The Medal of French Gratitude (french: "Médaille de la Reconnaissance française") was a French honour medal created on 13 July 1917 and solely awarded to civilians. The medal was created to express gratitude by the French government to all those who, without legal or military obligation, had come to the aid of the injured, disabled, refugees, or who had performed an act of exceptional dedication in the presence of the enemy during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
General Nivelle
Robert Georges Nivelle (15 October 1856 – 22 March 1924) was a French artillery general officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion and the First World War. In May 1916, he succeeded Philippe Pétain as commander of the French Second Army in the ...
in 1917 and the serious crisis of confidence in France. The French government thus wanted to thank those who, despite the crisis, were always volunteering. It has three classes: bronze, silver, and gold. Nearly 15,000 people and communities were recipients of this award. The medal is no longer awarded, the last award was on 14 February 1959.
Award statute
The Medal of French Gratitude was awarded following
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
to the following:
*Persons who, in the presence of the enemy, have performed acts of exceptional dedication, the duration of these services having spanned one year (Decree of December 2, 1917)
*Deserving communities (whose members were are not allowed to wear the ribbon or individual medal by decree of December 2, 1917);
*Citizens of Alsace-Lorraine who were deported, exiled or imprisoned, before 1 August 1914, by German authorities because of their attachment to France and those in the departments occupied themselves, for their courageous stand while exposed to reprisals (Decree of 1 April 1922);
*Prisoners of war, civilian prisoners, hostages and deportees because of exceptional acts courage and dedication for the allied cause. The inhabitants of occupied areas or Alsace and Lorraine who helped these people (decrees of 29 November 1926 and December 8, 1928).
Award description
The first model was a 30 mm in diameter circular bronze, silver or gilded medal depending on the level of the award, the design was by engraver Jules Desbois. The obverse bore charity personified by France supporting a wounded soldier. On the reverse at centre, the relief circular inscription "RECONNAISSANCE FRANÇAISE" along the circumference with at centre and a palm leaf on the right.
The second model is a 32 mm in diameter circular bronze, silver or gilded medal depending on the level of the award, the design was by engraver Maurice Delannoy. The obverse bears a woman wearing a Phrygian cap representing France offering a palm. On the reverse, the relief inscription RECONNAISSANCE FRANÇAISE around a wreath of roses surrounding an escutcheon bearing the initials "RF" (for ''
République Française
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area e ...
'').
The medal hung from a 37 mm wide white silk moiré ribbon with tricolour 2 mm wide edge stripes of blue, white and red, the blue being outermost.
Notable recipients (partial list)
French citizens
*Father Émile Blanchet
*Politician Raoul Bleuse
*Herminie de La Brousse de Verteillac, Princesse of Léon
*Doctor Alfred Cerné
* Suzanne Desprès
*Doctor Léandre Dupré
*Politician Charles Ehrmann
*Resistance fighter Charles Fenain
* Marquise Corisande de Gramont
*Paul-Jacques Kalb
*Lawyer Pierre Kédinger
*General
Marie-Pierre Kœnig
Marie Joseph Pierre François Kœnig or Koenig (10 October 1898 – 2 September 1970) was a French general during World War II during which he commanded a Free French Brigade at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in North Africa in 1942. He started a pol ...
*Resistance fighter Albert Kohan
*Writer
Camille Marbo
Marguerite Borel known as Camille Marbo (11 April 1883 – 5 February 1969) ''née'' Marguerite Appell, was a 20th-century French writer, president and laureate of the Prix Femina in 1913 and president of the Société des gens de lettres.
...
*Resistance member
Paul Rassinier
Paul Rassinier (18 March 1906 – 28 July 1967) was a political activist and writer who is viewed as "the father of Holocaust denial". Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul Robert; Jacobs, Steven L. "Rassinier, Paul", ''Dictionary of Genocide'', Vo ...
*Resistance member
Eric Reach
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse languag ...
Foreign nationals
*
Ettie Rout
Ettie Annie Rout (24 February 1877 – 17 September 1936) was a Tasmanian-born New Zealander whose work among servicemen in Paris and the Somme during World War I made her a war hero among the French, yet through the same events she became '' ...
, for her safe sex work among the Allied troops during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
*
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
, for his secretarial work with the Resistance cell known as 'Gloria SMH'
*
Lucile Atcherson Curtis
Lucile Atcherson Curtis (1894-1986) was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service. Specifically, she was the first woman appointed as a United States Diplomatic Officer or Consular Officer, in 1923; the U.S. would not establish the u ...
, diplomat
*
Barbara Borsinger
Barbara Borsinger (1892–1973) was a nurse from Baden, Switzerland ( Aargau), who was active during World War I and World War II in welcoming children, refugees, injured civilians and victims of the World Wars to Switzerland. She founded the Nur ...
Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde
John Alan Burns, 4th Baron Inverclyde of Castle Wemyss, KStJ (12 December 1897 – 17 June 1957) was a Scottish nobleman, the son of James, 3rd Lord Inverclyde and Charlotte Mary Emily ''née'' Nugent-Dunbar.
Education
He was educated at Eto ...
*
Marquesa del Ter
Lilly Rose Cabrera, Marquise of Ter and Countess of Morella (1864 – 29 April 1936), known as the Marquesa del Ter, was the wife of the 2nd and 2nd Count of Morella, Ramón Cabrera y Richards. Born in Paris, she was a pianist and feminist who fou ...
