Soviet Member of the Soviet Shooting Team

[Chuck In Oregon]

This sash belonged to a Georgian who was on a USSR international shooting team. They only wore these for official team events like opening ceremonies, award presentations and the like. The family said they no longer had his highest awards, just the sash as you see it here.

Notice the medal from North Vietnam. They told me he was a marksmanship instructor/advisor there during the recent (to me, anyway) unpleasantness.

[Chuck In Oregon]

This gramota was also his. The family had thrown away all of his paperwork for pretty much everything he ever won, as being of no interest to anyone. Sigh. The only reason this grammota still exists is that they had overlooked it. They found it only after we asked them to "look around and see if you can find anything else".

Chuck

[Chuck In Oregon]

And no, that is not the fabled Russian Two-Headed Dog at the bottom of the gramota.

[Guest Rick Research]

Oh, ho ho ho.

THAT is the North Vietnamese "Friendship Decoration" of 1960-1977, which is serial numbered on the back.

Alas, the ONLY documentation I have seen for one is the NVN/Soviet pair of documents in my collection, from 1966:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1519

so aside from the day on which #1,400 was awarded, don't know how else to guesstimate distribution of these.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Oh, ho ho ho.

THAT is the North Vietnamese "Friendship Decoration" of 1960-1977, which is serial numbered on the back.

Alas, the ONLY documentation I have seen for one is the NVN/Soviet pair of documents in my collection, from 1966:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1519

so aside from the day on which #1,400 was awarded, don't know how else to guesstimate distribution of these.

* * * * *

Pretty doggone observant of you, Rick. This one happens to be SN 0632, although the 6 looks like an overstrike of, maybe, a 3.

So, does the badge below it with the smiling face of Uncle Ho have anything to do with the medal or do you know anything else about it?

I can testify that someone was teaching them how to shoot too darn well for my tastes.

Chuck

[Stogieman]

Another great and interesting item Chuck.... very nice indeed!

[Chuck In Oregon]

Another great and interesting item Chuck.... very nice indeed!

* * * * *

Aw shucks. If you live there long enough and let your interests be known, and if you keep your word when you give it (I could tell you some ugly stories about smug American ex-pats) you sometimes get a chance to buy the darnedest things. At that, I foolishly passed on more good deals than I took advantage of. What was I thinking? Who knew?

I'm going back to Georgia on behalf of our charity for three weeks around Victory Day. I've already paid for two more pretty good groups that I'll post here afterwards, along with whatever else I bring back.

Chuck

[Riley1965]

Chuck ,

I've never seen one of those sashes. Most interesting !!!

Doc

[Guest Rick Research]

Wish I had ANY other dated numbers to go by-- I don't know if that meant your guy was there in 1961, or this was a 1966 award too.

Can you give us some nice closeups of ALL those things?

Was he really old enough to have been a "labor front veteran" of the Defense of the Caucasus?

If Uncle Don Ho says anything on there I'll give it a whirl. My Vietnamese is largely limited to medical questions from my hospital days. Grammar ain't my strong suit on any of the bits and pieces of extra languages I've picked up along the way.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Wish I had ANY other dated numbers to go by-- I don't know if that meant your guy was there in 1961, or this was a 1966 award too.

Can you give us some nice closeups of ALL those things?

Was he really old enough to have been a "labor front veteran" of the Defense of the Caucasus?

If Uncle Don Ho says anything on there I'll give it a whirl. My Vietnamese is largely limited to medical questions from my hospital days. Grammar ain't my strong suit on any of the bits and pieces of extra languages I've picked up along the way.

* * * * *

Regarding age, do you remember the story I told about taking pictures of the old vets on Victory Day? Well, I do take pictures and I offer them copies if they'll let me take them. A couple of years ago I asked (through my lovely young associate and translator) "Where can we deliver the picture?" "Just bring it to my job" he says. Wait a minute. You have a job? Already I'm thinking I'll be dropping it off at a cleaning job or something like that. "Yes, I teach at the Tbilisi Artillery Academy, just come on by." Turns out he was an artillery colonel -- yes, colonel -- in the GPW. He teaches that subject every day (he's 95) and about half of what he teaches is how he fought some of his battles against the Germans. So, no problem being an OPW vet and, say, an advisor to North Vietnam.

As for close-ups, sure thing. Here are two, of the top and bottom medal/badge groups. There are 1-2 that I have not found in catalogs.

Enjoy.

Chuck

Edited February 23, 2006 by Chuck In Oregon

[Chuck In Oregon]

... And here's the bottom half.

[Guest Rick Research]

Nice close ups of these will be very interesting. I recognize the "D" of the "Dynamo" sports club, the M1950 "Master Sportsman of the USSR" military sports badge next to the NVN Friendship Decoration, and down to the left below the WW2 Labor Victory Medal is what appears to be a version of a PRC ? military sports badge, but one I've been unable to find in either Chinese language awards reference books. Very good quality and appears to be 1950s.

The Ho Chi Minh badge is shown as #901 in the PLA Museum awards book, but with no information-- possibly simply a patriotic "tinnie."