A pair of medals that are not expected.

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

The medals of Herbert Ponting, from the Morton & Eden catalogue 29 / 28 November 2007 #1298:

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[TracA]

No One,

 

Very interesting. 

I note in Rich Catalano’s The Imperial Ordinances for War and Commemorative Medals of Japan and Manchukuo he states the award criteria on p. 18 and there is the following sentence: “[t]hose who performed a special service at the front [emphasis added] as well as those who were in the Army or Navy who were elsewhere performing military functions”. Perhaps if one were a war correspondent and the Japanese government felt that his reporting was beneficial and of service to Japan’s cause, he could be awarded the medal.

 

In fact, in his article on The Evolution of Imperial Japan’s War Medals (War Relics Forum, p.6: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/japanese-militaria/evolution-imperial-japana-s-war-medals-1875-1945-a-610821-6/) 

Nick Komiya explicitly states in his post from 03-21-2017, 03:26 PM that military observers and war correspondents could be awarded the medal while implying that some of the as many as 500 awards of the medal to foreigners were such.

 

What a storied pair of medals to own.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy

[No one]

Dear TracA,

 

I am grateful for your message. I was aware that this war medal was given to foreigners, but I was pleased to see it proved in pictures and documents.

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[Gordon Craig]

No One,

Thanks for posting this extremely interesting story of the man and his medals.  Well beyond the financial reach of many of us of great use to those of us interested in Japanese and Arctic medals.

Regards,

Gordon