Grigore Gafencu and Order of Mihai Viteazul, does anyone have any info or pictures?

[oldlincolnian]

I have just aquired a most unusual badge. It is the Aviation Observer badge in the pattern of King Carol, with the CC cypher removed and a very expensive miniature of the OMV of King Ferdinand (its back fastening skillfully removed) inserted in its place, clearly done by a skillful jeweller. Research tells me of a handful of Romanian military aviators awarded the OMV 3rd class during WW1 but only two of them were Observers. One of these has his badge held in a collection inside Romania and has a major road in Bucurest named after him, obviously a favoured son. The other was Grigore Gafencu, who became a lawyer, and was Minister of External Affairs for Romania in the pre-war and war years, and wrote a book about War in the East and another concerning the demise of Europe under the authority of absolute dictatorship. With the incursion of the Soviets, Gafencu was arrested and at some point escaped and spent a considerable amount of time with the Government in Exile in Paris and working to help create the scenario which today we know as the EU. He was sentanced to death in absentia (as were many) and died under mysterious circumstances in Paris in 1957, many say murdered. He was obviously not a favoured son and there is a good chance therefore that his badges escaped Romania.
As the OMV 3rd class can only be awarded for bravery in war and as the OMV miniature embedded in the Observer badge bears the Ferdinand cypher, it is clear that this is a WW1 award and must have belonged to Gafencu. The badge is generally in good shape, but sadly some of the blue glass enamel in the miniature is missing around part of the cypher and into one arm.
I am hopeful that someone out there may have images of Gafencu in air force uniform showing him wearing the Observer badge with the OMV inserted, though any image of Gafencu in military uniform would be very helpful. There are many images of him in civilian clothing and one wearing his Minister of State uniform. Any older images of his military existance would be appreciated. Also anyone with data on his military career...I would love to hear from you. I apologise for the very poor image quality in the attached photo of the badge. Camera problems!



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This post has been edited by oldlincolnian on August 22, 2011 10:46 pm

[Victor]

That is an interesting piece.

Regarding Gafencu, he received the OMV for the sorties during the Battle of Marasesti, during which he shot down an enemy airplane with the rear machine gun.

[Petre]

http://aces.safarikovi.org/victories/romania-ww1.html