The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America Pressure, Indonesia Agreed on 12 September 1999 to UN the Badge of the Medal Is an Eight-Pointed, Beveled Star
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The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America pressure, Indonesia agreed on 12 September 1999 to UN The badge of the medal is an eight-pointed, beveled star. intervention to restore law and order. Eight days later, In the center of the obverse is a medallion containing the the first contingent of an International Force for East triservice emblem of the SAF on a dark blue cabochon. Timor (INTERFET) arrived at Dili. Led by Australia, The reverse is plain except for the semicircular inscrip- INTERFET would reach a strength of 9,500 troops from tion FOR OVERSEAS SERVICE in English. The stripes 19 nations, including 200 support personnel from the of the suspension ribbon are purple (13mm), yellow U.S. (3mm), dark green (2mm), yellow (3mm), and purple (13mm). A short swiveling suspender connects the badge On 25 October 1999, the UN created the UN Trans- to the ribbon. The badge, suspender, and clasp have a itional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). polished-silver finish. UNTAET replaced UNAMET and assumed control of all UN military operations in East Timor. Concurrently, Australia INTERFET was gradually replaced by a UN peace- keeping force of some 9,100 troops and 1,600 policemen INTERFET Campaign Medal and "East Timor" from 47 nations. INTERFET was officially terminated Clasp to the Australian Active Service Medal on 23 February 2000. On 7 March 2000, the Australian Government announced United Nations the approval of an INTERFET Medal for members of the Australian Defence Force who served in the East Timor UNTAET Medal operational area for at least thirty days. This medal is in addition to the "East Timor" clasp that was established Little information about this recently approved medal is for the Australian Active Service Medal. Criteria for the presently available except that it consists of the standard clasp are one day’s service on the posted strength of a bronze UN peacekeeping badge and a distinctive ribbon, unit or formation, or personally assigned to or actually which has stripes of light blue (9mm), red (2mm), yellow stationed in the East Timor operational area. (2mm), white (Smm), yellow (2mm), red (2mm), and light blue (9rnm). The light blue stripes symbolize the UN presence in East Timor, the center white stripe re- flects hope and peace, and the red (crimson) and yellow ("sunshine" yellow) stripes represent the "brilliant and spectacular sunrise and sunsets experienced in East Timor." Singapore "EAST TIMOR 2000" Clasp to the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Medal The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Overseas Medal is awarded to SAF personnel who have participated in overseas missions and operations, such as UN peace- keeping missions and international relief operations. To date, 325 Overseas Medals with the "EAST TIMOR 2000" clasp have been awarded to SAF personnel for service in either INTERFET or UNTAET. Singapore’s contribution to INTERFET was a medical team, a C-130 transport aircraft, and two Landing Ships (Tank), the RSS Excellence and the RSS Intrepid, which provided Left - UNTAET Medal, Right - SAF Overseas Medal the bt~ of seabome logistics support from Darwin, Aus- tralia, to Dili. 23 Volume 51 Number 5 The Socialist Romanian Order, Medal, and Badges of Tudor Vladimirescu Charles H. Pankey, OMSA No. 6275 odem day Romania consists of the old provinces M of Walachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. Turk- ish suzerainty was exercised over Walachia and Moldavia from 1416 and 1456, respectively, until 1877. Strongly linked to Russia by the Orthodox Christian religion, a number of Romanian princes in the 14th cen- tury began endorsing Russian aspirations against the Ottoman Empire (1300-1922). These Romanian princes cooperated militarily with Russia against the Ottoman Empire, which ultimately led to the joint Russian - Romanian defeat at the Pint River in 1711. To remove any future threat by the Romanian princes, the Ottoman Sultan replaced the native princes with Greeks from the Phanar District in Constantinople (Phanariots). The Phanariots exploited the wealth of the Romanians and sought to dominate the secular and ecclesiastical affairs of Moldavia and Walachia. Tudor Vladimirescu (ca. 1780-1821) was a prominent businessman and former military commander. In 1821, Vladimirescu led a revo- lution that was suppressed by the Turks but forced the replacement of the Phanariots by the native Romanian princes. This revolution also began the process that resulted in the fall of feudalism and the ultimate creation of the modem Romanian state. Order of Tudor Vladimirescu The Order of Tudor Vladimirescu was established on 13 April 1966 by Decree No. 