crewmembers of attacked or sunken vessels were The obverse (Figure 22) has a central stylized, winged, immediately entitled to it. feminine figure on a vessel with the surrounding legend: RECONHECIMENTO DA NA~O (Nation’s gratitude) and in small letters the year, 1952, and the name of the medal designer, ALVES. The reverse (Figure 23) has an anchor, and around the rim the inscription, MEDALHA COMEMORATIVA DO ESFOR~O DOS TRIPULANTES DOS NAVIOS MERCANTES DURANTE A GUERRA DE 1939 1945 (Commemorative Medal for the Efforts of Crewmembers of Merchant Vessels during the War of 1939-1945). The 30mm ribbon is in the national colors, green and red, with the typical bronze clasp. In the News Keith Payne, Victoria Cross Recipient,Honored Keith Payne, 72, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2006 Australia Day honors. Payne was the last Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, which he received while serving as a Warrant Officer Class 2 in the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam Figure 22: Obverse of the Portuguese Merchant Marine is South Vietnam in 1969. Commemorative Medal 1939-1945. Payne was born in 1933 and joined the Australian Army in 1951. He served in Korea with the 1 st Royal Australian Regiment and in Malaya with the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment, before going to South Vietnam. After he left the Australian Army in 1975, Payne served as a Captain in the Omani Army. In 2002, he was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. Payne is also entitled to the Queen’s Korea Medal, United Nations Korea Medal, General Service Medal with Malaya clasp, Australian Vietnam Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, The Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star from the United States, The Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star from South Vietnam, and the United States’ Meritorious Unit Citation and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm unit citation. From: The Herald-Sun; Who’s Who in Australia; and Gallant and Distinguished Service Vietnam, 1962-1973 Figure 23: Reverse of the Portuguese Merchant Marine Submitted by Paul Street. Commemorative Medal 1939-1945. 14 JOMSA King Farouk and His Awards being proclaimed, in 1951, as the King of Egypt and Sudan, he was deposed in July 1952. Owain Raw-Rees A couple of days after visiting the Abdine Palace, later I was visiting the Khan A1 Khalili, the historic souk area of Cairo, where just about every conceivable souvenir, artefact or every day object is available. While purchasing some miscellaneous medals and ribbons from one of the shop holders I was offered a large collection of black and white photographs - probably a court or newspaper photographer’s collection dating from the late 1940’s to early 1950’s. Figure 1: Group offive mounted medals displayed at the Abdine Palace. Included within this collection was a photograph of King In the summer of 2003 I had the good fortune to visit Farouk and some senior military officers at some kind Cairo and spent some time at the Abdine Palace, the of review (Figure 2). former home of King Farouk. The Palace now houses a museum, which displays the collections of arms and armor, silver and china of the former King. Also on display is a magnificent collection of orders, decorations and medals. As one would expect there is a fine display of the awards of the Kingdom of Egypt. Included among the display was a group of five mounted medals (Figure 1): the Order of Mohammed Ali, the Order of Ismail, the Order of the Nile, the Military Star of Sultan Fouad and the Medal of Meritorious Acts. Unfortunately this group was not identified nor attributed. From the composition of the group I suspected that it was probably that of King Farouk but had no way of substantiating my suspicion. Born in 1920 Farouk succeeded his father, King Fuad, in April 1936 at the age of 16 and assumed royal authority upon his 18th birthday in February 1938. At the beginning of the Second World War he endeavoured to remain neutral. By February 1942 his leanings became more anti- British and he was considering the appointment of a nationalist anti-British Prime Minister. This resulted in him being given an ultimatum by the British Ambassador to abdicate or appoint a pro-British nominee - he chose the latter and thereby undermined his prestige. The poor showing of the Egyptian Army during the 1948-1949 Palestine War further prejudiced his status, and although Figure 2: Farouk wearing the medal group in Figure 1. Vol. 57, No. 4 15 In the photograph the King is wearing his service dress Order of Mohammed Ali and a group of five medals - this group is clearly identifiable as that group now on display at the Abdine This Order was instituted on April 14, 1915 by Sultan Palace. Thus by good fortune I had been able to attribute Hussein Kamil and was the senior order of the Kingdom the group on display. of Egypt. It is named after Mohammed Ali (1769-1849) who was regarded as the founder of modern Egypt and its royal house. The regulations state, "Article 1. An Order is instituted which bears the name Order of Mohamed Ali, in memory of our illustrious ancestor the founder of our dynasty." Classes: The Order, subject to various amendments, consisted of: Collar. First Class or Grand Cordon - breast star worn left side, sash and sash badge. Second Class or Grand Officer - breast star worn on right side and neck badge. Gold and Silver Medal. The medals were the senior decorations for bravery for both army and navy. Two distinct types of the Order are known - Type 1 for the period 1915 to 1919 and Type 2 from 1919 onwards. The August 11, 1919 Decree not only modified the degrees of the award but also reduced the number of recipients, thus Year 1st Class 2nd Class 1915 30 100 1919 15 40 Collar (Figure 4): Eight enamelled links bearing the Arabic inscription MOHAMMED ALI interspersed with Figure 3: Formal portrait of King Faro uk. smaller Arabesque style links. The badge is suspended from an enamelled circular floral design with a small In formal portraits King Farouk (Figure 3) is usually red central bud. seen wearing the Collar and Breast Star of the Order of Mohammed Ali and the breast stars of the Orders of Collar Badge (Figure 5): A gold six-sided badge, Ismail and the Nile. It would appear that he tasked Bichay, bearing the central design and inscription as given below the Court Jewellers, to produce smaller examples of these for the breast star. The example on display at the Abdine orders in order that they could be worn on undress Palace is heavily decorated with diamonds. Suspension uniform. from the collar is by a loop attached tofleur de Iys point above the badge - a similar point is below the badge. These "smaller’ awards are of a comparative size to the Military Star of King Fouad. Conversely it appears that Breast Star - 1st Type 1915-1919: A six-sided plaque the Medal of Meritorious Acts was increased in size to with slight concave sides edged with afleur de lys style allow the group to have a balanced appearance. design (Figure 6). In the centre a circular boss with the Arabic inscription, MOHAMMED ALl. This is In other portraits of King Farouk in uniform the ribbons surrounded by stylised Arabic script, on a white are worn in two rows, three above two. The details of the background, which translates as "The three strengths of awards are as follows: the king are charity and justice and magnanimity." Stars of 84 mm and 98mm diameter are known. JOMSA .