Baracca Francesco did NOT received the British Military Cross !

[lilo]

Hi All,

This is my first post on this forum and I would start saying all what a beautiful forum it is !

Reading the page headed to Francesco Baracca I noted - mistakenly - that between the decorations awarded to Him, it is listed the British MC.

To cut short a long research I made (exchange of emails with the curator of the museum of Lugo di Romagna - where almost all of Baracca's medals are held -, contact with one of the greatest british expert on RAF matters and other people, etc. etc.) let me discover that Francesco Baracca, the top Italian ace of WW1, really did NOT received the British Military Cross.

This FYI and to amend that description.

Regards

Lilo

[Graeme]

Hi Lilo

I agree that it is unlikely that Baracca would have recieved the Military Cross - each of the Royal Warrants that lay out the rules and ordinances of the award are specific that the recipient was required to be a member of His Majesty's armed forces. The Warrant of 25 June 1917 stipulates:

"It is ordained that no person shall be eligible for this Decoration nor be nominated thereto unless he be a Captain, a Commissioned Officer of a lower grade, or a Warrant Officer, Class I or Class II, in Our Army, or Our Indian or Colonial Military Forces, and that The Military Cross shall be awarded only to Officers of the above ranks on a recommendation to Us by Our Principal Secretary of State for War."

It was not until the consolidating Royal Warrant of 6 November 1920 that foreign nationals became eligible for the award:

"It is ordained that Foreign Officers of an equivalent rank to those abovementioned who have been associated in Military Operations with Our Military Forces shall be eligible for the award of the Military Cross."

Graeme

[lilo]

Hi Graeme,

You are correct !

In another forum a well knowledge member wrote :

“Lists of officially issued British Army orders and decorations awarded to foreign military personnel were published in War Office lists in a format that is the same as that used for the London Gazette. I have a set (I am not positive that it is complete) of these War Office lists.”
(for the moment I cannot attach a link from where I took the above statement because of the forum rules)

I contacted him on Baracca and his back answer was : “”I can find no evidence that Baracca was awarded the MC.””

Regards

Lilo