Southern Cross of Honor

[Obergefreiter]

I recently acquired this from someone on WAF. The photos aren't that great, but the back is inscribed "W.M.Harrison, 148th. F.A." It's numbered 953, and the seller included copies of the paperwork that went with awarding this medal. I had never even heard of these awards before, but it's interesting to see that the UDC awards them to eligeble people in all US wars.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Obergefreiter

[Greg Collins]

The qualifications for this award are that the recipient either has been in an established war zone (by established, I am referring to a hostile environment with it's own medal: Viet Nam, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, etc.) or other hostile zone for which an Expeditionary Medal is awarded (an example of this would be Beirut in 1983). The ribbon colour will change according to the conflict. So far, the requirements are virtually the same for membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Here's the catch: the recipient must be the documented descendant of a Confederate soldier or sailor. The Sons of Confederate Veterans has a comparable award, as does the Military Order of the Stars and Bars... although, with that particular organization, you must be the documented descendant of a Confederate Officer or cabinet member of the Confederate government.

Edited May 27, 2012 by Greg Collins

[Obergefreiter]

Interesting. Since I am from North Dakota, my knowledge of things Southern is pretty spotty in places. I see that mine is from WWI; Are there many of these awards floating around? If there are, I'm guessing farther South.

[Greg Collins]

There are a fair amount of these "floating around", though rarely for sale- families tend to keep those as cherished memories of the dearly departed- remember, we're talking Southern Culture here, and from baby boomers (me) back, that tends to be the way it is. Younger generations have a somewhat more relaxed approach. The three organizations mentioned so far (UDC, SCV and MOS&B) have chapters or camps (SCV terminology) in most towns or cities of reasonable population throughout the South. Here in Virginia, if you have at least one traffic light and a gas station, you probably have an SCV camp nearby. And, where these camps or chapters exist in concert with local veterans, these medals exist.

[Obergefreiter]

You learn something new every day. Thanks for the heads-up, Greg.