Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts

[stray_dog]

Hi all!

I would like to share a cased Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts, 1st type and also ask a question!

But first, some info: The Medal for Outstanding Acts was instituted on November 11, 1940, as a war medal, by law 2646/11-11-1940, which was redefining the whole of war medals. The single class 1913 Cross of Valour became a 3 class award (Commander, Gold, Silver), the 1940 1st, 2nd and 3rd class War Cross replaced the 1913 one and the Medal for Outstanding Acts was introduced as the lowest war medal.

According to the law it was "awarded for outstanding acts, continuous distinguished services, excellent ability in commanding and organizing a unit, acts of self-sacrifice for security and maintainance of legal order, to the ones oferring in any way great and valuable services in the interior during the war, to military personnel and civilians of both sexes, Greeks and foreigners, supporting in any way the country's armed forces, to officers and soldiers of allied countries offering great services for the success of the Struggle".

The Medal for Outstanding Acts was a single class award, awarded by Royal Decree, after a hierarchical report of the military unit (or public service for civilians). Being a single class medal, multiple awards were denoted by silver coated crowns on the ribbon, with 3 crowns as the maximum number.

Although the Cross of Valour and War Cross were redesigned, something "strange" happened with the Medal for Outstanding Acts: The newly instituted award was to be the 1916-17 Military Merit Medal 4th class with a "1940" bar attached to the ribbon. The 4 class Military Merit Medal was still being awarded in times of peace.

It is strange that the 1916-17 medal would be chosen, since it was an award instituted by the Venizelist government during WW1, thus lacking any royal symbols, designed by 2 French soldiers. This would later change with the 2nd type Medal for Outstanding Acts, which depicted the crown and royal monogram, in 1951.

Now, to the question: These 1st type medals have been produced by many Greek and foreign makers. Do any members here have any of them in their collections, so that we could compare them?

Cheers, Giorgos

The award in its case, which is bearing the royal family shield:

<a href="http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/?action=view&current=126-2676_IMG.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/126-2676_IMG.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Obverse

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Reverse

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Obverse closeup: Inscription reads "Defend the fatherland"

<a href="http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/?action=view&current=126-2673_IMG.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/126-2673_IMG.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Reverse closeup: Hellas 1916-1917

<a href="http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/?action=view&current=126-2675_IMG.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/126-2675_IMG.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The 1940 bar

<a href="http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/?action=view&current=126-2674_IMG.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/126-2674_IMG.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[stray_dog]

No examples or no interest in comparing these?

Giorgos

[Tim B.]

Hello Giorgos,

Sorry it's been so long for you to wait for any replies here; sometimes it's like that unfortunately, but Greek awards are not well known and I am just starting out as well.

First, here's one of mine; a cased 4th class Military Medal of Merit. This one is manufactured by ANAGNOSTOPOULOS.

Tim

[Tim B.]

What I can tell is, there appears to be at least 10-11 different manufacturers or slight variations to some of those manufacturer's designs. Some of the manufacturers are:

ANAGNOSTOPOULOS
KELAIDIS
SUE-RIVAUD - has the designer and sculptor's name on the reverse
ELLAS - reverse is undated (supposed to be the rarest).
HUGUENIN

There is also a six-feather version (most have seven feathers).

If you are still around, let me know and I'll try to share more what I know so far.

Regards,
Tim

[stray_dog]

Hi Tim!

I know it may take some time in the International Militaria Forum to get a reply from time to time, could be because of the fact that the subjects in hand might prove "tougher" than the ones posted on the other sections.

I 'm really glad to see a reply providing helpful info, I wish it will help the thread keep going and prove to be interesting for others, so that they chime in, too! I would really appreciate it if you shared more of your knowledge on these!

As far as I know, the "SUE-RIVAUD" examples are the oldest ones of the Military Merit Medal. The sculptor's and designer's names you mentioned are the names of the 2 French soldiers I mentioned on my first post, according to my reference.

I am really looking forward to see more info and examples posted!

Regards, Giorgos

[Tim B.]

Well, for now I can post a couple examples of some of the manufacturers.

You can see the difference in die characteristics between these.

Here's the example with the designer's & sculptor's name on the reverse. I understand there is also a version that uses a ring vice ball for suspension.
Tim

[Tim B.]

Here's an example by KELAIDIS.

[Tim B.]

