World War Medals

This is a once in a lifetime. For someone to own a really historically important medal / award set! These were originally awarded to Frank Foley, known as the “British Schindler” there are several books and documentaries about the amazing life of Frank Foley, there is talk that there is going to be a movie about his life. Originally acquired by the Forman Archives directly off Frank Foleys wife (Katherine Foley) Mr Foley’s full sized medals were handed over to the UK government by one of his distant relatives, so these original miniatures are all that remains. Frank Foley interrogated Rudolf Hess after he crash landed in Scotland and also monitored him pre WW2. In the frame there is an original photograph of Rudolf Hess, taken by Frank. On the reverse it states “Hess Rudolf Hess snapped at Hohenschwangau (facing camera)” Alongside the photograph is an original letter sent to Mr Foreman and signed by Katherine Foley. Yesterday (27th) I dispatched to you under registered post the miniature orders and medals of my late husbands. As these are original I should be grateful if you will return them to me after having copies made. As you will understand they are very valuable to us. Please note: bottom part of the letter is a copy of the reverse side of the above letter. So if the next owner decides to take the letter out, the opposite side has the last bit of text and Katherine Foley’s signature. Information regarding full sized orders and medals from an online CBC news article. By all accounts, Frank Foley wasn’t one to broadcast his accomplishments. So perhaps it’s fitting that the awards he was given for his service as a British spy have been lying low for decades. A fluent German speaker, Frank Foley was assigned to gather information about what was happening in Germany a job which became especially crucial after the Nazis took power in 1933. But he also helped Jews flee the country, and that’s the story his family in Ottawa hopes to spread by donating his medals to the U. Exploited passport officer job to help Jews. Michael Foley grew up with the medals from his dad’s great-uncle in the house, but knew few details of Frank Foley’s accomplishments as an agent posted to Britain’s embassy in Berlin in the 1930s. The cover for Frank Foley’s clandestine activities in Germany was his day job as a passport control officer, issuing visas for people wishing to leave Germany for Britain or its empire. He exploited his position to get visas for Jews, sparing more than 10,000 from death at the hands of the Nazis, according to a 1999 book by journalist Michael Smith. He also helped forge passports and even hid people in his own home, according to the BBC. However, because many of the people he helped would not have known about his role in their escape, Foley’s achievements never became common knowledge. Honoured by Yad Vashem. Foley’s work to save Jews wasn’t directed by head office but was his own initiative, said historian Mark Seaman, also speaking on. Ottawa Morning last week. More than four decades after his death in 1958, Foley was given the honour of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel’s national authority for Holocaust remembrance. When the Second World War started and Foley left Germany, Foley left behind “a thick wad of already approved visas with instructions that they should be distributed to those fleeing the Nazi terror, ” Yad Vashem’s testimonial notes. The authority also notes Foley didn’t have diplomatic immunity in Berlin, and if the Nazis discovered what he was doing, he would have suffered a much worse fate than being persona non grata. Foley was also honoured in 2004 with a plaque outside the British embassy in Berlin. Medals were going to be kept in the family. Michael Foley said he had previously intended to keep the medals in the family, passing them down to his own sons. That changed after the family was contacted by the British High Commission in Canada, which asked to see the medals and other artifacts such as the Yad Vashem certificate and some photos. Now both the Foley family and Seaman are looking forward to more public servants learning Foley’s story through those artifacts. Frank Foley had two families. He had the Foleys and he had the secret intelligence service, Seaman said. One hopes that maybe his medals are going to be an inspiration to those new officers, for future generations to follow his values. The story should inspire those outside the service as well, Seaman said. “This is one of the biggest parts of my work, is to make people put [fictional spies like] George Smiley and James Bond to one side and pay due credit to this truly great man, ” Seaman said. Foley’s intelligence work was also exemplary, Seaman said, which is why he was chosen to interrogate Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess when he turned up in the U. “Sad to say that [Hess] was so befuddled they didn’t get an awful lot out of him, ” Seaman said. Not even Frank Foley managed it. Major Francis Edward Foley CMG 24 November 1. 884, Highbridge, Somerset 8 May 1958, Stourbridge, Worcestershire was a British Secret Intelligence Service officer. As a passport control officer for the British embassy in Berlin, Foley “bent the rules” and helped thousands of Jewish families escape from Nazi Germany after Kristallnacht and before the outbreak of the Second World War. He is officially recognised as a British Hero of the Holocaust. In 1939 and 1940 he was a passport control officer in Norway until the Germans invaded at which time he was attached to C-in-C Norwegian Forces in the Field, for which services he received the Norwegian Knight’s Cross of the Order of St. On 1 January 1941 he was awarded Companion of the Order of St. George (CMG) as a Captain in respect of services to the Foreign Office. In 1941, he was given the task of questioning Hitler’s Deputy Rudolf Hess, after Hess’s flight to Scotland. After Hess was hospitalized in 1942, Foley helped coordinate MI5 and MI6 in running a network of double agents called the Double Cross System. In 1949 Foley retired to Stourbridge, Worcestershire, and died there in 1958 he is buried in Stourbridge Cemetery. His widow Katharine Eva Foley died on 17 April 1979 at her home in Sidmouth, Devon. There is plenty more information regarding Frank Foley on the internet. Frame measurements: 575 x 400mm. NOTE: Frank Foley photograph in the frame is a copy. Would be a superb addition to ANY collection. See my other militaria currently for sale and I add more on a regular basis. The item “WW2 British MI6 Secret Service Agent Original Frank Foley Medals & Orderd Set” is in sale since Tuesday, May 15, 2018. This item is in the category “Collectables\Militaria\World War II (1939-1945)\Medals/ Ribbons”. The seller is “backintday” and is located in Wigton. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Saudi arabia, South africa, United arab emirates, Ukraine, United States, New Zealand, China.

• Featured Refinements: Medal Group
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
• Country/ Organization: Great Britain
• Issued/ Not-Issued: Issued
• Type: Medals & Ribbons
• Conflict: World War II (1939-1945)
• Service: Special Forces
• Era: 1914-1945