slava1stclass

The decorations may "span" three wars, but Hack only served in two. Hack was eligible for the Victory Medal but he never held himself out to be a World War II veteran. Korea and Vietnam were his conflicts, and in terms of total number of valor awards he was the most decorated soldier of the post-war era (but not the most highly decorated soldier).

coastie and Dave,

Correct - Hackworth it is. While Hackworth may not have believed his World War II service in the United States Merchant Marine constituted wartime service, as coastie noted, the fact that he was awarded the Merchant Marine Pacific War Zone Bar (for service in the Pacific zone including the North Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean east of eighty degrees east longitude) and the Merchant Marine Victory Medal (awarded to members of the crews of ships who served 30 days or more during the period December 7, 1941 to September 3, 1945) speaks otherwise. Whether he actually saw combat/served under fire while with the MM in the Pacific theater is another matter.

Great information, too, on the other highly decorated Army veterans!

Regards,

slava1stclass

I am not aware of any Soviet awards to him; but I will guess General James Gavin?

Wid Card,

Good guess, however, Gavin was airborne qualified and this person was not.

Rgeards,

slava1stclass

Are my eyes going bad or do I see 2 silver star ribbons on the second row?

coastie,

Excellent question. Your vision is 20/20. The two ribbons are used because he's been awarded 10 Silver Stars. The U.S. Army uniform regulation prohibits the wear of more than four devices/appurtenances on a service ribbon. Until a very recent change to the regulation, there was no way to indicate one had been awarded a 10th award of a given decoration. An extra service ribbon was therefore authorized in such instances. The USAF, however, has been using this method for some time.

If he would have received an 11th award of the Silver Star, the second ribbon would go away and he would wear the base service ribbon with two silver oak leaf clusters.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

An absolutely impressive array of combat decorations spanning three wars - even the legendary Audie Murphy would acknowledge this. Can you name the recipient?

Let the contest begin.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

These service ribbons/unit citation represent the personal decorations of a legendary World War II figure. In keeping with the theme of this thread, can you identify him?

Let the contest begin.

Regards,

slava1stclass

For the Soviets, the distinction was less between bravery and meritorious service than it was that the DSC was higher than the DSM.

Dave,

I ran the numbers.

Three of the 20 Red Army personnel who received the DSM were also HSUs (including one triple HSU) - a 15% rate.

17 of the 53 Red Army personnel who received the DSC were also HSUs (including two Double HSUs) - a 32% rate.

At some point therefore, the distinction for valor did come into play - likely more at our, rather than the Soviets', choosing.

One thing is clear, however, we Jesuit-trained men share a common eye for detail.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

Of the 5,089 American DSCs awarded during World War II, 258 (5%) were awarded to foreigners. Of that number, 53 (or slightly over 20%), were awarded to Red Army personnel.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Boy was it a pain trying to track his name down... I literally spent several years on it before a member from another forum was able to pin him down by random chance.

Dave

Dave,

Sorry to hear you had such a difficult time in nailing down his I.D. I'm glad that it's no longer a mystery.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

Here is a Medal of Honor winner who was also awarded the Order of the Patriotic War. The citation for his Medal of Honor follows.

Regards,

slava1stclass

SLATON, JAMES DANIEL

Corporal, U.S. Army

Company K, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division

Date of Action: September 23, 1943

Citation:

The Medal of Honor is presented to James Daniel Slaton, Corporal, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company K, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, in action with the enemy in the vicinity of Oliveto, Italy, on 23 September 1943. Corporal Slaton was lead scout of an infantry squad which had been committed to a flank to knock out enemy resistance which had succeeded in pinning two attacking platoons to the ground. Working ahead of his squad, Corporal Slaton crept upon an enemy machinegun nest and, assaulting it with his bayonet, succeeded in killing the gunner. When his bayonet stuck, he detached it from the rifle and killed another gunner with rifle fire. At that time he was fired upon by a machinegun to his immediate left. Corporal Slaton then moved over open ground under constant fire to within throwing distance, and on his second try scored a direct hit on the second enemy machinegun nest, killing two enemy gunners. At that time a third machinegun fired on him 100 yards to his front, and Corporal Slaton killed both of these enemy gunners with rifle fire. As a result of Corporal Slaton's heroic action in immobilizing three enemy machinegun nests with bayonet, grenade, and rifle fire, the two rifle platoons which were receiving heavy casualties from enemy fire were enabled to withdraw to covered positions and again take the initiative. Corporal Slaton withdrew under mortar fire on order of his platoon leader at dusk that evening. The heroic actions of Corporal Slaton were far above and beyond the call of duty and are worthy of emulation.

