Belgian Army Order of the Day

I can't help you there, but before long there will be a few more knowledgeable Rogues in the area that will be able to nail that one for you.

Good luck with your Grandfather's shadow box. Be sure to post some pictures of it here for us to see. It's a great thing what you are doing, to preserve his memory and accomplishments in the war.

 

Thanks for the help. It has been such a rewarding experience already. And yes, I will be sure to post pictures of the shadow box. It may take months because i have to go to the review board to get the omitted medals, but it will get done. What's nice is I'm getting a shadow box with the flag framed along with it. My grandfather was originally buried in Belgium, but he was brought back home in 1947. I have the flag that draped his coffin.

I'll keep you posted if I hear back from the Belgian gov't.

 

Thanks for the help. It has been such a rewarding experience already. And yes, I will be sure to post pictures of the shadow box. It may take months because i have to go to the review board to get the omitted medals, but it will get done. What's nice is I'm getting a shadow box with the flag framed along with it. My grandfather was originally buried in Belgium, but he was brought back home in 1947. I have the flag that draped his coffin.

I'll keep you posted if I hear back from the Belgian gov't.

 

Hey to all in this thread. Just wanted to share with you my success story in finding a copy of the General Orders citing my grandfather's unit for the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army.

If you contact the pentatgon Library and click on the "Ask the Librarian" to indicate what you are looking for, they will provide you an answer in short order. I obtained copies of the Orders within two hours of e-mailing them. Amazing. As as side note, they also had the General Order awarding my grandfather's unit for the Presidential Unit Citation.

If anyone is interested, here is the cite:
Research Support

 

i forgot, here is the cite for the Army document which details the awards for each unit. It lists the individual units, the awards they received and the general orders that gave authority to issue the awards. The document is a large 550+ page document and needs some time to download.

http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p672_1.pdf

 

Bulge 44, Sorry I missed your question but looks like A-58 answered it better than I could have. I wanted to thank you for the links to the "Research Support " and the GO list--I have them bookmarked and will use them in the future.
I too will be looking for a picture of the shadow box and sorry for your family's loss of your grandfather. Good luck with your research.

 

Well I have an update about my grandfather's unit receiving the award. I did write to the Embassy of Belgian and received this reply:

"I would like to acknowledge receipt of your letter and express our gratitude for your grandfather's role in WWII.

We will forward your letter to the historical service of the Belgian Armed Forces in Brussels so that they can provide the appropriate feedback to your enquiries.

Please not that the process can be sometimes lengthy.

Sincerely,

Mike Delobel
Brigadier General
Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attach
Embassy of Belgian"


Well it is a start and that it was pretty cool to have a Brigadier General write me back.

I will keep you posted

 

How's that shadow box coming along?

 

I finally have an update on the Belgian Order Of The Day that my grandfathers unit received. I received a letter from the Belgian Embassy, my grandfather's unit was cited for Belgian Order Of The Day, but only received 1, this took place on Dec 21 in the Ardennes, ironically it was the same time Dec 21 that my grandfather was at Bogheim where his unit also received the Presidential Unit Citation. Since they only were cited once they did not receive a medal (you b=need 2 citation to get one) this finally closes another chapter in my grandfather's history in WW 2

 

Sorry I can't add much information that can help with cobblejohn's original question, but I'm also trying to find out exactly what my brother did to earn his two Belgian medals--Knights Cross and Croix de Guerre. I emailed the Belgium Royal Military Museum with my inquiry and was told the military files about WWII are still with Defense archives at General Headquarters and was advised to contact xavier.vantilborg@mil.be
Unfortunately, Xavier was on sick leave but an assistant answered almost instantly saying there was no file or record on my brother. I can bet she never left her chair.. His name appears in the Belgian Orders Index that I have a copy of. I presently have a letter to the Belgian Embassy to find out who might help with some basic information. I think we are all trying to find out exactly the same thing, how the Belgian award system worked--is the Order of the Day an American document or something the Belgians used? What in the heck is an order of the day? What's the difference between an Order and a Decree? If the Order of the Day is American, maybe I should be looking for documents closer to home.

