German Armed Forces Flood Service Medal

The German Flood Service Medal 2002 (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Einsatzmedaille Fluthilfe 2002) is a decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

The decoration was awarded to all German military members, foreign armed service members, civilian rescue forces and civilians, who had collaborated with the flood disaster

2002 European floods

In August 2002 a 100-year flood caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damage of billions of euros in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia....

relief efforts in Germany in the summer of 2002. It was approved for wear by the Minister of Defence

Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)

The Federal Ministry of Defence is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany...

, but was created by the Ministry of the Interior

Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)

The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the German federal government. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister of the interior is Dr...

. The medal is awarded in the same class to all German soldiers regardless of rank. It is the only type of its kind in the German awards system. Some German federal states

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

have created their own flood medals for its citizens, but The German Flood Service Medal 2002 is the only federally created flood decoration in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Design
The medal is round, on its center is displayed the German eagle with a flood wave and a half sunk house, the reverse side is plain with the words "Gratitude and Recognition" (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Dank und Anerkennung).

The ribbon has two black stripes on the edges, with two red stripes beside it, with two gold stripes on the in side of the red stripes and in the center is a blue stripe. The ribbon bar has the medal clasp attached to it.

Design

See also