One of my main aims in this blog is to try and find out why my Grandfather was awarded the his two Belgian medals, La Croix de Guerre and La Décoration Militaire.
I have now found the award of the medal in four different publications but none of them gave a reason for the award.
An article in Flight magazine on the history of 48 Squadron says that only 2 Croix de Guerres were award to men of the Squadron. The other Croix de Guerre was awarded at the same time to the pilot Lt. Norman Hunt. Hunt was not awarded La Décoration Militaire but instead was awarded the Chevaliers de l'Ordre de Leopold II which is practically a knighthood in Belgium.
I've asked on the Great War Forum for suggestions on where to find the citations and general opinion is that there unlikely to be one. A likely scenario is that Belgian government made the decorations available and the British Military Authorities made the decision on who to give them to.
So Reginald and Hunt might have just been chosen to represent the Squadron in accepting these decorations, but why these two men.
Was it a random choice or was there something special about them that pushed them to the front?
Is it a coincidence that a pilot and an observer in a Squadron are both awarded La Croix de Guerre?
Were they flying together on a patrol when some extraordinary event occurred?
Showing posts with label Medals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medals. Show all posts
Monday, 9 August 2010
Friday, 30 July 2010
La Décoration Militaire de 2ème classe
Daily Orders of the Belgian Army
While trying to find why Reginald was awarded the two Belgium medals I wrote to the Belgium War Museum to ask if they had copies of his citations. Unfortunately they didn't but they did send me this reply:
Dear Sir,
In response of your E-mail, dated 17th December 2009, I am honoured to forward you an extract of the Daily Orders of the Belgian Army, dated 5th February 1919, announcing the award of “La Décoration Militaire de 2ème classe” and “La Croix de Guerre” to Mister Reginald WHITE.
I am however, unable to provide you with a copy of the Royal Decree awarding these honourable decorations. If these decorations were awarded with a citation, it certainly would have been mentioned in the Daily Orders of the Belgian Army.
After the war, a number of honourable decorations were put at the disposal of the foreign military authorities. It was however up to these military authorities to decide who was eligible for these decorations.
Yours faithfully,
Dirk Vanginderhuysen
Adjudant-chef
General Direction Human Resources
Personnel Division
Notarial Under Section
Honourable Decorations
La Croix De Guerre
La Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) medal is a Belgium military decoration which was instituted on the 25th October 1915 and awarded to foreign nations for acts of heroism carried out on Belgium soil.
Reginald was awarded the medal on the 5th February 1919 as mentioned in the Daily Orders of the Belgium Army. I an struggling to find the extact reason Reginald was awarded this medal. If these decorations were awarded with a citation, it certainly would have been mentioned in the Daily Orders of the Belgian Army. After the war, a number of honourable decorations were put at the disposal of the foreign military authorities. It was however up to these military authorities to decide who was eligible for these decorations.
Medal Index Card
The medal index cards were created by the Army Medal Office near the end of the First World War. The detail the service mans medal entitlement, rank and unit. The medal index cards can be searched and downloaded from the National Archives web site.
From Reginald's medal card we can see that he was a Observer in 48 Squadron of the RAF with the service number 110761. His date of entry into the war was the 18th August 1918.
I'm not sure what the writing in the Remarks box means.
This card to be ????? to ????? when ??? war card is received. KW/9/1917
The medal card doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know but if researching a soldier from the First World War the medal index card is the best starting point.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
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