Saturday, January 9, 2016

National Order of Vietnam: Commander - Bảo quốc Huân chương



National Order of Vietnam: Commander level with original Saigon maker's case,
1960s, RVNHS Archive.
 
               The National Order of Vietnam was the highest official award individuals could receive from the Republic of Vietnam government. The award was offered to both military personnel and civilians, and came in five classes. These were the Knight, Officer, Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross levels of the order. The award shown in this post, featuring the badge on a necklet, was for the commander level.
 
National Order of Vietnam: Commander level with original Saigon maker's case,
1960s, RVNHS Archive.
 
          The higher levels of the award (Commander to Grand Cross) were intended for senior officers and officials with the Knight and Officer levels usually given to lower ranks. In practice, most recipients of the first level of the award (Knight) were field officers (major rank and above). In order to receive the award, an individual would have needed to be distinguished for exceptional achievement in support of the cause of the Republic of Vietnam. A recipient would typically need to be recommended by multiple senior figures before the award would be issued after evaluation by select committees. In this post, RVNHS would like to share this original Commander level National Order of Vietnam with Saigon maker's box from the RVNHS Archive.
 
General Trần Văn Đôn with Commander level National Order of Vietnam, early 1960s.
 
President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu with Commander level National Order of Vietnam.
 
General Trần Văn Nhựt at a veterans' event in later years wearing
the Commander level National Order of Vietnam.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment