Japanese Red Cross Medal?

[JensF.]

Which is the exact name of this medal and for what is it awarded?

[JensF.]

Back. Looks like real silver.

[Tony Farrell]

Japanese Red Cross Medals

What you have there is the Red Cross Medal - Regular Membership class.

The rosette denotes the Special Membership class, but would have been worn as a stickpin in civilian clothes and not on the ribbon of the actual medal.

The regular & special classes of medals (in silver) were identical, but the latter class had a full-size rosette on the ribbon.

Japanese Red Cross Medals

[JensF.]

Hello Tony,

many thanks for this information!
Is this an actual medal?

[Rick Research]

Oh yes, Very common in military groups-- in fact, I think more Japanese officers had it than did not. Silver is pre-war and harder to find than aluminum or alloy types.

[JensF.]

Is it awarded today or did it end with WWII?

[Tony Farrell]

The Japanese Red Cross ceased to be in 1934 (I wonder why?). After that date, ward practice centred on bayoneting patients rather than promoting recovery. Sanity returned after the war and the JRC was reformed. Whether the medals were re-instituted or not I cannot say.

[Ralph A]

Looks just like mine.

I also have a silver one that is mounted on a sort of "bowtie" arrangement (like those seen in the link provided by Tony).

I was told this was for women. Can anyone clarify?

[Tony Farrell]

I would assume so, as a ribboned bow is pretty much standard across the board for female awards.

[Paul Murphy]

Japanese Red Cross Medals

The medals which appear on the bow ribbon are indeed awarded to women. The Japanese stopped awarding the membership medal on cost grounds sometime in the 1960's or 70's as far as I am aware. The only medals which are awarded now are the silver cross of merit and the gold cross of merit. Of these, the silver cross of merit is now awarded as a "certificate" made from metal on a wooden plaque so the only wearing medal they have is the Gold Cross of Merit.

There were originally three classes of member; normal member (the medal you have), special member (which has a rosette in the ribbon colours on the ribbon) and life member (which has a pale blue rosette on the ribbon). In 1856 they introduced a Golden SPecial Members medla which is the special members medal with the design in gold colour. These medals are actually made from aluminium and if the gilding is weak it can appear as an ordinary special medal. There is also an Honorary Members Medal which is all gold and almost never awarded.

You can see examples of most of these in my site http://japanesemedals.com

Best regards,

Paul