The Medal for Service in War Overseas ( es, Medalla por servicios en "Guerra Internacional") is a military decoration awarded by Colombia. Established in 1952, the medal was awarded in two classes to members of the

Military Forces of Colombia The Military Forces of Colombia ( es, Fuerzas Militares de Colombia, links=no) are the unified armed forces of the Republic of Colombia. They consist of the Colombian Army, the Colombian Navy and the Colombian Air Force. The National Police of Co ...

who distinguished themselves in action during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Background

The Medal for Service in War Overseas was established by Decree No. 812 of 1952. The medal is for award to members of the Armed Forces who serve in international conflicts overseas. The medal is awarded in two classes, an Iron Cross (''Cruz de Hierro'') and a Bronze Star (''Estrella de Bronce''). The Iron Cross was awarded to those members of the armed forces who distinguished themselves by meritorious devotion to duty during combat operations. The Iron Cross could also be awarded with a laurel device for distinguished valor. The Bronze Star was conferred by decree of the National Government to those members of the Armed Forces who served in international war. The medal is awarded by recommendation of the respective theater commander to the General Command of the Armed Forces. The theater commander provides the necessary documentation showing recipients have met the requirements for the medal. The Medal for Service in War Overseas has only been authorized for issue during the Korean War.

Appearance

The Iron Cross is a wide blackened iron

cross pattée A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...

with a beaded edge. In the center of the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...

is the

Coat of arms of Colombia The coat of arms of Colombia contains a shield with numerous symbols. Perched on top of the shield is an Andean condor holding an olive crown and the condor symbolizing freedom. The national motto, ''Libertad y Orden'' (Spanish for ''Liberty and ...

. On the reverse, in the center, is a ''

taeguk ''Taegeuk'' (, ) is a Korean term cognate with the Chinese term ''Taiji'' ( Wade-Giles spelling: ''T'ai-chi''), meaning "supreme ultimate", although it can also be translated as "great polarity / duality". The symbol was chosen for the design ...

'' with four

trigrams Trigrams are a special case of the ''n''-gram, where ''n'' is 3. They are often used in natural language processing for performing statistical analysis of texts and in cryptography for control and use of ciphers and codes. Frequency Context ...

and an inscription. Inscribed on the left arm is ''ACCION DISTINGUIDA DE VALOR'' and the right arm ''CAMPANA DE COREA'' (Korean Campaign). The Bronze Star is a faceted five-pointed star in bronze. On the obverse, in the center, is the Coat of arms of Colombia surrounded by a wreath. On the reverse in the center is the inscription ''CAMPANA DE COREA'' above a ''taeguk'' and trigrams. The medals hang from a ring suspension on an identical distinctive ribbon. The ribbon is white and is edged in yellow, blue and red, the colors of the

Flag of Colombia The national flag of Colombia symbolises Colombian independence from Spain, gained on 20 July 1810. It is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, blue and red. The yellow stripe takes up a half of the flag and the blue and red take up a quarter of t ...

. In the center of the ribbon is a red and blue ''taeguk'' and four black trigrams. Additional awards are indicated by a bronze oak leaf attachment on the ribbon.

References

{{reflist Orders, decorations, and medals of Colombia Military awards and decorations of the Korean War Colombia–South Korea relations Awards established in 1952