272 published in Buletinul Oficial 16. It was conferred to Romanian military per- sonnel and civilians and to foreigners for meritorious participation in the formation of socialist Romania and for advancing the cause of Romanian socialism. The order was subdivided into five classes, although the Top - First Class Star of the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu insignia for each class only consisted of a breast star Bottom - Early Variant of the First Class Star 65.5mm in width by 69mm in height and a ribbon bar. Both the star and ribbon bar have a distinguishing fea- ture or several features that indicate the class of the Vladimirescu with his head turned to the left, and flank- order. ing the head are the semicircular inscriptions 1821 . TUIIOR (left) and VLAIIlMIRESCU (right). The re- The star is basically a circular medallion bordered by a verse of the star for all classes is plain with a horizontal narrow wreath that is surrounded by ten groups of pin near the top. The distinguishing feature(s) of the ascending rays, each group containing rays of irregular star by class are as follows: length. In the center of the medallion is a bust of Tudor 24 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Societ~ of America ¯ First Class - The bottom seven rays are joined by A variant of the First and Second Class star has been a wreath with fourteen mounted brilliants. The star is observed. According to one of the directors of the made of silver but is finished in a yellow-bronze color, Romanian State Mint, the variant was only issued to a and it is assembled from three pieces (rays, medallion, few early recipients. It is similar to the standard First and wreath). Three First Class stars in 18K gold and and Second Class star; however, the head on the bust of diamonds were manufactured for the dictator Nicolae Tudor Vladimirescu faces to the right, and encircling the Ceausescu (two stars) and his wife Elena (one star). bust is a band 2mm in width that contains the inscription TUDOR VLADIMIRESCU 1821. ¯ Second Class - Same as the First Class except it is made oftombac bronze, and the bottom wreath with There was also a diplomatic version of the star. These brilliants is omitted, i A small number of Second Class stars are identical to the standard First through Fifth stars were made of gold. Class stars except they are reduced in size to 41ram in width by 5 lmm in height. ¯ Third Class - Same as the Second Class except the tombac has a silver-colored finish, and the back- The ribbon bars of the order are made of red ribbon ground of the medallion is green enamel. A small num- 24mm in length by 7mm in height. The number of gold ber of Third Class stars were made of silver. stripes in the center of the ribbon indicate the class of the order beginning with a single broad gold stripe for ¯ Fourth Class - Same as the Third Class except the First Class and ending with five narrow gold stripes the background of the medallion is red enamel. for the Fifth Class. ¯ Fifth Class - Tombac bronze with orange enamel The Order of Tudor Vladimirescu was the third most for the background of the medallion. important socialist Romanian order after the Order of the Star and the Order of the 23rd of August. The order was accompanied by a monetary award of 2,500 lei 1st Class (equivalent to two months’ salary) for the First Class, Gold and Diamonds - 3 (Hallmarked) 2,000 lei for the Second Class, 1,500 lei for the Third Silver with Yellow-Bronze Finish - 150 Class, 1,000 lei for the Fourth Class, and 500 lei for the 2nd Class Fifth Class. In addition, recipients of the First Class Gold - 10 (Hallmarked) Tombac Bronze - 250 were given one month of vacation time, and recipients of 3rd Class the Second Class were given two weeks of vacation Silver - 50 (Hallmarked) time. Civilians wore the star of the order on the left Tombac with Silver-Colored Finish - 1,000 lapel of the coat, while military personnel wore the star 4th Class on the left side of the uniform jacket. No miniature Tombac with Silver-Colored Finish - 2,000 badges are known to have been authorized. 5th Class Tombac Bronze - 3,500 No serial-numbered stars have been seen. However, all the gold and silver stars bear the Romanian State Mint Diplomatic Awards "MS" mint mark and a hallmark on the reverse. The 1st Class - 30 gold hallmark is a man’s profile facing to the left, and 2nd Class - 40 the silver hallmark is the number "30" together with an 3rd- 5th Class - 50 each indistinct emblem. The gold or silver hallmark and the mint mark are stamped as a group on the top of the pin and on the body of the reverse near the center. Approximate number of awards of the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu Tudor Vladimirescu Medal The Tudor Vladimirescu Medal was instituted on the 1 same day as the order by Decree No. 272 published in "Tombac bronze" is an alloy consisting of 88 percent copper and Buletinul Oficia120.