*
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...
, mayor of Boston,
*
Louis Dewis
Louis Dewis (1872–1946) was the pseudonym of Belgian Post-Impressionist painter Louis DeWachter, who was also an innovative and highly successful businessman. He helped organize and managed the first department store chain.
Early life
He was b ...
, activist on behalf of Belgians during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Marie Galway
Marie Carola Franciska Roselyne Galway, Lady Galway, CBE, DStJ (5 January 1876 – 29 June 1963), née Blennerhassett, was a British charity and civic worker and advocate for women's rights. She was married to Sir Henry Galway, Governor of South ...
Julia Green Scott
Julia Green Scott (February 14, 1839 – April 29, 1923) was an American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and landowner who served as the President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1909 to 1913. She was one of the ...
, philanthropist
*
Lotta Hitschmanova
Lotta Hitschmanova, (November 28, 1909 – August 1, 1990) was a Canadian humanitarian. In 1945, she helped to found the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada (now called SeedChange), an international development organization consisting of ...
Aline Rhonie Hofheimer
Aline "Pat" Rhonie Hofheimer Brooks (August 16, 1909 – January 7, 1963) was an American aviator. Rhonie had several firsts as a pilot and was one of the pioneering women aviation pilots in World War II. She became one of the first members of th ...
, pilot
*
Charlotte Kellogg
Charlotte Kellogg (May 21, 1874 – May 8, 1960) was an American author and social activist. She was married to American entomologist Vernon Lyman Kellogg.
Early life
Charlotte Kellogg was born Charlotte Hoffman on May 21, 1874 in Grand Island, ...
Anna Elizabeth Klumpke
Anna Elizabeth Klumpke (October 28, 1856 – February 9, 1942) was an American portrait and Genre works, genre painter born in San Francisco, California, United States. She is perhaps best known for her portraits of famous women including Elizab ...
, artist
Rachel Gertrude Moseley MM, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry FANY, ambulance driver 1918
*
Louise Mountbatten
Louise Alexandra Marie Irene Mountbatten (born Princess Louise of Battenberg; 13 July 1889 – 7 March 1965) was Queen of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until her death in 1965 as the wife of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Born a princess of the German ...
nurse with
British Red Cross
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...
, an aunt of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...
, later Queen of Sweden
*
Decima Moore
Lilian Decima, Lady Moore-Guggisberg, CBE (11 December 1871 – 18 February 1964), better known by her stage name Decima Moore, was an English singer and actress, known for her performances in soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Compa ...
*
Norman Holmes Pearson
Norman Holmes Pearson (April 13, 1909 – November 5, 1975) was an American academic at Yale University, and a prominent counterintelligence agent during World War II. As a specialist on American literature and department chairman at Yale Univer ...
*
Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough
Vere Brabazon Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough, (27 October 1880 – 10 March 1956), was an Anglo-Irish businessman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the fourteenth since Canadian Confederation.
Born and educated in En ...
*Harriet Rice, Doctor United States
*
Harold Ross
Harold Wallace Ross (November 6, 1892 – December 6, 1951) was an American journalist who co-founded ''The New Yorker'' magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death.
Early life
Born in a prospector's ...
, journalist who co-founded The New Yorker magazine in 1925
*
Hunter Scarlett
Hunter Watt Scarlett (October 16, 1885 – December 23, 1954) was a notable ophthalmologist, and is best known for his college football career for the Penn Quakers from 1904 to 1908. During World War I, he worked in both French and American m ...
Belle Skinner
Ruth Isabelle Skinner (April 30, 1866 – April 9, 1928) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist.
She was a daughter of silk manufacturer William Skinner (1824–1902) and his second wife, the former Sarah Elizabeth Allen (1834–1908). ...
, philanthropist
* Alfa Tofft, Save the Children after WW II
*
Frank A. Vanderlip
Frank Arthur Vanderlip Sr. (November 17, 1864 – June 30, 1937) was an American banker and journalist. He was president of the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) from 1909 to 1919, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 18 ...
, banker and journalist
* Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, president of the American Fund for french Wounded, New York Committee
Communities decorated
The Medal of French Gratitude was awarded to six French and eight foreign cities.
French cities
*
Annemasse
Annemasse (; Arpitan: ''Anemâsse'') is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Even though it covers a relatively small territory (4.98 km2 or 1.92 sq mi), it is Haute-Savoie's second ...
,
Thonon
Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is ...
and
Evian
Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year.
Today, Evia ...
1921
*
Céret
Céret (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It is the capital of the historic Catalan comarca of Vallespir.
Geography
The town lies in the foothills of the Pyrénées mountains, in southern France. ...
1946
*
Cerbère
Cerbère (; ca, Cervera de la Marenda) is a commune and railway town in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.Hochfelden 1947
Foreign cities
*
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...
(1953).
*
Mons
Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium.
Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...
(1920).
*
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
(1921).
*
Narvik
( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...
(1954).
See also
*
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
*
German occupation of north-east France during World War I
The German occupation of north-east France refers to the period in which French territory, mostly along the Belgian and Luxembourgish border, was held under military occupation by the German Empire during World War I. This entailed various im ...
*
Ribbons of the French military and civil awards This is a list of the ribbons of the French military and civil awards.
French national orders
French ministerial orders
French military decorations
Medals of Honor
French commemorative awards
Other awards
Order of precedence
Official ...