Belgium ID ribbon bar

[ringo]

I have a uniform of a Belgian General periode 1935 and there are quite some Belgian ribbons on it but i can't ID the last two foreign ribbons.

Can anyone help me please?

[Dave Danner]

Second-to-last is the Order of the British Empire, Military Division, on the pre-1935 ribbon.

[JBFloyd]

The last ribbon appears to be a Panamanian Order of Solidarity, second class.

[ringo]

Hello Dave and Jeff,

Thank you very much to identify the last two ribbons. I have antoher two questions about the medals,

=> is it possible to check out when my General received his OBE? Is there any service who register the names of the men/women who receives this medal?

=> is the Panamanian Order of Solidarity a rare medal to find in the class?

Regards

Ringo

[JBFloyd]

The Panamanian Medal of Solidarity is scarce in any class. Only 100 were issued to each of the Allies. The first class (in gold) went to senior officers; the second class (bronze with rosette) to Lt Colonels, colonels and brigadier generals; the third class (bronze, without rosette) to anyone else. Very few ever appear in the market.

The Order of the British Empire, as an honorary award to a foreign officer, will not appear in the London Gazette. I've never run into any foreign recipients listed in the 1921 Handbook of the Order of the British Empire, so he's probably only listed in Belgian sources.

[ringo]

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. I am not searching for the full medals because i like uniforms with medalbars on it, certainly like this uniform!

I was wondering, as there are not more than 100 medals for every country, would there be a list of persons who received the medal. I know King Albert I received one but thats the only thing i know...

Regards

[JBFloyd]

I know of partial rolls for British and American recipients (but don't have copies of either in my files), but I have never seen a roll of other recipients.

[love4history]

Hello Ringo

Very likely this is the uniform of Edmond Bievez: Received both OBE and Medal of Solidarity 2nd Class His other awards include a WWI Croix de Guerre with 2 palms (exact match with ribbon bar!), Ysermedal, Firecross medal, Commemorative and Victory Medal all of which are reflected in ribbon bar. I have him registered after WWI as Colonel (Res) with both the Knight's Grade of the order of Leopold I and the Order of the Crown both with palm. Both orders are reflected in the ribbon bar with the palms but in a higher grade, however if he stayed on in the military he might indeed have risen to General's rank and would have obtained a higher grade in the orders (together with the Military Cross 1st class which is on his ribbon bar)

You'll find a pic of him on www.tenboome.webruimtehosting.net/guldenboek/Guldenboekprojecttotaal/

Now you should probably try to find out more about his post-WWI career to verify I think.

cheers

Roel

[ringo]

Hello Roel,

Thank you for this very appropriate answer. By this answer i could finally ID the General. On the name tag there was the name of "Bievez" and we tought it was the other General Bievez - Bievez Léon ( as on this website http://www.ars-moriendi.be/bievez.htm ) and that the jacket was "updated".

Now i know it is a original vest periode '35 so thank you very much. Can you tell me how you found the men without any further information?

Regards

[love4history]

Hello Ringo

You're welcome. On the "Guldenboeksite" you'll find my name as one of the original contributors. Marc and I actually started up the project (mind you it would never have been finished if the other mentioned people wouldn't have come along) and while Marc had a more historical/genealogical aproach, I myself, being a militaria-collector next to a history buff, insisted in having ALL information indexed, including all the obtained medals and orders as well. I had precisely the type of question you posed in mind: to attempt to identify Belgian soldiers based on their awards.

The database (including the medals) was not completely put on the internet due to practical reasons and preferences but I do have it at home. Meaning I can also search for people based on the awards. In this case I looked for all the Panama-medal recipients, and as it appears only Bievez received an OBE as well. His other medals as mentioned in my earlier post seemed to fit the bill as well, and as it turns out now we have found the right man indeed.

Mind you: the info in these books is not complete (so neither is the database): by far not all veterans are mentioned in these books and the info is not always correct (the books were privately produced with no cooperation from the government so not to be taken for official sources). You have to get lucky to find what you're looking for. In this case we were.

cheers

l4h