The Foreigners in my Medal Collection

[Nigel Marshall]

I've only ever had one foreign award in my collection.

It was one of only two awards of the Milosch Obilitch Medal in Gold to the West Yorkshire Regiment during the Great War.

Both were awarded for service in Gallipoli.

Cheers,

Nigel

[RNCVR]

That is a nice grouping Nigel, very seldom see the Milosch Obilitch Medal in Gold.

 

Thanks for posting,

Bryan

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear Nigel,

That is a tantalizingly brief look at what is obviously an extremely rare 15 Star/foreigner group to the West Yorkshires.

Many thanks for posting!

But who were the two regimental recipients? An Officer and an Other Rank, perhaps?

And what can you tell us about this unusual foreign award in Gold?

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[RNCVR]

Yes, agree, pls tell us more about award circumstances, was there a citation?

Must have been something notable to have been awarded the Obilitch medal in gold.

 

Also wonder why he was not also awarded the MM as well?

 

Thanks,

Bryan

[Nigel Marshall]

This group is for 11702 L/Cpl George Bradley. The other man to get the medal was 11346 L/Cpl Thomas Tahany. Both men were 9th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. 
I don't know why he got the medal. His records are online, but there's no clue in them. Nothing in the War Diary either.
I really don't know very much about the medal itself, other than it is actually gilt bronze, and not gold, and it came in two sizes, but there doesn't seem to be any distinction, or reason why. The medal pictured is of the larger size.

 

Cheers,

Nigel

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear Nigel,

Thanks for that. 

Not gold, but gilt bronze (typical!). An interesting comment of the parsimony of the Day.

I forgot to ask which Country "donated" the striking-looking award with distinctive red ribbon (which would have been distributed by the British authorities)?

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[Nigel Marshall]

It's a Serbian award, often referred to as the Serbian Medal for Bravery in Gold. There is a silver class, and a separate division for zeal, which I suppose is more akin to the Meritorious Service Medal.

 

Cheers,

[Keith_history_buff]

Presumably 11702 L/Cpl George Bradley & 11346 L/Cpl Thomas Tahany are on the lists in the following file, but I doubt it contains any citations, these files being of an administrative nature.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14727887

Reference:	WO 388/7/29
Description:	Foreign to British: Serbia.

 

 

[Nigel Marshall]

That's right, Keith, and you're right in your suspicions that the files don't include citations.
All that's in them is a set of index cards that include regimental details with the date the gazette notification was published. There is a book and page reference, but I'm not sure to what they refer.

The cards don't normally even tell you which award the man was receiving, unless there was more than one award from the same country. You have to go to the gazette bearing that date and find him yourself!

 

Cheers,

Edited 11 June , 2020 by Nigel Marshall
Clarification

[Keith_history_buff]

How many pages were there in that document, Nigel? I see the file is 96 meg, but you can't really determine just how many pages that will be.

[Nigel Marshall]

I haven't got the Serbian File, just the French and Belgian ones. Each page is single index card.

One of the French ones is just a little over 96Mb, and contains 186 pages.

 

Cheers,

 

[Nigel Marshall]

I've just downloaded the Serbian file.
It's split into two files.

The format is different to the French and Belgian files in that instead of it being a series of images of single index cards, it is more like the annotated London Gazettes for the DSO and Military Cross. It's like pages from the London Gazette, cut down the middle, into a single column, and that is then pasted into a book, with the dates of award publication in the Gazette next to each entry. The image quality is awful!

[Keith_history_buff]

I have the War Office Lists of gallantry medals to the French, and they are a similar format to the aforementioned Serbian awards to Britons file. The image quality is likewise shocking - was this once a photo on a roll of microfiche?

[Nigel Marshall]

Yes, I think so. The images certainly have the linear scratches that you’d associate with fiche being fed through a viewer numerous times.

It seems a bit unwieldy as an index. The file sizes are huge I intend to pick out the awards to West Yorkshire Regiment officers and soldiers and put them into a spreadsheet with links to the appropriate Gazette edition.
 

Cheers,