Escapees' Medal

The award criteria for the Franco-Prussian War was established by law on 2 October 1926 and read as follows: • To French soldiers serving during the Franco-Prussian War, who successfully escaped their internment in Germany. A survivor of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, Joseph Weismann, was awarded the Escapees' Medal in 2014 even though he did not meet the criteria set out in the 1959 decree. At the age of 11, Weismann had escaped from Beaune-la-Rolande transit camp, where the French authorities interned Jews who were to be sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Weismann had been applying for the Escapees' Medal over a period of about 15 years before the French government finally awarded it to him. ==Award description==

The Escapees' Medal is a 30 mm in diameter circular medal struck from bronze. Its design is from the French engraver A. Dubois. Its obverse bears the relief left profile bust of Marianne (representing the French Republic) crowned with branches of oak, along the outer circumference, the relief inscription () "FRENCH REPUBLIC". On its reverse, at center, the relief inscription on three rows () (ESCAPEES' MEDAL) surrounded by a wreath of oak branches. The medal is suspended by a ring through the suspension loop to a 36 mm wide green silk moiré ribbon with a 7 mm wide central orange stripe and 2 mm wide longitudinal orange stripes located 2 mm from the ribbon's outer edges. ==Notable recipients (partial list)==

, a recipient of the Escapees' Medal • General Charles de Gaulle • General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque • General Marie-Pierre Kœnig • Lieutenant General Marcel Bigeard • Lieutenant-Colonel Dimitri Amilakhvari • Journalist Michel Moine • Foreign Legion Sergeant Peter J. Ortiz • General Edgard de Larminat • General Paul Arnaud de Foïard • General Raoul Magrin-Vernerey • Warrant Officer Raymond Duc • Resistance leader Rene-Georges Laurin • General Pierre Billotte • General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny • Resistance fighter Émile Allegret • René Joyeuse • Yves Congar, later Cardinal ==See also==