Hungarian War Memorial Medal

It existed in two classes, distinguished by the presence or absence of a steel helmet and crossed swords, denoting combatant and non-combatant service respectively. The founding rescript was issued on the day of the dedication of the Heroes' Memorial (Hősi Emlékkő) in Budapest, at a ceremony commemorating Hungarian soldiers who died in defence of the country's historical borders during the 1914–1918 war. The medal was designed by the Hungarian sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl (1 July 1884 – 14 August 1975), who was himself a veteran of the First World War.

• Name — Hungarian War Commemorative Medal • Country — Kingdom of Hungary • Type — Military commemorative medal • Eligibility — Veterans of World War I; war widows and orphans; civilians who served the war effort; foreign allied nationals • Status — No longer awarded • Established — 26 May 1929

Hungary's participation in World War I as part of Austria-Hungary resulted in approximately 660,000 military deaths and more than 700,000 prisoners of war. Following the war, the revolutions of 1918–1919 and the punitive terms of the Treaty of Trianon (1920) left Hungary greatly diminished in territory and population. The Horthy regime that consolidated power in the early 1920s promoted a conservative-nationalist ideology that emphasised loyalty to the pre-war kingdom and disdain for the revolutionary interlude. In this context, Regent Horthy established the war commemorative medal as both a tribute to veterans and an explicit acknowledgement of loyalty during what the founding rescript described as the "mournful anti-national and anti-religious revolutionary times" following the war. The founding document made clear that the medal was intended not only for those who served militarily but also for those who had resisted the revolutionary movements. The statutes were published simultaneously in the Budapesti Közlöny (Official Gazette) No. 262 of 1929 and in the Honvédségi Közlöny (Army Gazette) No. 30 of 1929.

The medal is suspended from a triangular ribbon (*háromszögletű szalag*), in the Austrian tradition also used for the Karl Troop Cross. The ribbon of the combatants' class is described in the statutes as the *piros-fehér-zöld színű hadi érem szalag* ("red-white-green coloured war medal ribbon"). It is white with two wide vertical red stripes near the edges, with thin horizontal green stripes placed between them. The ribbon of the non-combatants' class is described as the *piros-fehér-zöld szegélyű szalag* ("ribbon with red-white-green edging"). It is white with two wide red stripes and two wide green stripes, without the thin horizontal green stripes of the combatants' version. Recipients of the combatants' class could wear a special combat clasp in the form of two silvered crossed swords on the ribbon bar. • Combatants' class — Non-combatants' class • —

The statutes established six categories of eligible recipients, divided between two classes of the medal. The combatants' class (with sword and helmet) was awarded to: • (a) Those who performed actual military service with the field army or in the rear areas of the country in the 1914–18 war up to and including 30 October 1918. The non-combatants' class (without sword and helmet) was awarded to: • (b) Those who received a high distinction for particularly effective work on behalf of the wounded, sick, and prisoners of war of the 1914–18 war, or to whom the decoration established "for merits around the Red Cross" was awarded. • (c) War widows and war orphans (eldest son only), as well as relatives whose breadwinner or direct lineal descendant died as a result of injury or damage to health arising from services closely connected with the 1914–18 war. • (d) Civilian persons who, in the 1914–18 war up to and including 30 October 1918, performed state or equivalent service with the field army or in rear areas, and by their activities promoted the interests of the armed forces — including administration, post, telegraph, railway, shipping, and war industry. • (e) Exceptionally, those who during and after the war and revolutionary period were ardent champions of national ideals rooted in Hungary's thousand-year traditions, with steadfast faith in God and self-sacrificing loyalty to the homeland. • (f) Citizens of states allied with Hungary in the 1914–18 war who participated in the war, awarded upon submission by the Royal Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Where a person was eligible under both classes, only the combatants' class could be claimed. The Head of State was declared a holder of the medal by virtue of office.