The King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom is a British medal for award to foreign nationals who aided the Allied effort during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Eligibility
Instituted on 23 August 1945, the medal was a reward to foreign nationals for acts of courage in furtherance of the interests of the British and Allied cause during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Many were awarded to members of
resistance groups in German-occupied Europe, including for helping British servicemen evade the enemy or escape from occupied areas, and for supplying key intelligence.
[Awardees who supplied intelligence included: ]Torstein Raaby
Torstein Pettersen Raaby (6 October 1918 – 23 March 1964) was a Norwegian telegrapher, resistance fighter and explorer. He is known as a crew member on the Kon-Tiki expedition.
Biography
Raaby was born in the village of Dverberg on the island ...
and Haakon Sørbye. The award was open not only to civilians, but also to military personnel for services outside the scope of normal military duties.
Distribution of the medal began in 1947. Around 3,200 medals were awarded.
[
People who had made a deserving effort to further the British and Allied cause during World War II in less dangerous ways were eligible for the award of the ]King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom
The King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom is a British medal instituted by King George VI on 23 August 1945. It was awarded to civilian foreign nationals, mainly of allied countries, who had given meritorious service to further the int ...
.[
]
Description
The medal is silver, circular and 36 mm in diameter. The obverse shows a left facing crowned portrait of King George VI, surrounded by the inscription "GEORGIVS VI D: G: BR: OMN: REX ET INDIAE IMP:" The reverse bears the inscription "THE KING'S / MEDAL FOR / COURAGE / IN THE CAUSE OF / FREEDOM" in five lines, with the word courage in larger font than other words. The inscription is surrounded by a chain. The medal is suspended from a ring and has a 32 mm wide white ribbon with two narrow blue centre stripes and red edge stripes.[
]
Notable recipients
* Janine de Greef (1925–2020), a member of the Comet Line in the Belgian resistance, exfiltrating evacuees and Allied airmen from occupied Belgium to Spain.
*Catherine Dior
Ginette Dior (2 August 1917 – 17 June 2008), better known as Catherine Dior, was a French resistance fighter during World War II. Involved with the Franco-Polish intelligence unit F2 from November 1941, she was arrested in Paris in July 1944 by ...
(1917-2008), a member of a Polish intelligence unit based in France, and sister of the fashion designer Christian Dior
Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...
.
* George Doundoulakis (1921-2007), Greek American
Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and OSS agent who aided British soldiers after the Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete (german: Luftlandeschlacht um Kreta, el, Μάχη της Κρήτης), codenamed Operation Mercury (german: Unternehmen Merkur), was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island ...
, led a Cretan organisation under Christopher Montague Woodhouse
Christopher Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington, (11 May 1917 – 13 February 2001) was a British Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford from 1959 to 1966 and again from 1970 to 1974. He was also a visitin ...
, Thomas Dunbabin
Thomas James Dunbabin DSO (12 April 1911 – 31 March 1955), was an Australian classicist scholar and archaeologist of Tasmanian origin, as well as a renowned WWII soldier in Crete.
Early life
He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 12 April 1911. ...
, and Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...
, and designed the Arecibo Antenna, the world's largest radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
*Lykele Faber Lykele Faber, also given as Lijkele Faber ( Koudekerk aan den Rijn, 14 September 1919 - Vernon, British Columbia, 3 October 2009) was a Dutch commando and radio operator during World War II. He took part in the Battle of Arnhem and helped organize t ...
(1919-2009), Dutch commando and radio operator who took part in the Battle of Arnhem
The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity fro ...
and helped organise the Dutch resistance.
*Petrus Wijtse Winkel
Petrus Wijtse Winkel (13 June 1909 – 21 April 2012) was a Dutch colonial administrator in the Netherlands East Indies and centenarian. He is known for helping British military personnel escape the Dutch East Indies under Japanese occupation o ...
(1909-2012), Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
administrator who rescued shipwrecked Britons and allowed them to escape the Japanese invaders by giving them his boat.
See also
*Allied Subjects' Medal
The Allied Subjects' Medal was a British decoration, distributed by the Foreign Office, to citizens of allied and neutral countries who gave assistance to British and Commonwealth soldiers, mainly escaped prisoners of war, behind enemy lines betwe ...
(World War I)
*King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom
The King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom is a British medal instituted by King George VI on 23 August 1945. It was awarded to civilian foreign nationals, mainly of allied countries, who had given meritorious service to further the int ...
*Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
(USA)
* Tedder certificate
References
{{reflist
External links
"King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom. 1945"
''Orders and Medals Society of America''
''British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999''
Civil awards and decorations of the United Kingdom
Awards established in 1945
Prisoner-of-war medals
Military awards and decorations of World War II