The Republic of the Philippines's Highest and Most Prestigious State Decoration

[snowpie]

QUEZON'S  GAMBIT

     Dr Eugene Stransky was an prominent Austrian physician of Jewish descent who specialized in hematology ( blood disorders) in the 1930s. In 1939 he found himself transported to the Philippine Islands to escape persecution from the Nazis.
   It was Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon who exerted that extraordinary Herculean effort to save as many Jews as he could (1,200 Jews) in their desperate hour of need. Although Quezon had many faults ( he was only human after all) by this single act alone, standing up for the oppressed, foreigners at that,  inspite of pressures from friend and foe alike, he is considered as a great Filipino President. 
       Thus you better watch the movie "Quezon's Game" while it's still running in movie theatres to see the story of Quezon's heroic act.
    
    That is why, the highest and the most prestigious decoration of the Philippine Republic is named after him - the Quezon Service Cross.
       
      Dr Stransky stayed in the Islands long after a Japanese were driven off. He practiced both adult and pediatric hematology and is considered the Father of Hematology here in the Philippines. I should know. I am also a Pediatric Hematologist.

    I have 2 medal variants ( one is convex the other is more flat)of this very rare, seldom seen decoration officially struck by Jose Tupaz of El Oro. One specimen  came from the famous Ramon Villegas collection.
      
       "SIC FLORET RESPUBLICA" ( Thus the Republic flourishes). These are inscribed in the medallion.

PS. The producer should have entitled the movie "Quezon's Gambit". It would have been more dramatic.