Mongolian Ribbon Bars.

[Riley1965]

Rathbonemuseum,
It's the Order of Combat Valor.

:thumbsup:thumbsup Doc

[rathbonemuseum]

OK, here is the one ribbon bar set I have in the plastic resin variety. Currently it is pinned on to my Mongolian Air Force Lieutenant parade tunic. The ribbons are top down, left to right, the Order of the Red Banner of Combat Valor, the Order of Combat Valor, the Order of the Polar Star, the Order of the Polar Star, the Honorary Medal of Combat, the Mongolian "We have conquered" WWII victory medal, the USSR Victory over Japan medal and the medal for 25 years of the MPR.

[EricFG]

Sweeeeeet! Nice Uniform Tod, very nice.
And a extreeeeemly nice website as well. Great pix.

[Riley1965]

Hey Tod,
:yahoo GREAT uniform and I love the old style ribbons!!!:yahoo

:bigthumbsup:bigthumbsup Doc

[medals73]

One of the fascinating things about Mongolian ribbon bars is the first-generation ribbon bars, the enameled metal "ribbons" in use from 1944 to 1961.

While I don't yet have a full set of these metal ones (Sukhbaatar missing) and am missing single specimens of some of the post-1961 ribbons, here is a (partial) introduction.

-- Order of Sukhbaatar (missing, sorry, I really am!)

-- Order of the Red Banner of Combat Valor (ribbon ribbon red with blue central stripes -- see ribbon bar groups below)

-- Order of the Red Banner of Labor Valor

-- Order of Combat Valor (oh, that second ribbon is nasssty)

[medals73]

-- Order of the Polar Star

-- Honorary Medal of Combat

-- Honorary Medal of Labor

[medals73]

-- Medal "We Won" (missing the second ribbon)

-- Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Republic" (also missing the second ribbon)

[medals73]

While photographic evidence suggests these metal "ribbons" were ususally just pinned on individually for more than one award, "ribbon" groups are sometimes (rarely) seen, tinkered together with whatever engineering skills were available.

For example, this group of the Honorary Medal of Combat, the Medal "We Won", and the Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Republic".

[medals73]

These first-generation metal ribbons are also encountered in the domed plastic painted ribbon bars which became so common in Mongolia (as in the USSR) in the post-War period. For these, artistic (and sometimes dubiously "artistic") inventiveness comes into play and exact identifications are sometimes elusive.

For three examples:

1- Order of the Red Banner of Combat Valor, Order of the Polar Star, Order of the Polar Star

2- Order of Combat Valor, Order of Combat Valor / Honorary Medal of Combat, USSR Victory over Japan, Medal “We Won”

3- Medal “We Won”, Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Republic"

[medals73]

As these domed plastic "ribbons" are encountered with the first style of ribbons, I take this as strong circumstantial evidence that they had come into use before the introduction of cloth ribbons in 1961.

Therefore, I show first a sampling of post-1961 plastic ribbon bars.

1- Order of the Red Banner of Combat Valor, Order of Combat Valor, Order of the Polar Star / Honorary Medal of Combat, Medal “We Won”, Medal “25 Years of the MPR” / Medal “50 Years of the Revolution”, Medal “30th Anniversary of Khalkin Gol”, Medal “50 Years of the Army”

2- Order of Combat Valor, Order of the Polar Star, Honorary Medal of Combat / Medal “We Won”, USSR Victory over Japan, Medal “40 Years of the MPR” / Medal “50 Years of the Revolution”, Medal “30th Anniversary of Khalkin Gol”, Medal “50 Years of the Police”

3- Order of the Polar Star, Hononary Medal of Labor, 40 Years of MPR / 50 Years of MPR, MRYL Medal