Quiztime

[Prosper Keating]

Here is a group of medals to a brave Frenchman. I have the full size medals. These are his miniatures, except for the Ministry of the Interior meritous service medal. The full size group includes the Legion d'Honneur, the several stars and palms on his Croix de Guerre and his Resistance Medal. OK...so tell me what he did, based on the medals you see here. He was quite a special man and he survived to work at the Interior Ministry after WW2.

Prosper Keating

[Ian Jewison]

Sell his medals?

[Prosper Keating]

Originally posted by Ian Jewison
Sell his medals?

Actually, he didn't. He died but his son's wife had a clearout and flogged the medals to a numismatist who keeps an eye out for medals for me. The next time the woman is up in Paris, she says she'll bring all the papers and photos and that there are German ID cards etc amongst them.

PK

[Ian Jewison]

Although I haven't got a clue what any of the medals are it does look a really nice group!!

Looking forward to seeing more...and what he actually did!

/Ian

[David S]

I will say he was a Fireman

On the second bar medals #3 and #5 confuse me, did he receive both???

That is an impressive lot!!

[Chris N]

I know what all of the medals are on bar#1.

However I cant make out bar#2...

But here goes; Resistance, then joined into the army. He was a Dunkrik man(?) "wisked" over to England, came back to France and survived WW2

Atleast thats what I can make out.

[Christian L]

please show the full sice bar too
it's really interesting - especially when you get all of this soldier!
christian

[Prosper Keating]

Here are his fullsize medals as he would have worn them. The War Service Medal and Volunteer clasp for WW1 is missing but the rest are there. He was admitted to the Legion d'Honneur in the 1950s. Note the Order of Social Merit from the Ministry of Labour. He got that in the 1930s. So...he served in the army in WW1 with distinction. He was obviously mobilised in 1939 and received the Croix de Guerre again. Then, after the armistice in 1940, he continued to fight for France. But he paid a very high price for this. The medals tell it all. Look at the Resistance Medal. There's a clue there if you really know your French medals. He wasn't an officer or anything. He was a Normal Joe, a guy who served with distinction as an NCO in both wars and as a humble civil servant between and after the wars. But what happened to him? Come on! Medals were invented so that generals could tell a man's military service at a glance...

Prosper

[Prosper Keating]

Originally posted by David S
I will say he was a Fireman

On the second bar medals #3 and #5 confuse me, did he receive both???

That is an impressive lot!!

The medals are indeed the same but the difference lies in the ribbons. Not a bad guess at Fireman. Firemen in France are ranked as «fonnctionnaires» or civil servants. He was a civil servant but more of an administrative man.

PK

[bhholst]

Hello Prosper:
Our fellow was clearly a member of the Resistance . Deported for resistance activities ( Medal for those deported or interned for resistance activities). also received the Cross of the Combatant Volunteer of the Resistance besides other decorations. A most patriotic fellow !
Bernhard H. Holst

[McCulloh]

Actually, I think he ended up in a KZ by the second "imprisonment' medal.
Is this a Gaullist chap who was in the 1940 army, went to the UK, fought in uniform in North Africa (is the star a colonial merit award?) and somehow got back into France during the Occupation, only to caught, deported and badly hurt? Is that a wound medal?
perhaps he was in a POW camp in both wars?
Just a guess. Nice looking group.
Cheers,
JeMc
p.s. Whats the status of "fakes" in the French medal area?Are there a lot, or lots of "reissues" like in the USA?

[Rick Research]

Very strange looking Wound Medal star-- I don't think I've ever seen two that were the same. And yes plese tell us what the TWO different ribboned "detainee" medals are for.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Must have been an older guy, served in WW1 and WW2...

[Prosper Keating]

Originally posted by Rick Lundström
Very strange looking Wound Medal star-- I don't think I've ever seen two that were the same. And yes plese tell us what the TWO different ribboned "detainee" medals are for.

La Medaille de la Deportation et de l'Internement pour Faits de la Résistance was instituted in August 6th 1948. In English, that is the Deportation and Internment for Resistance Activities Medal. The ribbon with vertical stripes is for deportees while the diagonally striped ribbon is for those imprisoned for acts of resistance and rebellion. In other words, French Resistance men sent to concentration camps. This man was in Birkenau.

He fought at Verdun. He was a volunteer in 1914. He was wounded. He received the Voluntary Combattants' Cross and the Combattants' Cross as well as the Croix de Guerre. He also had the War Medal with Volunteer Clasp and the Voluntary Military Service Medal. In the 1930s he was awarded the Order of Social Merit by the Ministry of Labour, By that stage, he was a middle-ranking civil servant. When war broke out in 1939, he was mobilised. He won the Croix de Guerre in 1940. There is also a Vichy pattern CdG (1939-1940) in his effects. Demobilised, he returned to civilian life as a civil servant. In 1942, when the Germans moved to occupy the entire country, he began working for the Resistance. Suffice to say that he received the French Resistance Combattants' Cross as well as the medal (note that this is the London pattern) and also the medals for deportees and then internees. He was arrested in 1943 and ended up in Birkenau-Auschwitz. He survived to receive the FFI Combattants' Badge, the 1945 Victory Medal, the Legion of Honour (Officer grade 1954) and the Faithful Service Medal of the Ministry of the Interior. In short, a decorated and wounded WWI veteran recalled to the colours for the 1939/40 campaign in France before drifting into resistance work. He was arrested, 'questioned' and then deported from France, straight to a KZ Lager. He was later awarded the Legion d'Honneur.

PK

[McCulloh]

Prosper, whats' the bottom medal?
Also, I always thought that the FFI badge meant one was overseas with DeGaulle oor a Free French area. This is not true?
Can you educate me here a bit?
Merci'
JeMc