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Today the Colombian National Order of Merit, a remarkably frustrating exercise as there are very few images to be found apart from some not particularly good ones on a government website. Perhaps this is due to it only having been instituted in 1981… but you’d think a few would have made their way out of private hands in 40-odd years! Still if I find better images I can always come back later and improve the ones on here!
I have unanswered questions. Is the Grand Officer insignia just a star? And I’ve found a vague reference to the order being amended in 2001 but not what was changed. Perhaps that was the image in the centre of the badge, as a 2006 reference suggests the arms of Colombia appear in the middle whereas every picture I’ve found has a stylised head there…
This afternoon I have explored Colombia’s Order of San Carlos, including finding and reading the Decree instituting the order, which has given my Spanish a good work-out! I haven’t found images of everything yet so if anyone happens to possess any and is willing to share… well, we’d all like to see them!
Thank you, Graeme.
I think the website gets quite a lot of visits, but people come to look and don’t say anything hence it seems very quiet.
It feels a bit mad to be rewarded for doing something that I do for fun!
This week I did get to the Order of Boyacá, a fascinating beast with no less than 7 classes plus a Grand Collar for the President of Colombia (and to particularly favoured foreign Heads of State). Not that I’ve managed to find a decent picture of the Collar yet!
I’ve overrun my usual time for medals, and dearly beloved will be wanting his dinner, so I’ll try to finish the Order of Boyacá tomorrow, seeing as I have the day off!
And thank you all very much… I was completely shocked (to the level of letting out a yelp that woke dearly beloved from his afternoon nap) to get an email yesterday saying that I have been awarded the OMSA Commendation Medal for these Sunday afternoon potterings through the Images Database. I am both humbled and delighted!
If anyone’s stuck, I can convert image files to .TIF ones… especially if you are happy to share your article images with the Images Database 🙂
Of course, if the Images Database has an image that would suit your article, do ask!
Hmm… off down a rabbit hole as I’d intended to look at Colombia’s premier order, the Order of Boyacá, but got side tracked into a deep delve of firstly the Centennial Cross of Boyacá – acknowledged as its forerunner – and then I discovered that there was a Cross of Boyacá instituted an hundred years earlier in 1819 for award to those who fought in the Battle of Boyacá itself! So I have been happily expanding my own knowledge before scampering on here to share what I have found out.
Lacking any opinions, I have started in on Colombia, beginning with the highest award for gallantry in action, the Military Order of St. Matthew – which can only be awarded for actions against a foreign enemy, civil wars and insurrection are expressly excluded.
The Military Order of St Matthew was created to commemorate the bravery of Antonio Ricaurte on 25 March 1814 during the War for Independence. Defending the hacienda of San Mateo, he realised that the main house – which contained the arsenal – was about to be overrun, so he blew it up with himself inside.
I am researching Colombian awards as I go along, so if anyone knows about them, their contributions – of information or images – would be very welcome!
Sits back in amazement… we have finished the medals of the German Democratic Republic!!!
The last two, which I added this afternoon, are the Medal for Faithful Service in the Voluntary Fire Service and the Medal for Faithful Service by Voluntary Helpers in Guarding State Borders. Many thanks to David Devine and Greg Collins for the images.
So, where next? Colombia? Or South Africa (which I’ve been doing on my own website this year)? Or somewhere else entirely?
Tiday I have added the Medal for Faithful Fulfilment of Duty in Civil Defence and the Medal for Many Years of Fulfilment of Duty in Strengthening the National Defensive Capability (which probably is a contender for the Medal for the Medal with the Longest Name award!)
Apart from long names, neither of these are quite what you might expect. “Civil Defence” conjures up visions of firefighters and disaster recovery… but the GDR lot were militarised and although they had a large volunteer component (for whom today’s medal was intended) they also had professional officers, full-time enlisted, and conscripts on the rolls. They did weapons training and could be called upon to defend the state as well as deal with natural disasters or major incidents. T’other one was mainly for people who provided goods and services in support of the defence effort.
Thank you for your kind words… but curling up in my corner and messing about with medals IS my self-care! Dearly beloved is eating well, sleeping quite a lot, and enjoying listening to many of his favourite books on Audible; although he doesn’t get around well and needs most everything doing for him.
And today’s “me time” has been spent adding the Pestalozzi Medal for Faithful Service to education from pre-school through to teacher training, provided it was within the educational system of the GDR from 1945, and the Medal for Faithful Service in Health and Social Services. There’s just a few more of these Faithful Service series to go then we are more or less done… unless I dive into the rat’s nest of the German Youth Organisation, and I’m not sure I want to try and figure those out!
Today I added the German Post Faithful Service Medal, another one that’s deceptively simple until you start digging into it, then you look round and the whole afternoon has vanished!
Added the Medal for Loyal Service in Civil Aviation to the East German section… all SIX classes of the beast.
But there’s more. King Charles III of the UK has finally awarded his first Royal Family Order (to his wife Camilla) so that’s been added to the United Kingdom section as well. The Royal Family Orders are a delightful anachronism, being miniatures of the reigning monarch presented to Royal ladies and worn on a ribbon bow on the left shoulder, but only in evening dress. A recipient may wear the Royal Family Orders received from previous monarchs (thus Camilla also wears one received from Elizabeth II). However Elizabeth II never wore her own Order, just two received from her father and grandfather.
There’s a whole raft more of Charles III medals to come, some new (2 or 3 are already here, the Coronation Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, and the Nuclear Test Medal) and some being releases of existing medals that bear the monarch’s head or cypher and need updating to reflect the change in management.
As promised, today the Medal for Loyal Service in Sea Transport. Slightly easier as although they changed the terms of award to make it a bit easier to earn, the actual medals did not change so I didn’t have quite so much to find… and 2 were here in our database already, thanks to John Fitzgerald.
BUT… I did make the critical mistake of noticing a new issue of JOMSA and going off to read that instead of adding more medals here. Sorry!
