Updated: 1 February, 2008

Belgium

• Military Medals Belgian Army  

   

• Belgian Orders Thibau Order of Leopold Order of Leopold II Order of the Crown

• Belgium Medals Hendrik

• Medals of Belgium Vangeyt Grégory

• Orders and Decorations Almanach for Belgium

• Medals of the World: Belgium Megan C. Robertson

• Medals of Belgium David Danner

• Bill's Belgian Medals In this site, Bill reflects on his large collection of Belgian medals, as well as items of interest to all medal collectors. There is also a Monthly Bulletin submitted by guess writers. (Sep 02)

• Belgian National Orders KRLM-MRA Order of Leopold - 11 July 1832 Order of the African Star - 30 December 1888 Royal Order of the Lion - 28 July 1891 Order of the Crown - 15 October 1897 Order of Leopold II - 24 August 1900

• Belgium Militaria For the last 20 years my father and I have been collecting Belgian Insignia, medals & Resistance items of WWII and have done a great deal of research about Belgian Prisoners of WWII and the "Forced Labour " in Germany during that period. Peter Verstraeten

• Honour Cross for Military Service Overseas (Erekruis voor militaire dienst in het buitenland) - Established by JSP-OCM Nr 712 dated 11 August 1997 and is awarded for long service in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Congo - Zaire and Ruanda - Urundi. Comes in 3 classes: 15, 10 and 5 years service.

• FORTIS President Maurice Lippens is made Grand Officer of the Order of Léopold II 
  King Albert II has conferred upon Count Maurice Lippens the honour of Grand Officer of the Order of Léopold II in recognition of services rendered. Mr Lippens lay behind the creation of the Fortis group in 1990. He is still leading its development, acting amongst other things as Chairman of the Fortis Executive Committee until the year 2000 and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. since then. companynewsgroup.com 9 Jun 04

• King issues royal honours list The Grand-Croix of the Order of the Crown is to be awarded to Walloon and Flemish tennis stars Justine Henin-Herdenne and Kim Clijsters as well as to Sister Leontine, former director of the Saint-Jean Clinic in Brussels and a promoter in the development of palliative care in Belgium. The title of Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold will be given to Helmut Lotigiers, better known as singer Helmut Lotti, and to Bernard Foccroulle, composer and director of the La Monnaie theatre. In the area of the sciences, the title of Commander of the Order of Leopold will be offered to Valentin Van den Black, currently president of Belgian and European scientific advisory committees, for his contribution to technological innovation. The title of Commander of the Order of the Crown will be given to Francoise Tulkens, European Human Rights Court judge and president on the Princess Mathilde foundation; to contemporary painter Roger Nullens; and to Suzanne Van Iper, co-founder of activity organisations “De Gulden, Zilveren, and Bonzen Passer” clubs. Other names on the honours roll include Dirk Dansercoer and Alain Hubert, who will receive the title of Officer of the Crown for their polar expeditions, and Modeste Van den Bogaert, general director of De Koninck breweries from 1950 to 2002, who will receive the honour of Commander of the Order of the Crown. Expatica, Netherlands - 30 Jul 2003

• Congo Commemorative Medal (Médaille Commémorative du Congo) Created by Royal Warrant on 21 January, 1929 to reward individuals who, between the period 1879 to 18 October 1908, contributed to the development  and civilisation of the Congo. To qualify for the medal, recipients had to have had lived in the Congo for a period of two years. The ribbon is 37mm wide, moire and contains an embroidered Congo Star. The ribbon cannot be worn alone. The last award of this medal was on 28 June, 1960. (Nov 02)

• Belgian Medals of WWI   Oriented towards air services

• Belgian citizen honoured with Vietnamese medal Zenon Kowal, Head of the Walloon-Bruxelles Delegation in Viet Nam, was presented with the Vietnamese Medal for the Cause of Education. The distinction was made in honour of Zenon's contributions to Viet Nam's education and training service in the past four years. He contributed to the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Association for the Promotion of Education and Training abroad (APEFE) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training on November 2 of 2002. He has helped carry out 21 education and training-related projects, including those on the organisation of bilingual classes, a cooperation project between the Ha Noi University of Foreign Studies and the Mons-Hainaut, a project on business administration training at some universities in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, a law training project in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, and an IT training project in the Ha Noi University of Technology. vnagency.com.vn 28 Jun 04   

• Belgian Govt Confers National Honours On Ooni, Tinubu, Six Other Nigerians Governor Tinubu, Oba Sijuade and Ambassador Peter Afolabi, former Nigeria Ambassador to Belgium were honoured with the Commander of the Order of the Crown. The other Nigerians who were similarly honoured are Abubakar Bawa Bwari, Chief whip, House of Representatives , Ambassador Maurice Ekpang both of whom bagged Officer of the Order of Leopold and Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, Knight of the Order of Leopold. Others are Chief Kunle Ogunade, Officer of the Order of the Crown and Alhaji Umaru Sanda Ndayako, late Etsu Nupe and Emir of Bida who was awarded a posthumous honour of Commander of the Order of the Crown. allafrica.com 22 Jun 04

• Antoon Verschoot 50 jaar klaroenblazer Last Post / 50 years Bugler of the Last Post - Ieper On Friday, October 29th, 2004, Antoon Verschoot was the guest of honour at the Last Post. He has been active as a bugler for 50 years (1954-2004) and received for his services the MBE-medal. wo1.be 29 Oct 04 Medal of the Order of Australia for Belgium's Antoine Verschoot and Albert Verkouter austemb.be Oct 04

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• Belgium’s royal medal of honor given to Bazara Belgium has granted a medal of honor to Yemeni businessman and honorary consul Zaglool Bazara in appreciation of his efforts in developing Yemeni-Belgian relations since he took the position in 1982. yobserver.com 12 Mar 05

• Belgium - Actor Benoît Poelvoorde has been awarded the Chevalier de l"Ordre de Léopold. Article from "Le Soir" Bruxelles 27 Apr 05 edition courtesy of Emmanuel Halleux

•  Belgian King honours Dardenne brothers after Cannes movie success Moviemaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne were among those named in Belgium's annual royal honours list after their latest gritty portrayal of life among the country's poor scooped the Cannes film festival's top award. The Dardennes were awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by King Albert II. Another cultural figure, Paris Opera director Gerard Mortier, was named a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold. cjad.com 11 Jul 05

• Décoration ce jeudi en Belgique de deux anciens combattants congolais de la guerre mondiale 1940-1945 President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and King Albert II of Belgium prior to the decoration of two former WW2 Belgian Congo veterans who fought with the Belgians. The King awarded the grade of Chevalier de l’Ordre de Léopold to Jérôme Sindano Molanga and Victor Elenga Esukamay. M. Sindano is the president of l’Union nationale des Anciens Combattants Congolais (UNACO) and M. Elenga is president of a similar association known as UNAPEMICO. Article in French digitalcongo.net 21 Jul 05

  • According to Emmanuel Halleux,  the King also awarded the Knight grade of the Order of the Crown to 1st Sergent Major Victor Elenga who was a member of the Force Publique and took part in the June/July 1960 operations to maintain public order in the former colony of Congo. 

• Le maire L'Allier fait Commandeur de l'Ordre de Léopold - The mayor of the Canadian city of Quebec, Jean-Paul L'Allier, has been made a Commander of the Order of Leopold by Belgium. The last recipient of this order from Quebec was Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau (1920 to 1936), in 1925. L'Allier is also the recipient of the French Légion d'honneur, Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Pléiade, and Officer of the Order of Québec, Story is in french. cyberpress.ca 27 Sep 05

• Distinction La médaille de l’ordre de Léopold à Saïd Bitar - M. Saïd Bitar has been presented the medal of l’ordre de Léopold avec grade d’officier, in recognition of his services to Belgium and Lebanon in the area of architecture and university teaching. archives.lorientlejour.com 21 Nov 05

• Fête de la Dynastie Two Belgians, who are involved in space technology, have been awarded Belgian honours. Paul Verhaert, founder and director or a micro-satellite contruction company and Claude Jamar, Director of the Liège Space Centre were both made commandeurs de l'ordre de Léopold. Story in French. lalibre.be 15 Nov 05

• La Grand-Croix de l'Ordre aux Dardenne By Royal Decree of 8 July 2005, famous Belgian movie directors brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have been made Grand-Croix de l'Ordre de la Couronne (Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown). As well, Jean-Pierre de Launoit was also awarded the Grand-Croix de l'Ordre de la Couronne for his role as president of the Council administering the "Concours Reine Elisabeth", which is a classical music competition.Article in French. imode.lesoir.be 8 Jul 05

• Top Belgium honours for Sonia Gandhi Belgium conferred double honours of the Order of Leopold, its second highest civilian award, and an Honorary Doctorate on Congress President and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her "constructive nationalism" and efforts to foster a multicultural, tolerant society in India. dnaindia.com 12 Nov 06

• 10 Indian soldiers conferred medal for outstanding task Ten Indian peacekeepers of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were honoured with 'Medal of Merit of the King of Belgium' for saving lives of injured Belgian soldiers. On March 17 this year, the ten peacekeepers of 15 Punjab Infantry Battalion were involved in a heroic evacuation of four crew members of an Armored Personnel Carrier of the Belgian force who met with an accident. It happened near Kafer Chauba, where the Indian contingent operates. Naib Subedar Amrik Singh, the first one to reach the site of accident, organised the speedy evacuation of the grievously injured peacekeepers. He informed the Commanding Officer of the Indian Battalion Col Advitya Madan of the accident who then ensured speedy air evacuation of the injured personnel. The medical staff then ensured proper medical care to the Belgian peacekeepers. The Senior Medical Officer Maj YVB Rao, the Dental Officer Maj Daljinder Singh, and Maj Madhulima Saha, the Medical Officer name's were listed among the 10 awardees. "He displayed cool headed commitment and galvanised the men under his command to react swiftly", said Colonel Hendrick Van Sluijs, Commanding Officer of the Belgian Battalion, praising Amrik Singh efforts. Brig Gen Jai Prakash Nehra, Deputy Force Commander of UNIFIL, presided over a function held to give away the awards at the Belgian troops' headquarters. hindu.com 3 Jun 07

• Belgian Friend of Cuba Receives Medal of Friendship The Medal of Friendship, granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, was conferred on Tuesday to Belgian Katrien Demuynck. Elio Gómez, vice president of the organization, praised the solidarity and the work of the Belgian friend of Cuba to spread the truth about the island's reality and against the US financial, commercial and economic blockade against the Cuban people. He also commended her work in favor of the release of Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino and René González, the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who unjustly remain in US prisons.After recalling that Demuynck also received the Félix Elmuza distinction, granted by the Cuban Union of Journalists, Gómez said that she has been a faithful and courageous friend, who has spared no effort in her fight for the Cuban cause. Katrien Demuynck founded the Belgian solidarity group Socialist Cuba Initiative in 1997 and is the current president of the group. cubannews. ain.cu 1 Aug 07

• Ecclesiastical Decorations and Medals ABLDEPOT

• Orders, Decorations, and Medals of the Belgium Antiques A to Z