38 JOMSA

committee must certify that the wound was the result of enemy action. Multiple awards are designated with a numeral inscribed upon the medal, according to the award criteria, although it’s unclear if this refers to a numeral worn on the ribbon or on the medal itself.3

Measuring 37mm in diameter, the obverse (Figure 3) of the medal features on the left a tall bush or shrub with a red enameled rectangle on one of the branches; the significance of this is unknown. To the right stands an

Figure 5: Reverse of the Medal of War Wounded that has the eagle of the 1972-1977 Federation of Arab States, a symbolic

merger between Egypt and Libya.

Figure 4: Reverse of the Medal of War Wounded that has the eagle of the post-1984 Arab Republic of Egypt. Note the different style suspension bar (courtesy of

Owain-Raw Rees).

infantryman facing left wearing British-style battledress, equipment and helmet with a shouldered Lee-Enfield rifle (all of which were obsolete by the late 1950s).

The reverse features the Egyptian republican eagle beside the Christian and Muslim dates 1959 AD/1379 AH, above the Arabic words MIDALIYYA JARHA AL-HARB. The republican eagle changed styles several times since 1959, so the style appropriate for the medal’s award period is probably used (Figures 4 and 5).

The medal is suspended from a 36mm ribbon of light green with two yellow stripes, each 6mm wide, near the edges. At least two styles of suspension bar have been seen. A certificate for The Medal of War Wounded was also presented to recipients (Figure 6).

The Badge and Medal as Worn

By far the best-known recipient of the wound badge was the figurehead leader of the Free Officers movement that overthrew the monarchy in 1952, Major General Mohammad Naguib. Naguib wore his wound badge proudly nearly every day of his political career (Figure 7), as head of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (July 23, 1952 to September 17, 1952), Prime Minister (17 September 17, 1952 to June 18, 1953), and President (June 18, 1953 to November 14, 1954). On the front lines in June 1948, Naguib was wounded by a landmine. Naguib’s cloth wound badge bore a prominent numeral 3, indicating he was wounded three times, however histories of the war and Naguib’s own memoirs mention only a single injury.4

Other prominent Egyptian officers reportedly wounded in the 1948 war, including future President Gamal Abdel Nasser and War Minister Abdel Hakim Amer, did not seem to have worn a wound badge.5

The Medal of War Wounded did not replace the wound badge which was worn at least through the 1990s. Moreover, officers wounded after the creation of the medal chose to wear the wound badge instead of the medal, demonstrating the popularity of the badge over the new medal.

Neither the wound badge nor the Medal of War Wounded are commonly seen. The wound badge is far easier to recognize in photographs compared to the Medal of War Wounded (particularly since many photos are black-and-white and unclear). Nevertheless, close study of photographs of nearly 200 Egyptian soldiers wearing medals reveals around a dozen wearing the wound badge

Vol. 66, No. 3 (May-June 2015) 39

Figure 6: 1973 War-era Medal of War Wounded award certificate for Major Osama Ali Sadek, awarded on September 16, 1974. (Osama Ali al-Sadeq, Al-Nas wa al-Harb (The Men and the War), Cairo, 2007.

and none positively wearing the Medal of War Wounded.

Towards an Explanation

The wound badge is an immediately distinctive symbol, far more so than a ribbon worn with other ribbons. So creating an apparently redundant medal seems unnecessary and expensive. The Medal of War Wounded may be a testament to Egypt’s medal-creating spree of the 1950s, when a range of decorations and commemorative medals was established. Given the apparent unpopularity of the Medal of War Wounded, it appears that eligible recipients chose to forgo the official medal and wear instead the badge as a show of pride and tradition.

The medal’s existence parallel to that of the badge demonstrates that while a medal may recognize sacrifice, sometimes it is not the most recognizable symbol of that sacrifice.

Acknowledgement: My thanks to Owain Raw-Rees for his comments and for providing one of the photographs accompanying this article.

Endnotes:

1. No official figures are available, and unofficial casualty estimates vary widely.

2. An Egyptian insignia maker/retailer in the early 1980s informed me this insignia was a wound badge, which is corroborated by at least one journalistic account (Robert St. John, The Boss: The Story of Gamal Abdel Nasser, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1960, pp. 81-82).

3. Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Cabinet of the Grand Chamberlain, Department of Chancellery and Decorations, Egyptian Decorations & Medals and the Rules Governing Them, Cairo, Egypt, 1983, pp. 56-57.

4. Dan Kurzman, Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War, 1970, reprint New American Library, New York, 1972, pp. 349-350; Mohammed Naguib, Egypt’s Destiny: A Personal Statement, Doubleday, New York, 1955, p. 23.

5. Kurzman, pp. 588-589; Gamal Abdel Nasser, “Nasser’s Memoirs of the First Palestine War,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, Winter 1973 (translated and edited by Walid Khalidi).

Figure 7: Major General Mohammad Naguib, probably in late 1952. (Public domain photo reprinted in Masr al-Mahroussa, September

2002).

40 JOMSA

About 30 years ago I purchased a Civil War gold medal from a jeweler in Seattle. At the time I knew very little about the item, but over time I found that that not only was the cross beautiful and rare, but the recipient of the cross, Colonel Amasa Cobb (Figure 1), had a long and interesting career.

The medal (Figure 2) consists of a gold cross representing the Sixth Army Corps and green enamel which represents the 4th Division (also known as the Light Division). The cross is suspended from five silver chains above which is an American eagle with wings spread. The obverse of the pendant (Figure 3) is in the form of a gold cross, the inner portion of which is in green enamel. Engraved on the gold portion of the cross in capital letters is the inscription PRESENTED TO COL. A. COBB, M.C. BY

A CIVIL WAR SIXTH ARMY CORPS BADGE TO COLONEL AMASA COBB

FRED RAMM

Figure 1: Colonel Amasa Cobb.

Figure 2: The 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment Gold Cross. Figure 4: Obverse of the suspension chain and eagle.

Figure 3: Detail of the pendant.