Tony

What a fantastic group! I just did a quick check on the Commonwealth War Graves site and only 1 Lt. kerr (in the 2nd Flying Training School) of the RAF is listed. He was Lt. RW Kerr from Canada who died 12.8.18. I don't have a copy of the Soldier's Died CD but GKG Kerr may be on it, I can ask elsewhere. I always thought medals to the RFC where for members who didn't make it through to April 1918 when the change to RAF was made, I'm probably wrong there though. Here's a link to the CWGC in case you turn up with more Commonwealth medals. http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx Tony

The reverse.

Here are scans of some immediate post war issued medals (top) and my Grandad?s medals which were officially issued by the MoD in 1998 (bottom). The ribbon suspension bar on both later issue medals is too long and pokes out untidily, the official 1998 issue ribbon is narrower than immediate post war ribbon and the claw on the 1998 War Medal isn?t aligned correctly (lopsided). The reverse or the Stars is, well, cheaply done. Rough grinding and not given a smooth polished finish. The ribbon rings are oversized and not soldered. Please remember, these aren?t copies that have just been knocked up in a garage somewhere in Asia, they are official MoD issue awards that come with the ?Campaign Stars, Clasps and Medals? card, each award is in its own brown paper packet packed in a nice cardboard box (that wouldn?t look out of place at Ikea) but, they look as if they were knocked up in a garage before being posted to the MoD. Has anyone noticed anything I haven?t? Tony

Good question Ed. I had my Grandad's medals issued about 7 years ago, they came from the official MoD medal office so although brand new, would they be classed as original or copies? The quality of the stars is very poor when comparing them to stars issued in the 40s and 50s, the medals are slightly better than the stars but still not as good as the "originals." Tony

That is a good article Darrell. I think I'll have to buy myself a good copy or two for my reference. The ones I saw in Brighton the other week were ?10 each, that was the only pointer towards them being copies for me. Tony

People from Lippe are known for being tight. Errrr, I mean careful with their money.

Hello, There are a lot of modern copies of the WWII stars on the market at the moment and I was wondering if any of you can give me some pointers on what to look out for on an original star. I can easily spot an average copy of the 1914/15 star but saw some WWII stars the other week and was very surprised to be told they weren?t original. They were better quality than those being issued by the medal office at the moment. Tony

Gilbert, I've just remembered that I have his medals Only joking. What I have just remembered though is that I have the book "The Lambeth and Southwark Volunteers" published in 1965 so, if you need any info from it let me know. Still haven't found any Neals, Forresters or Bucketts in it although the family has been in Southwark since 1790 something. That's Buckett with double T. And the National Roll of the Great War section XIII Tony

Thanks Chip, I was wondering if that was the case. There must be loads of them on ebay.de. Tony

I?ve noticed a great deal of WWI German helmets on ebay recently that all have two holes punched in the side. Do any of you know the meaning for the holes? Some type of badge fixing? Could they have been used by a 3rd world country that is now selling off its stock? I believe the Austrians wore oak leaves or similar on the left hand side of their helmets but the holes are on the right hand side. Here?s a link to a pile large enough for a whole troop I just saw on ebay http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 Tony

Hello John, Here's a link to the museum http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/ Tony

Thanks David! Yes I really think you should donate the bar to someone living in Bielefeld Jens. Tony (living in Bielefeld)

Very nice Jens, You know you should really donate the bar to someone living in the area where the 55th came from Was the II Btl. stationed in H?xter, Detmold or Bielefeld? Tony

Don't forget the screw back versions and.... Tony

Hello, While I was back home last week I took the children to a small but interesting aircraft museum just off the M25 at South Mimms. The museum is only open a few afternoons each week and houses De Havilland aircraft and memorabilia from the early days to about the 1970s including a few examples of the Mosquito. The best bit (for the children of course) was that they could climb inside the cockpits of the more modern aircraft (jet fighters and the front part of an airliner) and play with the buttons, switches and joystick triggers. There was even the fuselage of a Horsa glider which we could climb into and sit down where the troops would have sat, but weren't allowed inside the cockpit. There was a notice explaining that the fuselage had only survived because the previous owner had covered the top with roofing felt when using it as a garage for his MG car. Tony

