Bill's Belgian Medals

Medal Groups - Page 6

    This quite splendid group of Great War medals belonged to Julien, Joseph, Adolphe Louwagie
    who joined the Belgian Army as a Telegraphist on 15 September 1913.  He was born in
    Blankenberge on 15 February 1893. Julien served at the Yser River in 1914 and was awarded
    the Yser Medal, and the photo at top right shows a shell exploding on the German side of the
    river.  Each of the photos of ruins in the combat area is described and dated on the reverse.

    He was awarded 6 front stripes - one gilt  and one silver bar on his Commemorative Medal 1914-
    18 and also received the Knight of the Order of the Crown with Cross Swords and Knight of
    Leopold II, also with Crossed Swords.   In addition to his Croix de Feu (Type 2), he has a Croix
    de feu buttonhole and War Cross Bonds, and received the Albert Commemorative medal which
    was issued in 1962.

    From all of this information, including a summary report on his career and a Pension document
    from the Army - retired from the Army on 10 November 1936 - we can deduce that Julien
    Louwagie had a long and hopefully content life.

    This is another exceptional group for a senior non-commissioned officer - Emile Kumps - who
    clearly served as a regular soldier with distinction during the Great War.  Born on January 3rd,
    1888, he died at Berchem on November 6th, 1927 at the young age of 39.  

    His death card which shows him in uniform with sword records his full medal entitlement,
    including Croix de Guerre with Palm (MID), Yser Medal, Victory Medal, Commemorative Medal
    1914-18 with one gilt and two silver bars (3 years 6 months active front line service), Gold
    Medal Order of Leopold II, Gilt Palm Order of the Crown and the Military Long Service Medals
    firat and second class.

    There are also some postcards that he sent to his wife during 1916 plus a photograph of
    himself on another postcard.  Finally, it was clear that his wife was a patriot who joined the
    Parti National Belge; she also has a bookmark of King Leopold III that was issued before
    Belgium was invaded by Germany during World War II.

    A very attractive and authentic group provided yet again by Peter Verstraeten.

    The WW1 gallantry Group at
    left has appeal because of the
    Article 4 medal & the Croix de
    Guerre.

    However, the addition of the
    French Medaille Militaire and
    French Croix de Guerre is
    unusual; it tells me that this
    was a very brave man.

    He was also a long serving
    soldier who served for the
    duration of the war - see the
    gilt and three silver bars on his
    1914-18 Commemorative Medal.

    Finally, he was a knight of the
    Orders of the Crown and
    Leopold 2 - a distinguished
    individual of note.

    A nice find with a story to tell -
    but no clue as to his identity
    unfortunately.


    This very simple WW1 Group
    on the right is attractive
    because it links the medals and
    the Yser bronze issued with the
    book - Livre D'or de la Carte de
    Feu - and the formal statement
    of the recipient's medal
    entitlement, checked out by my
    friend Kurt Van Camp.

    The Yser plaque is named to
    Leopold DeRoye who was a
    sergeant in the infantry who
    lived in Willebroek.

    The group was obtained near
    Willenbroek and included eight
    front strips taken from a
    uniform.

    A nice framed group of Great War medals for a volunteer soldier which I obtained at Wavre.
Last Updated 17 November 2007