Portugal - Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique

[beertje]

HI,

Is anyone familiar with this order or does have more information?? Its the one in the case....(Click on picture for bigger version.)

It belonged to a german WWII Marine Schnellboot- Captain along some WWII and "1957"medals.

Greets

martin

[Dave Danner]

HI,

Is anyone familiar with this order or does have more information?? Its the one in the case....(Click on picture for bigger version.)

It belonged to a german WWII Marine Schnellboot- Captain along some WWII and "1957"medals.

Greets

martin

Prince Henry the Navigator was one of Portugal's most famous explorers. The order is called "Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique" (Order of the Infante Don Henry) in Portuguese. It was founded in 1960 and is for maritime merit to Portugal, so presumably your Schnellboot- Captain was doing something in the water after the war too.

[Dolf]

As Dave points ou, it's indeed the Portuguese "Ordem do Infante Don Henrique", founded in 1960 to commemorate the 500 Years of the death of Don Henry the Navigator, son of King Don Jo?o I. The Prince Don Henry is the man who founded the School of navigators in Sagres, Algarve, of major importance to the Portuguese discoveries by sea.

(Please check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator )

I'd only add that it is awarded for (sorry in advance for the poor translation) :

- relevant services to Portugal, within the country or abroad

- for services expanding the Portuguese culture, or for the knowledge about Portugal, its History and values

It is awarded to Portuguese citizens and foreigners.

Please check this page (Unfortunatelly only in Portuguese) :

http://www.ordens.presidencia.pt/

Dolf

PS: Btw, I've just re-read your post and apparently you were mainly interested in the cased Medal!

I don't know about that one, maybe a better pic would help, but it seems to be a Medal commemorating the 500 Years of the death of Prince Henry.

Edited May 16, 2006 by Dolf

[Paul R]

It is a beautiful award. I would be interested in seeing the rest of the Captain's awards!

[beertje]

thanks for the info.

[Dolf]

Very nice Group!

I wonder what your Captain may have done to have WWII TR awards (he was in the Afrika Korps?) and Portuguese awards issued after 1960!

Dolf

[beertje]

Very nice Group!

I wonder what your Captain may have done to have WWII TR awards (he was in the Afrika Korps?) and Portuguese awards issued after 1960!

Dolf

Yes he was in the DAK....Destrouyed with his S-61 Schnellboot many boots....

Greets

martin

[Dolf]

Yes he was in the DAK....Destrouyed with his S-61 Schnellboot many boots....

Greets

martin

Thanks for the confirmation.

That obviously justifies why he got those German WWII TR awards, the funny thing is why he also got post WWII Portuguese awards! Specially that one which is more a civilian than a military award!

Dolf

[ErikMuller]

Thanks for the confirmation.

That obviously justifies why he got those German WWII TR awards, the funny thing is why he also got post WWII Portuguese awards! Specially that one which is more a civilian than a military award!

Dolf

Appearantly there was a fleet review (sorry if my English translation is wrong, in Dutch its a "vlootschouw") to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator in September, 1960.

A lot of non-portugese naval vessels took part in it. Among it were Dutch and German vessels. I have found a couple of Dutch naval officers which received the medal and a couple of Dutch captains which received either a grand officer or a commander in the order (and the medal).

[Dolf]

Appearantly there was a fleet review (sorry if my English translation is wrong, in Dutch its a "vlootschouw") to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator in September, 1960.

A lot of non-portugese naval vessels took part in it. Among it were Dutch and German vessels. I have found a couple of Dutch naval officers which received the medal and a couple of Dutch captains which received either a grand officer or a commander in the order (and the medal).

Erik,

Many thanks, that makes pefect sense.

Dolf

[ErikMuller]

Erik,

Many thanks, that makes pefect sense.

Dolf

Funny thing is that there also was a Dutch prince which was called Henry the Navigator.

He was Prince William Frederick HENRY, born at Soestdijk on 13 June, 1820 and died at Walferdange, Luxembourg, on 13 January, 1879.

He enlisted in the Royal Netherlands Navy on 13 June, 1830 (only 10 years old) and was promoted the only Admiral of the Fleet the Dutch navy ever had, on 7 January, 1879, only five days before his death.

Appearantly that was why the Dutch Navy was present with 3 ships (an aircraft carrier, a frigate and a submarine) at the commemoration. Strangely the submarine captain (Lieutenant-Commander Juta) only received the medal, where his 'larger' companions received both the medal and the order.