General Order No. 44, May 30, 1944

Born: 4/2/1912 at Laurel, Mississippi

Home Town: Gulfport, Mississippi

MONDVOR,

Thank you. It appears they used original archive photos in concocting these. The one of Full Cavalier Chertkov is a particularly nice example.

As I've mentioned in another thread, these archival photos of Full Cavaliers were to be had in pretty big numbers (from select dealers) in the mid to late 90s. While most of these Full Cavalier archival photos were taken in the mid-70s (when the Full Cavalier booklets were first issued) some were war or immediate post-war period shots - especially for those Full Cavaliers who were deceased by then.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Hello All,

I really stepped into it on this one and I apologize. When I used the term OBE, I was referring to Order of the British Empire, forgetting that OBE, properly used, stands for Officer, British Empire.

As has been pointed out all that applies to General Rassokhin is Commander, British Empire (CBE). I was also a bit confused, and concerned, when I saw his commander?s badge suspended on a breast, rather than neck, ribbon; but now, thanks to your explanations am at ease.

Again, sorry about the confusion.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

Wild Card,

No need to apologize whatsoever. We're all here to help. Thank you again for the great photos.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Ouch!

Not to knock our dear British friends, but during the 1990s there were a TON of fake groups that were churned out by someone in Britain. I don't know if it was a Russian (it probably was) but at one point, I couldn't find a good Soviet group amongst any major medal dealer - they were THAT pervasive! Unfortunately, all of those have been sold, and re-sold, and re-sold again, so the fact that they were originally from England has all but been lost.

Dave

To all:

I'm aware of at least one dealer in England (of Croatian ancestry) who, in the mid-90s, almost burned a U.S. collector on a ORB 1-7 group alleged to have belonged to Soviet ace Kozhedub. Once research came in, however, the scam came to light. When said dealer refused to offer a refund, the U.S. collector then hired a British barrister and took said dealer before Her Majesty's Court. He won. Said dealer was subsequently banished from OMSA.

Regards,

slava1stclass

...and this one to a guy whose name I cannot read

Rakovich, Feofan Ivanovich

Regards,

slava1stclass

Gentlemen,

Following are two pictures of Vasili Vasilyevich Rassokhin as well as the reverse of the second picture showing biographical notes. I also have a copy of his award document for his appointment as an Honorary Commander of the Military Division of the Most Excellent order of the British Empire which is dated 19 January 1944; and is, unfortunately too large to be copied on my scanner.

Lastly, pictured is his badge to the OBE.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

Wild Card,

Great pictures! One clarification though. The decoration depicted is the neck decoration for the CBE (not the OBE) This can get very confusing as the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire has several classes/degrees (ranked from highest to lowest):

GBE

KBE

CBE

OBE

Two classes of MBE

Following common Red Army practice at the time, he wears this foreign neck decoration pinned directly to his tunic (in the first picture) and then with a jury-rigged suspension using the standard Soviet five-sided hangar (in the second picture). First time I've seen the latter technique employed.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

The notation on the photo's reverse.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

A very unique photo dating to 30 January 1958 which records a gathering of Soviet partisan vets in Kiev, Ukraine. While Soviet partisans/partisan operations aren't my area of expertise, this is a very interesting photo nonetheless. Note, too, the number of HSUs among their ranks.

Enjoy.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Gentlemen,

Below is a photo from Victory Parade by G. Drozdov and E. Ryabko showing a double winner (Distinguished Service Cross and Legion of Merit) in formation with the 1st Ukrainian Front at the 1945 parade. To his right is 3x HSU Pokryshkin who is shown more clearly in another picture to be wearing a U.S. Distinguished Service medal.

