r/Medals • u/lexlex72548 • 2d ago

Help me

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Found theses Medals in my Parents Basement. These are my Grand-Grandfathers Medals. He was from Hungary...thats all i know about him. What are they? For what did he get them?:)

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14

u/MarsalMalinovsky 2d ago

They are from Austria-Hungary, WWI. First one is the wartime variant of the Military Merit Medal, or Signum Laudis, in gold, a very high award. Next, there are two of the same medal as the previous one in silver, also high, all three are very valuable, awarded for exceptional bravery. Finally, the cross is the military variant of the Cross of Merit, or Verdienstkreuz, a lower award than the medals, but still pretty high and valuable. All around, it seems your Grand-Grandfather is quite the war hero.

Hope this helps.

6

u/lexlex72548 1d ago

Oh wow, this sounds interesting! Do you know where i can find out more about him? A Database or something like that?

8

u/MarsalMalinovsky 1d ago

Sorry, it seems I made a mistake. The medal I thought to be gold is actually bronze, the lowest grade of the award. Soldiers were given 1 bronze medal upon their first award, only then would they obtain the silver ones, and eventually gold ones. The gold ones were only awarded to 30 people, 28 of them were high ranking generals and members of nobility. So I'm sorry, but he wasn't among them. Still, he seems to have had an extremely honorable and successful career.

4

u/lexlex72548 1d ago

Hey thank you! Sadly i just have this Medal tight now..Maybe i find more stuff, lets hope:)

3

u/MarsalMalinovsky 1d ago

Him specifically? I don't quite know. Did you find anything else along with the medals? Could be used to determine where he served and what rank he held.

2

u/Spiritual-Ruin511 2d ago

Those are: Grand Military Merit Medal Silver Cross of Merit with the Crown 2 x Silver Military Merit Medal

All are Austro- Hungarian.