And the ELLAS version with undated reverse.
Tim

[stray_dog]

Great info! Thanks! It is really interesting to see the difference in die features and quality. Some examples are even clearly non-symmetrical!

Regards, Giorgos

[Tim B.]

Hi Giorgos,

Well keep in mind that sometimes if the picture is slightly off when positioning the medal in relation to the lens, the arms can look somewhat distorted, or asymmetrical, in the PIC's. I don't have those examples, only used different sources online.

The other point I want to add here is the thread is titled "Medal for Outstanding Acts" which you show the initial version of. As you correctly stated in the initial post, the first issue utilized the Medal for Military Merit (4th Class) and added the 1940 bar. The medals I show are the variations in the Medal for Military Merit.

Here's the second version of the "Outstanding Acts", once they abolished the Medal for Military Merit and changed the design.
Tim

[stray_dog]

Hi Tim!

Nice pic of the "2nd Type" medal! Some info on this one:

The first type (Military Merit Medal 4th Class with 1940 bar, renamed) was issued for the last time in January 1951. The last people eligible for it were the first repatriated soldiers of the Korean Expeditionary Force. The wounded were awarded the 1940 War Cross 3rd Class. This happened only once, since the United Nations Service Medal for Korea was instituted and awarded to the next wave of repatriated, something that saved the prestige of the war medals as a whole.

The Order of January 29, 1951 predicted that the award would stop being issued at its then present form till the "2nd type" ones would be manufactured. It also mentioned that "1st type" ones were to be handed back to the authorities and replaced. There is no evidence if that actually happened and to what extend.

The "2nd type" medal has the features and design of the example pictured above, with the monogram of King George II, something that is strange, since he died in 1946 and was succeeded by his brother, Paul. First maker was the British Spink & Son Ltd, with the Medal still using the ribbon of the Military Merit Medal. That changed later to a yellow ribbon with 2 red stripes, similar to the former blue ones. The "2nd type" medal with the new ribbon was then renamed to Distinguished Conduct Medal, replacing the Medal for Outstanding acts.

Regards, Giorgos

[Tim B.]

Hi Giorgos,

I'll post some PIC's here for example purposes so those following along can see what we're talking about.

I have seen some with a darker blue ribbon with red/yellow? stripes along the edges, but I wasn't sure if the ribbons were correct or not. Do you have an example with that blue ribbon?

I even seen a Medal for Military Merit for sale recently with three black stripes on the suspension ribbon but, think that was a mistake on someone's part. It did have the 3rd class bronze wreath on the ribbon but I think the ribbon is actually for a Netherlands medal.

Tim

Here's the later Medal for Outstanding Acts with the red stripes vice black:

[Tim B.]

And, in 1974 the medal design changed again and is now the Distingushed Conduct Medal.

You can see they replaced the Phoenix.

Tim

[stray_dog]

Hi Tim!

The ribbons you describe don't sound familiar to me, it looks like some other medals' ribbons were mistakenly added to replace the missing yellow/blue or yellow/red original ones. The post-1974 Medal for Meritorious Service has a dark blue ribbon with red/yellow stripes, but these run along the middle... Do you have any photos of the ribbons?

The last picture you posted is actually not of a Distinguished Conduct Medal, but of a 1974 Military Merit Medal, which is now a 3 Class award, as opposed to the 1916-17 4 Class one. The present form of the Medal for Outstanding Acts (also found in reference as Distinguished Conduct Medal, something that can be confusing) is this one:

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt226/stray_dog/greece189.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

This award replaced the older one (1951-1974) according to law 376/6-4-1974 "On Military Medals". Royal insignia has been removed, since the regime changed in 1973. The award criteria remained the same as in 1940. Funnily enough, the law was not describing the medal's form. Some medals were unofficialy produced by order of the Ministry of Defence in May 1985 by Anagnostopoulos for the Army and the Air Force and later by the 301st Base Factory (301 EB), just for the Army.

Based on these unofficial examples, there has been an effort to standardize the awards' form during the same year, but that didn't happen till 17 years later, as late as in 2003!

Regards, Giorgos

[Tim B.]

Hi Giorgos,

Yes, I stand corrected on that last one I posted. Can get confusing sometimes and Greek ODM's are not my forte'.

One the last medal you show, is that the Navy version, as it appears to have an anchor in the center?

Regards,
Tim