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Among the multitude of Cuban
order decorations and medals the Order of Military Merit
has certainly its interesting side as not only a high
quality decoration, but also interesting due to its
possibility of being awarded for multiple purposes.
Robert Werlich's book:
"Orders and Decorations of all Nations: Ancient and
Modern, Civil and Military", Washington, DC, 1965, does
give a good description in his book :
"Created February 27,
1912 primarily as an award for outstanding military
merit, but can be awarded for other services and comes
in four classes. First class for Generals, Second class
for Colonels, Lieut. Cols. and Majors, Third class for
Captains and Lieutenants, Fourth class for Enlisted men
and non-commissioned Officers. Can be awarded to
foreigners."
Due to the rarity of the
higher grades I like to show some examples of the also
hard to find decorations representing the beautifully
crafted Third Class, which was originally a red enameled
cross awarded for military Merit:
Besides this already very hard to
find military merit decoration other variation for
different purposes could be awarded:
When awarded for other than
military merit the color of the enamel on the cross is
changed to correspond with the colors listed below on
the ribbons:
|
Military Merit |
Dark Red |
| Bravery in
Combat |
Purple |
|
Humanitarian Acts |
Half red, half white |
|
Good Conduct |
Blue |
|
Continuous Service |
Half white, half blue |
|
Special Service |
Green |
|
Other Services |
White |
While comparing the
following pictures, you will see, that not only the
color of ribbon and enamel changes, but that the design
of the decoration as a whole changes. Please pay special
attention to the wreath in this regard:
Here also a great example of various
Merito Militar decorations in wear on ribbons bars:
Thanks to D. Krause
for supplying above two photos.
© A. Schulze Ising,
III/03
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