This early version of the National Liberation Front (NLF or Viet Cong) Liberation Order is a 37mm five-pointed star with seven rays between each point. It was originally instituted on August 9, 1965 and is awarded t0 groups and individuals for outstanding performance in combat, production, official-business and to families separated by the struggle in the South. The obverse is a central disk with the NLF flag between two shocks of grain and a toothed-gear below. The inscription of the curved ribbon reads, GIAI PHONG or Liberation. The reverse is plain. This order was eventually replaced by an entirely different and larger (40mm) planchet and its ribbon changed. The Order was adopted as an official order of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). Strangely, the affiliated decoration, also an official decoration of the SRV, retains the original characteristics of the early order. The decoration is smaller (33mm) and utilizes the same blue-red-blue ribbon combination as the original version of the order.

Original Liberation Order