Bulge44, thanks for the link to the Pentagon Librarian. I'll also see what they say.
It just seems strange that the Government of Belgium presented two beautiful medals and mailed them to my brothers home in very hansome cases without taking the trouble to explain or record what he did to earn them. If I ever make any sense of this I'll share what find out. Thanks to this thread I think I have the unit award pretty much figured out. The entire 2nd Armored was also awarded the Belgian Fourguerre which is on his uniform.

 

My Father had one , he was in Headquarters company 555 SAW

 

Just to see if I could do the same thing and expect a different result (Einstein's definition of crazy), I emailed xavier (email address in the post above) and was very pleased with the new result. Below is a copy of my email and the reply--

Sir, My brother served with the 2nd Armored Division in WWII, and the entire division was awarded the Belgian Fourragere for it's service during the war. My brother, Cpl. Oscar J. Butonschoen was also awarded the individual awards of the Knight of the Order of Leopold II W/Palm, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre W/Palm (Belgian Decree #1577, 1945)

I have never been successful in learning why the 2nd Armored was given this unit award, and also why my brother was awarded the individual awards by the Belgian Government. Is there someone I could contact that could furnish a copy of the Orders that is needed to present these awards?

Thank you for any help,

David Butonschoen

Dear Sir
In response to your email, you will find a copy of the decree Nr 1577 dated 1st Januari 1946 (first page, page that contains his name and last pages containing the citation and signature).

The archives of the Ministry of Defence however, do not possess any personal military records on his name. Therefore, I am unable to provide you with the exact circumstances that have led to the award of the above mentioned decoration.

After the war, the Belgian government offered a large number of honourable decorations to the foreign military authorities in order to honour individually the servicemen who had distinguished themselves particularly during the glorious battles that have led to the liberation of BELGIUM. It was however, up to these foreign military authorities themselves to decide who was eligible to receive a decoration.


Enclosed, you will find a copy of the attestation. If you want to receive the original attestation, please send me your address.



The 2nd United States Armored Division was cited twice in the Daily Orders of the Belgian Army and granted the Fourragère 1940 :


Decree of the Prince Regent Nr 514, dated 22th May 1945:


“On September 2, 1944, at 09.30, its reconnaissance elements crossed the Belgian border near RUME. They were the first American troops to enter Belgium and marked the beginning of the deliverance of this country. The division fought violently and turned the enemy at the ALBERT canal, liberating the towns of TOURNAI, WAVRE, TIRLEMONT, SAINT-TROND and HASSELT.”



“At the time of the German offensive in the ARDENNES, in December, 1944, the Second Armored Division was in Germany on the banks of the ROER between LINICH and JULICH. On December 21, 1944, orders were received to proceed to the region of HAVELANGE, AVIN, CLAVIER. This move of more than 100 miles was made in less than 24 hours and, on December 23, 1944, the division came into contact with enemy forces, at CELLES. From December 23 to 28, 1944, violent battles took place in the pocket of CELLES and made possible the complete destruction of the point division of the 5th Panzer Army. This victory stopped the German advance and kept it from reaching the MEUSE. From this time on, the division forced the enemy troops back and, after having recaptured many localities in the ARDENNES, liberated the city of HOUFFALIZE.”

Yours sincerely

France DUBOIS
Assistante Administrative
DG HR
Sous-Section Notariat
Quartier Reine Elisabeth
Rue d’Evere 1
1140 BRUXELLES
Tel : 02/441.83.24
Email : France.dubois@mil.be


The award from Belgium had my brother's name spelled wrong, replacing an "E" with an "O", so to eliminate confusion I also spelled the name incorrectly.
I was wondering who in the Division would be the "military authorities" that is stated in the email? Would any written order be issued which was was presented to the Belgian government so they could issue the awards? It would be interesting to get this written document if one exists.

 

nice work man

 

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