slava1stclass

Gents, This Order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy III Class was awarded to a Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory. It is currently at auction in the former Soyuz. At the moment, the high bid stands at $2,445.00. In general, the OBKIII was infrequently awarded to enlisted men during the war. That said, only a handful of Full Cavaliers were recipients. The real takeaway, however, is that any orders and medals awarded to Full Cavaliers (beyond their three OGs) tend to command a premium. Regards, slava1stclass

Peter, Your characterization, "...this fellow was a genuine hero with multpile awards who still felt it necessary to gild the lily!" is spot on. For some guys, there is never enough. See these for more on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_R._Edwards http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tc/id/53223 Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, After a bit of digging, I have some possible candidates. None of them makes sense. When reading about the recipient's personality and his oversized braggadocio, however, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. His very dubious entitlement to the British MC is yet another indicator. It appears the first medal in question is either the Belgian King Albert Medal or the Belgian Political Prisoner's Medal 1914-1918. In this same vein, the unidentified cross in the second row may well be the Belgian Civic Decoration 1914-1918. I've attached images of all three for your review/comparison. Again, he is a legitimate WWI Medal of Honor, DSC, Silver Star and Purple Heart (w/ 1OLC) recipient. The French Legion of Honor, French Croix de guerre with bronze palm, Belgian Croix de guerre with bronze palm, Italian War Cross and Montenegrin Medal for Military Bravery all also appear legit based on his WWI service. The French Medaille militaire I'm less certain of. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Request your assistance in identifying two decorations on the attached image. First, the fifth decoration on the top row (to the right of the Medaille militaire as you view the image) and then the first decoration on the second row (to the left of the Italian War Cross as you view the image). Thank you. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Revisiting this thread. From the attached excellent image (note the 2nd Infantry Division insignia on his helmet) one may discern he was awarded three Croix de Guerre based on the two bronze palms and one star on the suspension ribbon. To assist us in further determining what he's wearing in the earlier bemedalled pictures, I offer the following. These excerpts are from James Marie Hopper's book, " Medals of Honor" with illustrations by John Alan Maxwell published in 1929. "Now and then Louis Van Iersel is asked by some organization to come in his uniform as an example to the young. He slips on his old uniform, and on it spreads his medals. What medals? First he places around his neck the Congressional Medal of Honor. Then he pins on his breast a Croix de Guerre with star, a Croix de Guerre with palm, a Medaille Militaire, an Italian Merito di Guerra, a Montenegrin War Cross. And beneath these he attaches the medal of the King of England for rescue at sea, and the medal of the New York Life Saving Benevolent Association for rescue at sea." ErikMuller's above reference to the Sea Gallantry Medal is further supported with this excerpt: "On February 2, 1917, while an able seaman on the Olaf Mearks, a Danish freighter bound from Copenhagen to New York, he spotted at night four red lanterns. The freighter was turned toward this distress signal, and at dawn found the schooner English Secret, torpedoed and sinking in the heavy seas, with five men of the crew of sixteen still clinging on. Louis, with two comrades, volunteered to man a boat in the cold heavy seas. They saved the English sailors and the King of England gave Ludovicus a medal and five pounds in gold, and the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York gave him a medal. All this before Ludovicus went to war" The below information was found in the book, "History of Passaic and Its Environs. Volume III" by William W. Scott published in 1922: "1. Congressional Medal of Honor, November 9, 1918. 2. Medaille Militaire, November 9, 1918. 3. Croix de Guerre with palm, Soissons, July 18, 1918. 4. Croix de Guerre with palm, Champagne, August 19, 1918. 5. Croix rle Guerre with silver star, St. Mihiel, September 18, 1918. 6. Montenegro Medal, Paris, July, 1919. 7. Life Saving Medal from England, February 2, 1917. 8. Life Saving Medal from New York, February 2, 1917. 9. Medal from Governor Edwards, June, 1920. 10. State Medal. 11. Medal from Paterson for enlistment. 12. Honorary member Spanish American War Veterans. 13. French Fourragere, 2nd Division, 9th Infantry." FWIW, van Iersel is also believed to be the first non-U.S. citizen to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Adding a link to Egorka's separate post on an OGIII awarded to a Full Cavalier: Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, One correction. All told, there were 2,656 Full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, It is no longer available. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Last listed for a BIN price of $11,999.00 on the well-known auction site in late February 2016, it is once again listed for sale there. He has increased the BIN price to $12,499.00. Fake sets are subject to inflation too you know... Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, This very nice Full Cavalier set includes the Full Cavalier booklet. It is offered for sale in the former Soyuz. At the current exchange rate, the asking price is $22,879.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, This well-worn OGI (trust me, I have seen much worse) was just listed on the well-known NYC-area dealer's site. Asking price: $7,900.00. It was awarded to a Junior Sergeant who served as a machine gunner in a Rifle Division. Regards, slava1stclass

Jim/Gents, Availing myself of the podvignaroda.ru site (which was not available in 2007), here is what I can confirm from the Russian MOD archives: 1) The only Попов, Пётр Дмитриевич who earned these three specific awards was a HSU Guards Sergeant Major assigned to the 62nd Guards Cavalry Regiment, 16th Guards Cavalry Division. He was born in 1895. 2) The award dates for his awards were: HSU title (with Gold Star Medal and Order of Lenin) - 15 January 1944 (as a Guards Sergeant) OPWII - 15 June 1945 (as a Guards Sergeant Major) ORS - 23 January 1944 (as a Guards Sergeant) BM - 25 September 1943 (as a Guards Junior Sergeant - his year of birth was incorrectly recorded as 1905 when the archives set up the digital database. 1895 (very blurry) is in fact recorded on the award Ukaz) 3) The award recommendation for his final award - the OPWII - lists his HSU title, his ORS and his BM with all the Ukaz dates matching those in 2) above. A Medal for the Defense of Stalingrad is also listed. You would need to order an awards record card (ARC) from one of the forum members who specializes in that area. I have personally used the service which forum member "Ferdinand" (see post #11 this thread) offers and have been very well pleased. In receiving the ARC, you'll be able to confirm whether the serial numbers of the awards you own match those awarded to HSU Guards Sergeant Major Пётр Дмитриевич Попов. The ARC may also list the serial number present on the Ordenskaya Knizhka (award booklet) you possess with this group. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, My above post (post #334 this thread) was updated to provide details on the video which Liopa shared. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Thanks to Liopa for posting. More accurately, the award ceremony involved a U.S. Army brigadier general from the 11th Armored Division presenting the awards to the Soviets. After a bit of research, this is what is depicted: "American Generals Discuss Boundaries, Austria, May 12, 1945. U.S. Brigadier General Holmes Dager of the 11th Armored Division meets Lieutenant General Rubanyuk (Иван Андреевич Рубанюк), Commanding General, 10th Guards Rifle Corps, 46th Army, 4th Ukrainian Front and discusses boundaries and future plans. General Dager presents the Legion of Merit and Silver Star to the Russian general and his staff." At war's end, the 11th Armored Division was in the vicinity of Linz, Austria. Judging from the video, the lieutenant from the 101st Airborne Division was detailed to serve as the official interpreter that day. The sharp eyed among you will have also noted he wears the Soviet Guards badge on his right breast pocket which was likely awarded at an earlier time. Based on their shoulder patches, the other U.S. Army officers in the video were assigned to the armored division . It was also interesting to note the Soviets received the decorations' award cases at the end of the ceremony. Dager retired from active service in 1947 as a Major General. His final assignment was as Commanding General, U.S. Forces, Austria. Highly decorated for valor, numbering among Dager's awards were the: Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star Medal with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal with two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters World War I Victory Medal American Defense Service Medal American Campaign Service Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal Presidential Unit Citation Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, One of the major drivers in publishing my book on the Full Cavaliers of the Soviet Order of Glory was just that - to advance awareness and understanding of Soviet soldier valor in the Second World War among English speakers. While much about them is written in Russian, Ukrainian and other languages of the former USSR, precious little is available in English. Whether my book might also have the secondary effect of influencing the collector market in the West remains an open question - although it cannot be discounted. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, It sold for $510.