Bronze metal cross pattée with ball topped finials and crossed swords between the arms. The attached red ribbon has a set of 3 light green stripes on each side. A bronze palm citation is pinned to the ribbon. The medal front is embossed in the center with a rampant lion of Belgium within a circular beaded border. The reverse is embossed with the royal monogram of King Leopold III within a circular beaded border. A crown shaped suspension ring is attached at the top with a jump ring to attach the ribbon.
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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.
The King Leopold medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Guy Francois, the son of Roger Francois.
overall: Height: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm)
King Leopold III Croix de Guerre medal, ribbon,and palm citation awarded to Roger Francois by the Belgian government for bravery and 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 wartime service.
King Leopold III Croix de Guerre 1940-1945 medal, ribbon, and gold palm citation awarded to a Belgian resistance fighter