 Issued

2 DUTCH : Netherlands 5,795 issued.

3 ENGLISH : Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Sweden, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America (in the reverse: first issue, letters: 2.1mm high letters on five lines and second issue in 2.5mm high letters on five lines. ) 2,761,732 issued.

4 FRENCH : France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada (French Speaking) 16,851 issued.

5 GREEK : Greece 9,000 issued.

6 ITALIAN : Italy 131 issued.

7 KOREAN : Korea 1,222,000 issued.

8 SPANISH : Colombia 1,300 issued.

9 THAI : Thailand 10,648 issued.

10 TURKISH : Turkey 33,696 issued.

Edited March 29, 2010 by demir

[Herr General]

The Greek version was awarded, by mistake, to a group of Dutch Korea veterans. You can still see veterans wearing a KOPEA clasp in Holland!

[Elvis]

Hello gents,

is someone of you

selling

or

swapping

such kind of medals with the clasps?

Or...

do you know, where I can get these things?

I only have the english version

Thanks