My Grandfather was born in Ukraine in 1924 and was given this by my Great Grandfather, however my Great Grandfather was killed during the Nazi invasion and my Grandfather died shortly after my dad was born so we never learned what this medal was.

by Creepsman1

6 comments

  1. The text on cloth says: Long live free and united Ukraine.
    Text top of the badge says: God save Ukraine
    Text on the bottom says: “Crest of Ukraine, in memory of resurrection of Ukraine”

    The design reminds me of 1910s-1920s badges for Ukrainian clubs in US, like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/350100156346

    So my money is on Ukrainian patriotic badge made in 1918-1919 in US

  2. That is a really interesting medal. I can’t find anything specific about the heraldry or the inscriptions. It seems to commemorate Ukrainian People’s Republic, but that’s about all I can tell. This one might require an actual expert.

  3. That’s the medal for being the best boy in ur elementary school

  4. Some of the text is referencing Ukrainian songs of the late 19th/early 20th century, the heraldry is medieval, the purple flag was used by the Ukrainian People’s Army

  5. Text on the upper part/flag: Нехай живе свобідна і злучена Україна – Long live a free and unified Ukraine.

    Text on lower part above figurines: Боже Україну спаси – God save Ukraine.

    Text below figurines: Герб України 1918 В память воскрес України – Coat of arms of Ukraine 1918 In memory of Ukraine resurrected.

    Lion on blue background is coat of arms of West Ukrainian People’s Republic. Figurine on red background is emblem of Kyiv Voivodeship.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Voivodeship

    As this medal mention unified Ukraine I think it anticipates Act Zluky or Unification Act signed at the beginning of 1919 between Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Act)

    I think that the coat of arms is an assumption by the creator of the medal which has not been confirmed. After the Unification, the trident became the coat of arms. I think this medal was created in Western Ukraine because it`s emblem was correct.

    UPD This also may be some anniversary medal made by some Ukrainian emigrant organization/society, because it mention “in memory”.

  6. ANSWER: According to what people are saying this medal was most likely either a medal to commemorate the independence of the Ukrainian People’s Republic back in 1918 or was made after the fall of the Republic in 1921 to remember the Republic, either way it’s still a very interesting piece of Ukrainian history

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