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    ralstona

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    Everything posted by ralstona

    1. I am also awaiting a copy of "Legion Etrangere a Narvik". It is coming from France and was originally published in 1945. I am hoping it may contain some specific details about my GGF. I am desperately looking for the citation for his LOH for Norway 1940. I do believe it was a combat citation. If anyone has any leads, it would be most appreciated. This is sadly one of the few pieces of paperwork that is missing from his archive. Doty's book is a great read. It is quoted extensively in Porch's history of the Legion.
    2. Haven't posted in awhile. I have been working on the article about him recently. I just picked up a 2nd Edition of Bennett Doty's excellent memoir of his time with the Legion in Syria in 1925-26. He was a legionnaire in the 29th Company of the 5th Battalion of the 4 REI. My great-grandfather was a Sjt.Maj. with the 5th (Machine Gun) Company of the same unit (V/IV REI). The V/IV REI became the 8/1 REI in 1926). Doty's book recounts the actions at Messefrie, Ressaz and Souieda. My GGF was present for all of these. Both Doty and my GGF won the right to wear the fouragerre (CdG -TOE) "a titre personal". They both earned CdG TOEs personally as well (2 of the 110 awards of the CdG for action in Syria in 1925). Doty's was for Ressaz. My GGF's was for Messifre. The book contains a picture of Doty "just after a skirmish" in Syria wearing a dirty khaki jacket with "4" collar patches and a Casque Coloniale (Pain de Sucre). I have a picture of my GGF in Syria wearing the same collar patches and the same helmet. See pics.
    3. Thanks for the response. I had already contacted the researcher at the Malaya Volunteers Group. He is doing some investigating. He had never seen one either. I had thought about a car badge too.
    4. I picked up the badge today. A little mystery emerged. Turns out the badge has had a nicely made silver palm and lion applied over the same design underneath. It is attached with a pair of screws. I have no idea why this was done. I also don't think it is a helmet plate. It is totally flat. It may be a cross belt plate.
    5. Hello, I just bought this in an auction. Didn't pay much and was intrigued. It was advertised as Helmet Plate. It could be I suppose but I am not convinced. Its size is: Height 5 1/2", Width: 3 3/4. Questions: Is it authentic? Is it a Helmet Plate? Is it something else for a uniform? (cross belt plate, cartridge box plate) Is it not for a uniform at all? Any thoughts would be helpful. Art
    6. Contacted a book seller in Australia that had a copy of "Downside and the War". They gratuitously agreed to scan the pages on Major Sweetman for me. Now I have a picture of my man. The write up on him includes some new information including: 1. Gruesome details of his mortal wound. He was shot in the groin leading his men at Ctesiphon. Despite his injury he stayed with them. He was evacuated after the battle on a hospital ship on the Tigris but died before they reached Kut. 2. He was put up for the D.S.O. three times. All were downgraded to M.I.D.