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Currently available on the well-known auction site with an opening bid of 99 U.S. cents. Auction runs for 10 days. This OGII was awarded to Full Cavalier Guards Sergeant Major Nikolay K. Moroz. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Access to the Russian podvignaroda website now allows us to take a more detailed look at this subject. As noted on the reverse side of GA Bradley's award record card, there was no serial number listed - "nyet dannykh" - in the serial number column for the Order of Suvorov First Class. Whereas he was awarded an Order of Kutuzov First Class with serial number 166, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet did not confirm the Order of Suvorov First Class which Commander, 1st Ukrainian Front originally listed in order number 61 dated May 13, 1945. In the first attachment below, note that Bradley's name has been lined through directly below GEN Hodges' name. The Cyrillic letter K directly to its left could well be that of MSU Konev who struck GA Bradley's name from this particular order before it was dispatched to Moscow. When the confirming Presidium of the Supreme Soviet decree was issued (second attachment), only GEN Hodges' name was listed as having been awarded the Order of Suvorov First Class. Bradley's award record card indicates his Order of Suvorov was authorized via a subsequent 1st Ukrainian Front order - order number 065/N dated May 17th, 1945. While the podvignaroda site has no record of this order nor of any subsequent PSS decree confirming it, there is photographic evidence indicating MSU Konev did award the Order of Suvorov First Class to GA Bradley on May 17th, 1945 (attachment three below). In the final attachment, it appears GA Bradley is wearing the service ribbons for the Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov First Class to the very left on the third ribbon row from the bottom. As noted above, I examined GA Bradley's Order of Kutuzov First Class at the location where it is exhibited. There was no Order of Suvorov First Class located with that exhibit. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Here is an extract from the PSS decree that awarded TSgt Bieder his OGIII. He is entry number 2. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Using the search tools available on the Russian podvignaroda web site, I was able to confirm 200 Soviet orders and medals as being awarded to U.S. Army personnel in World War II. This list is by no means all inclusive. Fellow forum member NavyFCO has specialized in this subject and has written on this topic both within this forum as well in separate publications. The information provided below is offered to complement earlier efforts. Note, too, that not all of the orders and medals listed below were subsequently confirmed via Presidium of the USSR decrees. Some were awarded based solely on orders issued by field commands. The list is ordered by precedence from top to bottom: ORB - 2 OSI - 1 OSII - 7 OSIII - 4 OKII - 7 OKIII - 1 OAN - 6 OPWI - 34 OPWII - 62 ORS - 24 OGIII - 16 BM - 15 CSM - 21 Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Click on the words "Reply to Pattons Soviet Awards" below to be directed to information on the other MH recipient NavyFCO describes above. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, This excellent photograph is currently available on the well-known auction site. It is the best resolution copy I've seen thus far. As a result, we now know our unidentified Soviet officer wearing U.S. Army jump wings (first mentioned above), was also awarded a United States Army Bronze Star Medal (the ribbon immediately above the jump wings). The presentation ceremony occurred on May 12th, 1945, at the airport/airfield in Linz, Austria. Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 65th Infantry Division provided the honor guard. General Patton presented Lt Gen N. D. Zakhvatayev, Commander, 4th Guards Army, with the Legion of Merit (LM) in the degree of Commander. He also presented lower degree LMs to 12 other Red Army personnel. There is also a report Patton awarded some Bronze Star Medals to Red Army personnel that day. It is unclear whether the Soviet officer wearing the ribbon for the Bronze Star Medal above the U.S. Army jump wings was one of them. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Currently available in the former Soyuz. Initial asking price is $8,000.00. This OGI was awarded. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, It does not get better than this. United States Army Medal of Honor recipient Technical Sergeant Max Thompson who was also awarded the Order of Glory Third Class. Read more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Thompson_(Medal_of_Honor Regards, slava1stclass

Christian, He was a corporal with duties as a forward observer/forward observer squad leader assigned to an artillery regiment in a rifle division subordinated to the 69th Army. His OGI was for action in mid-April 1945 (after the Oder River crossing) during offensive operations to the south of the Seelow Heights IVO of Lebus, Germany. All told, he received seven decorations during the war; six orders - two OPWIIs, an ORS and three OGs and one medal - a CSM. Regards, slava1stclass