Question re: French Croix de Guerre ribbon

Thank you very much Buten! A very helpful and informative post, I will look into seeing if there is a list by Weigand for the French medal.

I did speak, via email, with a gentleman last night whose father was in the same company as my grandfather. He says his father too received the CdG ribbon and has it on his report of separation, so at this point it seems very clear that it was a unit award. I'm still going to try to dig up that index of French Orders you mentioned, though. Thanks again for the help.

 

I confirm this was a unit award . The CDG was awarded to units , Battleships and even cities . This ism entionne din the French version of Wiki, but not the English one.


http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croix_de_guerre_1939-1945

Also it mentions such distictions were awarded until 1949, so november 1945 fits this shedule.

 

McCabe,

After reviewing this excellent thread, I also believe the Croix de Guerre reflected in your grandfather's discharge paperwork is associated with the Croix de Guerre awards to the 3rd Infantry Division as a whole and does not reflect an individual award to him. On the positive side, it is very likely he is entitled to the French Fourragere which is awarded to units that have been awarded the Croix de Guerre two to three times. The 30th Infantry Regiment is entitled to the French Fourragere for the period 15 August 1944 to 6 February 1945 per Department of the Army General Order 43-50.

While individual awards of the Croix de Guerre did occur (see link at end of paragraph for documentation confirming Audie Murphy's Croix de Guerre with Silver Star attachment - one of two individual Croix de Guerre awards he received), they were generally reserved for American soldiers who earned top-level American heroism awards e.g., Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross or who were general officers.

https://research.archives.gov/id/299782

Shade Ruff

 

Thanks Shade Ruff.

It's my best guess that my grandfather was present for the award ceremony where de Gaulle awarded the CdG and/or fourragere to the division and the ribbons were handed out to members of the division that were present that day. I don't have the History of the 30th in front of me, but I *believe* I read that the 30th or one if its battalions was selected to represent the division in the ceremony.

 

http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/go4724.pdf - try this link - hope it helps - my father was Co - 119th infantry regiment - 30t "Old Hickory"division - separated from Army 1945 - from what i see - it wasn't awarded to his unit until 1946..post discharge - and fyi - the lady at the French Embassy in DC - she will tell you that she gets"so many calls all the time about that- but she just doesn't know.. I politely told her - ma'am - if you are receiving so many calls concerning the same exact question - would it not be to your benefit to actually find an answer so you could actually help someone?Don't think she liked me very much.. lol

 

Hi SParker! Can't you check your link? It doesn't work for me. Thanks!

 

He just had some text get into the URL. Its a PDF for Units Entitled to Foreign Decorations.

 

And here's an amendment to that General Order: 1948 DA General Order #23