Ribbon Bars

[Greg Collins]

As I don't believe this has been covered yet, I thought I'd share a few Romanian ribbon bars. The three I'll show today are military (yes, civilian members of the Communist Party also wore ribbon bars); two are from the RPR period (1947-1965) and the last is from the RSR period (1965-1989).

First, an RPR "four across", eight ribbon bar. The awards are (left to right, top to bottom):

Star of Romania, 5th Class
Order of Military Merit, 2nd Class (20 Years)
Order of Labour, 3rd Class
Order of Military Merit, 3rd Class (15 Years)
Liberation from the Fascist Yoke
Medal for Military Merit, Gold (10 Years)
10 Year Anniversary of the Foundation of the Army
20th Anniversary of the Armed Forces

The back reveals soldered together rows.

[Greg Collins]

Next, an RPR "three across", nine ribbon bar. The awards are identical except for the addition of the 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country ribbon in the ninth position.

This bar could have belonged to the same individual- as I don't have documentation, we'll never know. Or, it could (because of the "three across") belonged to someone of slighter build or, perhaps, a female. Or, perhaps the "three across" simply suited the number of ribbons better. Again, the back reveals soldered rows.

[Greg Collins]

Now to the last (for now) bar, an RSR (1965-1989) "four across", thirteen award ribbon bar. Whereas the back is now "full closure" and much more stable, the quality of the individual ribbon rendering has gone down- lines are shaky. The awards are:

Order of Military Merit, 2nd Class (20 Years)
Order of Military Merit, 3rd Class (15 Years)
Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 4th Class
Star of Romania, 5th Class
50th Anniversary of the Communist Party
20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country
25th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country
30th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country from Fascist Domination
Medal for Military Merit, Gold (10 Years)
Medal for Military Merit, Silver (5 Years)
25th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic
20th Anniversary of the Armed Forces
30th Anniversary of the Armed Forces

[Greg Collins]

Thought I'd post a working illustration of what I've been talking about. I don't own this ribbon bar (wish I did). Sorry for the rather "blurry" image- it's enlarged from an image sent from Romania.

This IS a Seciritate agent's ribbon bar... the ONLY way I can tell this is by the ribbon in the fourth (last ribbon on the right, top row). It's an Order for Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country - 3rd Class (RPR). All the other ribbons shown (except one) would have been awarded to any member of the Military or Paramilitary. The one exception is the first ribbon in the fourth row (the row with three awards). That's the Medal for Defense of the Country and was awarded to Security Troops, Militia and Border Troops (Internal Ministry).

[Greg Collins]

I have often said that Romanian forces do not seem to have the same preoccupation with placing ribbons in the correct order of precedence as we (the US) do. Well, this bar takes the cake. It is a Securitate bar, and the awards are as follows (top to bottom, left to right):

1. Order for Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country - 3rd Class ('58-'68)
2. Order of Military Merit - 3rd Class ('54)
3. Order of Labour - 3rd Class ('48)
4. Star of Romania - 5th Class ('48)
5. 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country ('64)
6. Soldier's Bravery Medal - 2nd Class ('59)
7. Medal for Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country ('53-'68)
8. Medal of Military Merit - 1st Class ('66)
9. Order of Military Merit - 2nd Class ('54)
10. 25th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country ('69)
11. Medal of Military Merit - 2nd Class ('66)
12. 20th Anniversary of the Romanian Armed Forces ('64)

The only thing I can figure is that the bottom of the bar (last row) was "doctored" sometime after 1969 and before 1972 (or we'd see the 25th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic). If you take a look at the back, you can see why I believe this... it's basically a "splice" job. A great ribbon bar!

[desantnik]

Neat. I love seeing these splice jobs on Soviet ones too. Shows either a practicality or an expense related to such a decision.

[Greg Collins]

Another Securitate ribbon bar arrived today and, as luck would have it, it continues the trend of having ribbons out of order. This time I honestly believe it was caused by the maker not recognizing the subtle differences between the Order and the Medal for Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country as these are the two awards which, if switched, would have made this ribbon bar in correct order.

Anyway, as it stands, this ribbon bar was assembled after 1969 but before 1972, and the owner is showing 20 years of service, placing his beginning of service at 1949-1952. The awards are:
Order of Military Merit, 2nd Class (20 Years)
Medal for Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country (1968)- *out of order
Order of Military Merit, 3rd Class (15 Years)
40th Anniversary of the Communist Party
Order of Distinguished Services in Defense of the Social Order and the Country (1968)- *out of order
Medal of Military Merit, 1st Class (10 Years)
Medal of Military Merit, 2nd Class (5 Years)
25th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Country Medal (1972)

[deValcourt]

Is this one of the pinback varieties backed with brass that you can't open and move ribbons around on...or is that very act forbidden? I'm not trying to make light of anything here; I really don't know the rules for ribbon bars the way I do for, let's say a BM with a nice heavy patina (i.e. don't polish it).

Regardless, I'd eventually love to see one of these on a uniform. But if I recall your posts about uniforms from a while back, these guys didn't often wear special uniforms and you had to just sort make logical assumptions based on the medals and orders they had as to which department or branch they worked, no?

Phillip

[Greg Collins]

Phil,

This is a standard plastic covered, painted ribbon bar that cannot be changed. As far as the uniform is concerned, I would say this guy (who ever he is/was) was probably in the Security Troops. The awards seem to indicate that more by what is not present- no per se, strictly armed forces awards and no, per se, strictly Militia (police) awards.

[Greg Collins]

A three space Internal Ministry ribbon bar. The awards covered are (from left) the Order for Service to Socialist Country-3rd Class, the Medal for Service to Socialist Country-Gold and the 20th Anniversary of the Romanian Armed Forces Medal. This bar could be for anyone employed in the Internal Ministry... Securitate, Security Troops, Militie (Police)... what is interesting about it is that there are no medals or orders indicating time in service (Military Merit). Also, these particular awards are from an interesting period in Romanian Communist history- a transitional period that appears to run from 1963 to 1968- where many changes took place including, but certainly not limited to, the name of the country.