us-005578-irn522393-irn516404
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1940-01-01
is or was included in: us-005578-irn522393
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn522393-irn516404/alternateIDs/1
title: Commemorative Medal of the War 1940-1945 medal and ribbon awarded to a Belgian resistance fighter
identifier: irn516404
history: Roger Leon Francois was born on July 23, 1914, in Ledeberg, Belgium. He served in the Belgian Army throughout the 1930s. He was given leave from the Congo to marry Johanna F. on March 12, 1936. In May 1940, Germany invaded and occupied Belgium. Roger became a member of OMBR [Organisation Militaire Belge de Résistance], the Belgian Military Resistance Organization. He participated in sabotage actions and actively assisted Jews to go into hiding to avoid deportation by the German authorities. He was arrested in Brussels by the Germans in 1942, and deported to Flossenbürg, than Buchenwald concentration camp. His prisoner number was 60481. He may have been released on June 17, 1944, due to ill health pursuant to a prisoner release agreement negotiated by the Dutch. Buchenwald was liberated by American troops in April 1945, not long before the war ended in May. Roger was honored with multiple awards and medals for his wartime service by the Belgian government. Roger resumed his service in the Belgian Army. He worked as a photographer for the Belgian embassy, as a cryptographer for NATO, and was stationed in the Belgian Embassy in Washington DC for three years. In 1960, he retired from the military after twenty years. He, his wife, and their four children, two boys and two girls, remained in the US. Roger was a dedicated employee of the Piedmont School of the Wilson Boulevard Christian Church. Roger, age 79, died in 1993.
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1945-12-31
has or had some members with language: nld
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had holder: us-005578
type: RecordSet
history: The medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Guy Francois, the son of Roger Francois.
scope and content: Medal and ribbon awarded to Roger Francois by the Belgian government in 1947 for his service to his country during World War II. During the German occupation of Belgium, May 1940-September 1944, the German military governed alongside the Belgian civil service. The Germans sought to deport all Jews to concentration camps; the Belgian civil service did not cooperate. By 1942, there was a significant resistance movement. Francois actively assisted Jews in avoiding these round-ups and in finding places to live in hiding. He was captured and interned at Buchenwald and Flossenbürg concentration camps, and was not liberated until April 1945. Francois was honored with multiple awards for his war time service.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1946 February 16
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn522393-irn516404/acquisitions/1
has record set type: Item
record resource extent: overall: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm)
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Bronze circular medal with an attached yellow striped grosgrain ribbon. The front has an embossed V (for Victory) with a roaring lion in relief, with numerical dates embossed to the left and right. The front and reverse edges are encircled with an embossed laurel wreath. The reverse has a smaller raised circle crossed with 2 horizontal bars. In the center on separate lines are numerical years, with etched inscriptions in Dutch and French in a circle around the border and on the crossbars. The ribbon has a set of narrow edge stripes: yellow-black-white-black, a wide central yellow stripe, then black-white-black-yellow. A suspension ring is attached at the top to a jump ring through which the ribbon is threaded.