The Medal Collector Volume 49 Number 5

The two hand written lines noting the recipient are written in The author wishes to thank Mark Barnard for the illustrations blue fountain pen. The recipient of the illustrated certificate, used in this article. worked in the BRCS Stores Department at Silver Street, Bradford-Upon-Avon. His BEM (Civil Division) was References: gazetted in the Gazette supplement of 6 January Barnard, Mark, Notes and descriptions of medals from his collection 1946. He was listed as Driver, Joint War organization of the Joint War Cormnittee of the BRCS and the Order of St. John. Reports on Voluntary Aid Rendered to the Sick and BRCS and Order of St. John. His was one of six BEMs Wounded at Home and Abroad and to Prisoners of War; awarded to Joint BRCS/SJAB personnel in that Gazette. 1914-1919, with Appendices. HM Stationary Office, London, 1921, Section XIII

A NEW SRV COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL

Edward J. Emering, OMSA #6135

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has issued a new "official" of gilt hands in manacles against a light blue background commemorative decoration to honor its revolutionary soldiers surrounded by laurel branches. The red-enameled inscription (Cach Mang Chien Si Ghi Cong) who were held as prisoners on the medal reads Ky Niem Chuong (Commemorative of war during their various modern wars (France, U.S., Decoration) above and Chien Si Cach Mang Bi Dich Bat Tu Cambodia, and ). It is the SRV’s 34th official medal, Day (Revolutionary Soldier Captured by the Enemy)(below). and the second "official" commemorative medal. (The Fatherland Commemorative [Ky Niem Chuong To Quoc] was instituted on 26 January 1946 to honor those who served in the August 1945 Revolution.)

The lightweight aluminum POW decoration, issued in a single class, is suspended from a 1 inch red cloth hero- style bar. The pendant is circular in shape with a diameter of 1¼ inches. The gilt pendant features a pair

19 The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America The award of this official medal to former POWs is accompanied by a highly stylized award document with the SRV’s official seal at the top and the signature of its Premier at the time, Vo Van Kiet. Vo Van Kiet (code name Sau Dan) was the head of the Communist Party for Saigon, Cholon, and Gia Dinh during both the French and American Wars, and is one of the few southerners to have risen to senior political rank following the Se- cond Indochina War. The award document ex-ample pictured was awar-ded to Le Tat Dac and is dated 28 March 1996.

One should not overlook several important aspects of this medal. It is only the second official medal issued since the mid-80s. In a still rare Heroic Mother Decoration (Anh Hung Ba Me Viet country that seems to be issuing new medals every other day, Nam - see JOMSA, Volume 48, Number 2, March 1997). the status "official" is applied to a relatively small sample. There has usually been a two year lead time on the Elevation to the status "official" does make the medal availability of new official medals in the relatively small significant from a collecting standpoint. There is, however, American collecting market for SRV medals. also the political significance of pointing out to the world, which has long held communist Vietnam accountable for the The small photo on the previous page shows Nguyen Huu American POW/MIA issue, that the Vietnamese communist Thanh, a prisoner of Vietnam’s French colonial government forces also suffered many hardships and made great sacrifices from 1950 to 1954. In addition to the POW Commemorative during their elongated period of serial wars. Medal (far right) he wears the Victory Order Third Class and a Ho Chi Minh Badge. This medal has just started to appear on the American market, but is certain to arrive soon, close on the heels of the

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HERO OF THE SKY: High Times with

Murray A. Louis, OMSA #6132

Sometime in late 1997, I received a small parcel in the mail, seen my name in connection with the 1997 OMSA con- hand-addressed and clad in a wrapping constructed from a vention in . The note accounted for the pieces as brown bag and tied with thread covered by scotch tape. having been received by the sender from an "Italian lady." Inside were four medals and a note saying that the writer had

20 The Medal Collector Volume 49 Number 5

Regrettably, I have Savoia Marchetti S-55 from to in mislaid the note, but 1925. The plane, designed by Marchetti of the Societa at the time I received ldrovolanti Alta ltalia, was produced in two versions as both it I examined the four a military and a civil flying boat. enclosures, two of which were ribboned, De Pinedo, accompanied by co-pilot Captain one lacking a ribbon, and a mechanic, flew from Rome via Morocco and Dakar to plus a 1½ inch , , arriving on 24 . bronze table medal Subsequently the S-55m named the Santa Maria, headed for featuring a bust of points in the West Indies, , and . Following at a tour of the , de Pinedo flew from a point in about age 40 on the to , where fuel on the surface of the water obverse and a vast ignited, destroying the Santa Maria. The crew survived, but amount of Italian Italian dictator Mussolini used the occasion to suggest that prose on the reverse. the fire was the result of arson, and was a case of"anti-Fascist The note said that if sabotage." the medals were worth anything I The Santa Maria H should send (him) was dispatched to "some money." I im- City to mediately sent a fetch de Pinedo and nominal amount in his companions, de- cash, along with a parting on 23 May note averring that I knew nothing about any of the items, but 1927, the day the would investigate further and share in any possible colossal world was celebra- monetary return. ting Charles A. Lindbergh’s trium- Then I forgot about the medals until I chanced on an entry in phant trans-Atlantic an auction catalog from Steffen’s Historical Militaria crossing. The visit (Catalog 217-S), featuring the following medal: to Philadelphia ob- viously fits the time Italian 1927 Sea Plane Flight Commemorative medal, frame of de Pine- bronze planchet, obverse depicts profile of Francesco de do’s departure from Pinedo, reverse presents sea plane with border the United States. inscription: GLI ITALIANI IN RECORDO DELLA SUA VENUTA A PHILADELPHIA MAGGIO 1927. Dark aged Based on material patina, lacking ribbon, scarce... obtained via the Internet, de Pinedo The catalog thus described one of the medals I had received was a general by from my now-anonymous sender. The pendant is suspended 1928. (See next page) from a red, white, and green silk ribbon with a safety pin on the reverse in lieu of a brooch. The medal in question was obviously struck to honor de Pinedo on the occasion of a Philadelphia visit. As for the Further research of the medal produced a fascinating tale of remaining medals, they may be the subject of another article, derring-do, failure, Fascist politics, and the state of aviation although they commemorate easily recognizable events and in the late 1920s, coupled with irony and the rise of Major the are perhaps unworthy of additional research. In the Marquis Francesco de Pinedo. meantime, I’ll keep looking for my sender’s note.

The obverse of the medal reads AI Commandante Marchese Sources: Francesco de Pinedo. Eroe dei cieli. This translates as To Erode, Heiner and Carlo Demand, Conquerors of the Air. Major the ~’arquis Francesco de Pinedo. Hero of the Sky. Coppa Acerbo Album, Internet

Relying heavily on Conquerors of the Air by Heiner Erode and Carlo Demand, I learned that de Pinedo had flown a

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