Medaille d'Honneur avec Glaives en Bronze

[HERITAGE PLUS]

This award was gazetted, as below, to a man that I am researching in 1919. The family hold the issuing certificate for the award which is dated 1921.

358718 Private (acting Company Quartermaster-

Serjeant) Leonard Joseph Carter,

804th Area Employment Company, Labour

Corps (Swindon, Wilts. ).Medaille d'Honneur avec Glaives en Bronze

Is there anyway of finding out the reason for the award or is this a foreign decoration issued 'to selected personnel'?

Thanks

Dave

[healdav]

Quite possibly his name came out of the hat. Countries at that time, and maybe today, regularly gave medals to soldiers or people in other countries when, for example, there was a state visit.

In fact, the recipient country was often asked to propose someone to present it to. I have seen large files with the government discussing whether to give it to X or Y.

The point was that X had not had a nice new medal for several years, but Y was of a higher rank and whilst he had had a new medal only last month was of a rank that would normally get the medal in question.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Thanks Healdav. I was thinking along those lines but wanted to be sure my line of thinking was correct.

Dave

[ForeignGong]

Hi. I have found quite a few citations for foreign awards in War Diaries and they are always for some form of bravery, maybe not always in the face of the enemy, but bravery all the same. One chap I know of was awarded a Bel Criox Civique for saving some civilians from a bombed house and another picked up a Bel Croix de Guerre for repeatedly going across no mans land and supplying the troops holding the won trench with bombs. Another source is the local newspaper, but that can not always be claimed as accurate. Granted some awards are possibly given for the reasons given by Heldav, but I tend to think most are earned the hard way. My research has found that the majority of foreign awards to OR's tend to be awarded to Corps troops, as if the powers to be thought that DCM and MM's go to fighting troops and foreign to Corps troops. There are approx 698 Bronze awarded for WW1 and that includes all Commonwealth troops, so it is quite rare.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Thanks ForeignGong..

[ForeignGong]

I must also state that the Commonwealth authorities tended to do the right thing with foreign awards, in that they awarded foreign bravery medals for bravery and meritorious ones for the appropriate service. Your mans LG is here http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31393/supplements/7400.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Thanks FG