My favourite is this one: LV ? S or LV ? 5 Tony

4 non maker marked 3 KO 1 WG K on eyelet 1 KAG 1 LW 1 WILM 2 S 1 Z 1 G 2 CD800 1 V 1 HW 1 with No. 4 (?) Tony

These are mine: 1 HBG 5 KO 5 non maker marked (1 magnetic, 1 convex, 2 non magnetic and 1 magnetic 1957 1914 EK) 1 Square 3 convex with 800 stamp (under clasp, on pin and in the middle) 1 V with 800 stamp

Thanks everyone. Keith, I got them from antique type shops, Amazon and ebay. The single BWM was an ebay buy which has my name on it. The trio with original ribbons came from the Lanes in Brighton and cost me ?50 which I thought was ok for a non casualty RFA/RA trio with a common name (King). I bought the other trio way up north in a little village near Telford (where it is damp and misty and the locals drive tractors or 4 WD cars. I wouldn't be surprised if they still have dragons up there either) for the going rate. It belonged to a Pte. Troughear of the Royal Scots (non casualty) so if anyone knows how to pronounce his name please tell me, I'm calling him Troff-ear at the moment. I also visited a few other shops and the KSLI museum in Shrewsbury with fellow member Dave B (who is usually only to be found in the German forums) and may have got him interested in WWI Brit stuff. The books came from Amazon but I'm reading the German one (Infantrist Perhobstler) first, although I've had a quick look at a few pages in the other two and they appear to be very good too. Both pencils in the tins are Sterling silver stamped which was an added bonus and I picked the cards up a while ago but had to collect them from my Mum's. You never can have enough Princess Mary items. Gilbert, I walked around Catford for nearly a whole day with a big sign saying "where's Gilbert" but didn't see you. I spent the rest of the day in traffic down Streatham High Street. Tony

Hello, The number looks more army than Merchant Navy to me unless Aussie Merchant Navy men had that sort of number. I have an old medal book from 1990 but the prices haven't increased the same way they have for WWI medals, here goes though: France & Germany with an ATLANTIC bar ?20 (saw one last week for ?40 I think) Africa with an AFRICA 42-45 bar ?12 Burma with a PACIFIC bar - no price but would guess at about ?40 Defence medal about ?10 today War medal with leaf a guess of ?20 If you add them all up plus a bit more for the grouping and a bit more for the engraving, so long as you can prove the name hasn't been added recently, it comes to quite a bit. I do hope someone else can give more advice though. Tony

Yeah I should have noticed the crown. Here are a couple of pictures I took a while ago on the Somme, nothing to do with badges but a lot to do with Newfoundland so I thought you might like to see them. Tony

Hello Laurence, What does the VR1 on the first badge mean? Tony

Hello, I?ve been back home for a few days and below is a pic of what I brought back, unfortunately I didn?t find any of it in fields, I paid for the lot except the yummy rum and raisin fudge which was sent to me by Mike Huxley. Thanks again Mike but, is it also sold in 2lb slabs? As you can see, I?m quite partial to the odd Princess Mary tin and Somme book (although one of them doesn't really belong in the Brit/Commonwealth forum). I also picked up a great German book called Infantrist Perhobstler which I recommend to anyone who can read German. Tony

Hello Chris, I have one awarded to my wife's Grandad for a rearguard action he took part in during their retreat in October 1918. I don't have it with me (I'm back home in England) but as far as I can remember, the award was for an action on Oct. 13th 1918. He was taken PoW the same day and received his EKI on his release in 1920 or 1921. Tony

Ed, Check out Flydutchman's link, there's info on the contents and it also says that Indians usually received sweets and spices. The Christmas Truce is very interesting too. Tony