The European March of Remembrance and Friendship Commemorative Medal (Médaille commémorative de la “Marche Européenne du Souvenir et de l’Amitié” / Herinneringsmedaille van de “Europese Mars van de Herdenking en de Vriendschap”) was established in 1967 to commemorate the European March of Remembrance and Friendship, a four-day international march originally organized in 1967 by the 3rd Battalion of the Ardennes Chasseur Regiment in remembrance of the operations performed by the unit at the beginning of World War II in the Ardennes region.
The march is now organized on a yearly basis and also focusses on honoring the towns in the region regularly changing its course to do so. The march is divided into four legs of thirty-two kilometers each in the Ardennes region of Belgium as well as the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.
The European March of Remembrance and Friendship Commemorative Medal Design
The medal is circular and struck in silver.
The obverse bears the relief left profile of a wild boar’s head surrounded by a 3mm wide ring along the entire medal’s circumference and bearing the relief inscription “3 CHASSEURS ARDENNAIS” in the upper half and “125 km” at the bottom. The reverse bears the relief inscription on four lines “MARCHE” “DU SOUVENIR” “ET DE L’AMITIE” “ARLON-VIELSALM“.
The ribbon is dark green with the national colors of Belgium in three narrow 1mm edge stripes and two narrow 1mm wide red stripes centered 1 cm apart on the green field. The medal hangs from a ribbon secured by a hook through a suspension loop at its top.