    7. Yes, I am hoping so. Would be a QSA/KSA (Captain, Worcesters) and a 14 star/bar and victory medal with M.I.D. Also, if anyone has a copy of "Downside in the War 1914-1918" I would love to know. There is an entry on Major Sweetman which includes a picture. I may buy the book but if I can secure some scans instead that would probably do. Not sure how the medal ended up in New Jersey. It is missing its suspension bar which has been replaced by simple ring that must have been used to wear it on a chain. But I can't imagine who would have done this as he was unmarried and had no children. One of his sister's perhaps? He did have family in the USA. His cousin (the Sinn Fein founder's son) lived in Currie, Minnesota and worked with the Minnesota Irish Immigration Association. Any other info anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Art
    8. Just bought this here in the states. Paid $60. Quite a story. Medal - British War MedalNaming - Major M.J.J. SweetmanInformation - DOB - 1864Name - Michael James Joseph SweetmanReligion - CatholicDate of Death - 27/11/1915Age - 51Rank - MajorUnit - 2/Worcestershire Regiment attd. 2/Dorsetshire Regiment.Cemetery - Kut War CemeteryAwards- 3x M.I.D. (WWI)Son of - Michael James Sweetman / Margaret PowellFrom - Lamberton Park, Queens Co., IrelandPrior Service - South African War (m.i.d.) (entitled QSA, bars Wittebergen, Cape Colony,Transvaal and KSA, two bars)D.O.W. - 27/11/15 from wounds sustained several days earlier at Battle of Ctesiphon (22-24, Nov)M.I.D. - L/G - 5.4.1916, 13.7.1916Educated - Downside, London University, SandhurstRetired - prior to WWI 1914 - Returned to the colors (Worcestershire Regt.)1914 - Wounded and M.I.D. in Flanders at Polygon Wood in October (entitled 1914 Star and Bar, Victory Medal)Attached - 2/Dorset Regt for Persian Gulf Expedition (2ND in command)Became Commanding Officer of 2/Dorsetshire when Major, Acting Lt.Col. Radcliffe was woundedLed successful attacks on Turkish Redoubts during Battle of Ctesiphon.2/Dorset was one of only 3 British Line Regiments at Ctesiphon.Mortally wounded during Battle.Died 3 days later.2nd Oldest person buried at Kut War Cemetary.16th Earliest Date of Death in Kut War Cemetary. Major Sweetman had three sisters ... all published authors (2 novelists and a Poet). His brother-in-law was Egerton Castle... author, swordsmen, captain of the epee and saber team at the 1908 Olympics His uncle was John Sweetman ... one of the founders of and 2nd President of Sinn Fein. The Sweetman family were brewers but sold their brewery to Guinness in 1893.
    9. May 9... first day of the 2nd Battle of Artois ... French attempt to take Hill 140 (later to be known to others as Vimy Ridge). My great grandfather, Ernest Hauser, was wounded in the initial assault. He was 17, Swiss, and served with French Foreign Legion. Beginning of a long career in the Legion. Check out the French page (French Foreign Legion Medal group - thread) for lots more info on him. I only met him once in 1982. He showed me the bullet hole in his leg form the battle. As a 7 year old it made a big impression.
    10. 10,000 views... wow, thank you all for looking. It is neat to think others have been able to share in this family story and help out with so much great info! Art
    11. Thanks IrishGunner, your right of course...even if I have always wanted to be Indiana Jones It is ironic the other gun may now be at Fort Lee, Va as I now live in Fort Lee, NJ ( of bridge-gate fame). The museum at West Point is an interesting place really. I have never been in a military museum that feels more like a "trophy room". Not in how it is displayed but in what they display. Quite a bit of it (especially from the Mexican War, S-A War, WWI and WWII) are prizes taken by officers and sent back to WP. Clearly they loved the place and wanted a piece there with their name on it.) Some of acquisition methods today would be "questionable" at best. The Roman legionary's tomb stone sent back from the Italian campaign in WWII comes to mind.
    12. Here is a link to a website that specifically says the two guns are different. I originally claimed this was from Aderdeen's website, but it isn't. It does I believe confirm the guns are different.