To all:

As Wild Card mentions above, here's another shot that provides a better look. Note Pokryshkin's DSM (to the very right on the third row of his decorations).

Regards,

slava1stclass

This is the unsold grouping.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Just out of curiosity, anyone have a clue what an LOM certificate and citation to a Soviet NCO might be worth? Still negotiating on the one I was offered, but I haven't a CLUE what these are worth!

Thanks!

Dave

As a follow up, the well-known auction site had/has two such certificates with citations listed. Each was awarded to a Red Army Lt Col and dated 1946. First one just went unsold (with an asking price of $499.99). The second is currently available with an opening asking price of $995.00.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Just out of curiosity, anyone have a clue what an LOM certificate and citation to a Soviet NCO might be worth? Still negotiating on the one I was offered, but I haven't a CLUE what these are worth!

Thanks!

Dave

Dave,

While I cannot put a current dollar figure on it, suffice it to say that during World War II award certificates/citations for the DSC, SS, LM, DFC, SM, BSM and AM were not issued to American servicemembers. This practice came into being sometime after the war.

That said, a WW II period certificate/citation for one of these decorations (irrespective of the fact it was awarded to a foreigner) would command top dollar. It follows that the higher the precedence of the decoration/rarer the award, the higher the price.

Regards,

slava1stclass

As the editor of the OMSA publication on US Army awards to foreigners, let me reiterate what that publication is. It's a reformatting of a study the Army did in 1947 counting up awards made by Army and Army Air Forces commands. The object of the study was to determine the pattern of awards to try to adjust the peacetime awards system, so they weren't really looking to know where every Bronze Star went.

The problem with awards to foreign recipients is that such awards were often made on short notice and with little preparation. If the senior general to be decorated with an LoM shows up with his G-3 in tow, somebody was likely to dig into their bag of tricks and come with an LoM/Bronze Star/something to give to the staffer so that nobody's feelings got hurt. That award may never have had any real paperwork, although Truman made every effort, after the war, to get documents out to wartime Allied recipients.

Good, bad or simply ugly, it's a base line from which to work.

JB,

Thank you for the clarification. I couldn't agree more. Unlike the Germans and Russians who were particularly fastidious about their record keeping, I fully support the conclusion you draw. I've personally reviewed all the U.S. War Department General Orders for the war and immediate post-war years. As I've previously stated, awards made to foreigners at the Army/Corps level and below, while possibly noted in orders published at those levels, are not the easiest to recover for research/analytical purposes. While the breakout in Post 1 above is by no means all-inclusive, it serves to provide a sense of the general pattern of awards to the Soviets (from which larger assumptions may be drawn). Thanks again.

Regards,

slava1stclass

He was lightly wounded in the left hand or arm (there is no distinct word for either in Russian-- appendages being labelled like flippers from the shoulder down) 5 (?) May 1945.

To all:

More precisely, he was wounded in the left shoulder. The Russian word for shoulder is used in describing the injury (in parentheses).

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

A very nice M1945 VP uniform shot of HSU Col Gen Mikhail Stepanovich Shumilov, Commander, 7th Guards Army. Note the neck decoration for the K.B.E. pinned to his tunic's front breast (second row, first from the left).

Regards,

slava1stclass

I came across no hard evidence to confirm that either the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) or Soldier's Medal (SM) was awarded to Red Army personnel. This same OMSA publication, however, indicates that three DFCs and one oak leaf cluster (OLC) to the DFC as well as one SM were awarded.

To all:

My apologies to OMSA. I have recently discovered photographic evidence to confirm the awarding of the DFC to at least one Soviet officer. The below picture of said unidentified Soviet company grade HSU aviator was taken just prior to the 24 June 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow.

Regards,

slava1stclass

To all:

A nice shot of Col Gen Alexander V. Gorbatov, Commander, 3rd Army seated with LTG William M. Simpson, CG, 9th U.S. Army taken on 28 May 1945 in Braunschweig, Germany. Note that Gorbatov has just been awarded the LOM in the degree of Commander.

Regards,

slava1stclass