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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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

. 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 isl ...

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. The medal was awarded unnamed.

Notable recipients

* Janine de Greef (1925–2020), a member of the

Comet Line The Comet Line (; 1941–1944) was a Resistance organization in occupied Belgium and France in the Second World War. The Comet Line helped Allied soldiers and airmen shot down over occupied Belgium evade capture by Germans and return to Great ...

in the Belgian resistance, exfiltrating evacuees and Allied airmen from occupied Belgium to Spain. * Catherine Dior (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 and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

. *

George Doundoulakis George James Doundoulakis (October 18, 1921 – March 17, 2007) was a Greek American physicist and soldier who worked under British Intelligence during World War II with SOE agent Patrick Leigh Fermor, and then served with the OSS in Thessaly ...

(1921-2007),

Greek American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

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 cau ...

and

OSS OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

agent who aided British soldiers after the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

, led a Cretan organisation under

Christopher Montague Woodhouse Christopher Montague Woodhouse, 5th Baron Terrington, (11 May 1917 – 13 February 2001), known as C. M. Woodhouse, was a British army SOE officer, MI6 intelligence officer and Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) fo ...

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 191 ...

, 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 greate ...

, and designed the Arecibo Antenna, the world's largest

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), 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 r ...

* Lykele Faber (1919-2009), Dutch commando and radio operator who took part in the

Battle of Arnhem The Battle of Arnhem was fought during the Second World War, as part of the Allies of World War II, Allied Operation Market Garden. It took place around the Netherlands, Dutch city of Arnhem and vicinity from 17 to 26 September 1944. The Alli ...

and helped organise the

Dutch resistance The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...

. *

Rachel Harel Rachel "Didi" Harel (née Roos; ; 13 April 1923, Rotterdam, the Netherlands – 16 November 1989, Herzliya, Israel), was a member of the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis during World War II, and was awarded the American Medal of Freedom and the ...

(1923-1989), courier for the Dutch resistance. * Petrus Wijtse Winkel (1909-2012),

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

administrator who rescued shipwrecked Britons and allowed them to escape the Japanese invaders by giving them his boat.

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

Eligibility

Description

Notable recipients

See also

References

External links