Commemorative Medal of the 1940–1945 War

Commemorative Medal of the 1940–1945 War
Commemorative War Medal 1940–1945 (obverse)
Awarded by Kingdom of Belgium
Type	Medal
Eligibility	Personnel of the Belgian Armed Forces, members of the Belgian Resistance, Belgian Merchant Navy personnel
Awarded for	Military service between 10 May 1940 and 7 May 1945
Status	No longer awarded
Statistics
Established	16 February 1945
Precedence
Next (higher)	Volunteer's Medal 1940–1945
Next (lower)	Foreign Operational Theatres Commemorative Medal
Medal reverse Ribbon bar

The Commemorative Medal of the 1940–45 War (French: Médaille Commémorative de la Guerre 1940–45, Dutch: De Herinneringsmedaille van de Oorlog 1940–1945) was a military decoration of Belgium. It was established by royal decree of the Prince Regent on 16 February 1945 to recognise Belgian servicemen and women who served during World War II. It was also awarded to members of the Belgian Resistance and members of Belgium's Merchant Navy on the side of the Allies. Later decrees allowed for its award to foreign recipients of the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

The Commemorative Medal of the War 1940–1945 was a 38mm in diameter circular bronze medal, the obverse bore a large V for Victory sign with a relief roaring lion in the V, at lower left was the relief year "1940", at lower right the relief year "1945". A 3mm wide laurel wreath encircled the entire medal on both the obverse and reverse. On the reverse, within a 5mm wide raised circle, the relief inscriptions (French: MEDAILLE COMMEMORATIVE) within the upper half and (Dutch: HERINNERINGSMEDAILLE) in the lower half, in the center of the raised circle, two 3mm high raised horizontal bars positioned 8mm apart, the upper one bearing the relief inscription (French: DE LA GUERRE), the lower one bearing (Dutch: VAN DER OORLOG), at center, between the two horizontal bars, the relief years "1940–1945".

The medal was suspended by a ring through a lateral suspension loop from a 37mm wide yellow silk moiré ribbon with 8mm wide edge stripes composed of 2mm wide stripes of yellow, black, white and black, the yellow being closest to the edges.