    13. The WP gun is not Bridget, that is a different gun at a different museum. Bridget was at Aberdeen and now has been moved to another museum in VA. The gun at WP has been there since 1918. I sent WP a email this morning asking for more information. As IrishGunner mentioned earlier. I think this is as simple as this: 2 museums both claiming to have the same artifact, i.e. the gun that fired the first shot of the war. You can imagine why that would be a popular claim and also why it is difficult to prove. It could be that one museum has the real deal and the other has a spurious piece. Or maybe both are spurious pieces. Or maybe both are right and fired together. Would they really have dragged just one gun up? I think we have the possibility to solve a bit of a mystery. Which could be fun. But Hoss... I don't understand why you are so adamant that the WP gun couldn't be right? Why the insistence on a conspiracy theory? Are reputable museums like the West Point Museum really in the business of perpetuating lies? You seem to refuse to admit some established facts here. 1. The French did paint their guns this way (you implied earlier that someone was doing drugs when they painted this one, which is silly). 2. The Americans drew this gun from French stock, so it would have been painted in the French manner. 3. The US had a 1917 spec that our guns were to be painted in the French style which breaks up the silhouette of the gun. 4. The gun you keep mentioning, Bridget, is not the gun at WP. 5. The WP gun comes with a seemingly plausible story. Sent back to the WP for display. This definitely fits a pattern. The campus is littered with artillery pieces sent back to WP by grads as trophies. There must be 200 of them all over campus. 6. The gun would never have been sent back in 1917 to have it reverse engineered. We were already making them here. 7. There is a pic of the WP from no later than the 1930s, on campus, with the exact paint job it has today. How could the gun now on display be Bridget which is grey today when there is visual evidence of a painted gun at WP? What happened to the original painted one? WP lost it and brought Bridget to WP and repainted it? Why? I looked very closely at that WP gun, that paint has been their for a VERY long time, I'd bet my life on it. There I've said my piece. Art P.S. I attach a picture of some of the other artillery pieces on campus at WP.
    14. You won't be disappointed even if they didn't have a 17. So much history and a really beautiful location. The museum isn't huge but they have some amazing stuff. I live about 45 minutes away. The school I teach at takes our juniors there every year on a field trip. One other thing I've got to do is to get the text of the small bronze plaque on the guns shield. That may give some more info.
    15. Here's one that has been repainted..."with a "dazzle" camouflage pattern as per the 1917 U.S. specifications." Any idea what specs this refers to? This one is at the historical society of the Georgia National Guard. Here is a link, lots more pics. : http://www.historicalordnanceworks.com/French75MM.htm
    16. I can only make out the last three numbers from my pics..."579"...I think
    17. I doubt Pershing wanted it to take it apart. The museum placard said he wanted it for West Points collection. The 75mm was old tech by this point.
    18. Hoss, the gun at Cantigny is repainted, not the WP gun. The 1st Div. website clearly says the French did paint there guns this way. So it is not impossible to think this gun retains its original paint. If the French gave it to us, and we were eager to use it, I imagine it would not have been messed with.
    19. Well here's a nice bit to help. From the west point fb page. Then and now, definitely original paint. https://m.facebook.com/WestPointMuseum/posts/10154013828970790 Can't copy pic because it is copyrighted...but there it is.
    20. Irishgunner, Totally right, both in the problems of written language and in my intensions with the part about eagerness. Ignorant America soldiers eager to fight a war that Europeans had long ago realized was futile. The French got special mention because they had mutinied earlier in 1917. BTW, one of those French soldiers was my great grand father. Art
    21. I'll contact WP. There's seem to have a pretty solid evidence trail. Been at WP since 1918. There certainly could have been more than one in this first action, right? Maybe the other one was repainted grey later.
    22. This is an original French camo paint scheme from the war. I believe this one has its original paint. I will email the West Point museum to confirm. Here is a link to the 1st Division Museum at Cantigny: http://www.firstdivisionmuseum.org/museum/online/toward_the_front/argonne/artifacts/entry1.aspx. The bottom confirms the French painted their guns this way. Theirs is repainted to look period but the one at West Point definitely displays period patina. Hoss, that is the same TYPE of gun... but it is not the same gun... it isn't even there same museum. Not sure what you mean (really that could apply to your whole post... which is vaguely hostile and I can't for the life of me figure out why).
    23. I had my crappy camera phone with me today so I could not get great detail. The gold plated pistol has a long dedication to Hitler on it.
    24. Paint looked original to me. Hard to tell from these pics but at least a dozen soldiers scratched their names into the paint of the shield, so if it was done up it must have been before it left France. There was a Renault 17, right across the aisle (and right next to a lovely Dodge Brothers staff car). See pic below. I love the image of these guys dragging this 75 half a mile because they were so excited to fight. I guess by 1917 there weren't too many European soldiers going out of there way to get shot at (certainly not the French they borrowed this gun from).
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