GregK

My favourite Canadian BD. Nice wartime example of a XII Manitoba Dragoons uniform. This particular example is special as it has not been tailored to a "best" or "coming home" BD and is exactly as it would have been worn in the field. I also have trousers for it but alas no full mannequin to display the set on. Another angle to show the insignia. More to follow another day. Thanks for looking. Please feel free to comment away. Cheers, Greg

Tunic and medals/badges/papers to one man. KD tunic used in North Africa by a man named Adam Rawdo. As you can see he was in the Independant Carpathian Rifles Brigade and fought at Tobruk. He also served in Italt @ Cassino. I have copies of his service records showing that he also took part in the defence of Poland in the September 1939 Campaign. He was one of the few that escaped Russian clutches and made it to Syria to form the Brigade. Unfortunately the tunic is stripped of all the buttons save for the ones on the cuffs. It has been modified in typical Polish fashion of having padding added to the shoulders. No other identifying insignia as is correct for a tunic of this type. Mr. Rawdo's badges and paperwork. As you can see there are a couple of them missing. Kind of a pity but the bulk of the items remain.

Hi Chris, Thanks for the comment. Hopefully others will follow suit soon. I will try to make detailed photographs of the berets as time permits. They will be packed up soon for the "big move" so I'll try to get them done before then. Ditto for the badges. Anything in particular that you're wanting to see? I will try to oblige the best I can in a timely fashion. Will post a couple of additional pics shortly. Hopefully more comments will follow. Cheers, Greg

The last of the misc. bits on display. A one of a kind shield for te 3rd Carpathian Rifles Div. I don't know the exact story on this one but from what I have been able to gather there was one of these made for every Commonwealth and Allied unit and they were hung in a mess hall somewhere in the UK. They were then sold off several years ago. This is the only one like it anywhere on Earth. Original flyer issued by the Allies and pasted all over Poland during German occupation. It's basically a "Wanted" poster for Hans Frank for attrocities against the Poles. Medal and badge grouping to Sgt. Piotr Komorowski. He was with the 2nd Sanitation Coy of the 3rd Carpathian Rifles Div. A couple of rarities in this grouping. The plastic 3 DSK "patch" as well as the collar badge for the Sluzba Zdrowia. So far it is only the second badge of it's type that I know of (the other residing in a good friends collection) That's about all I have to post for now. There are still many items that will be posted in coming days. I still have many groupings of Polish medals/badges as well as uniforms of the Polish 2nd Corps and Canadian Armoured Corps. Please feel free to comment. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Greg

A very RARE BD and GS Cap to a Polish Zandarm (MP) in the Polish 2nd Corps. Canvas titles to the shoulders and scarce plastic insignia to both sleeves. This tunic was worn by Stefan Boczek who had some service with the Polish army at the time of the invasion in September '39. I have all of his paperwork as well as a copy of his service record.

Bottom shelf. Mainly WWII Canadian Cavalry/Armoured. As I am associated with The Fort Garry Horse my allegiance lies there (as you can see). There are some other WWII Armoured badges in there as well. This shelf is a work in progress with many additions coming regularly.

The third shelf. Another mix of original medals and badges. The rack at the back is my latest. This shelf focuses on the 2nd Armoured Div. and misc. 2nd Corps badges. Some more rarities on this shelf. Another angle to show more badge detail.

The second shelf. It's a mix of original medals and badges to the Polish 2nd Corps. This shelf is primarily 3 Carpathian Rifles Div. and 5th Kresowa Infantry Div. There are some very RARE badges in this lot. Another angle of the same shelf to show the badges a little more clearly.

Top shelf of the display case. This is my Polish Airborne shelf.In the background there are a couple of modern additions. You can see a bottle of Airborne Wine and a bottle of Airborne Beer. Both souveniers of a trip to Arnhem. The beret belonged to a para named Aleksander Sudolf. He was a veteran of Market Garden and took part in the failed jump on Arnhem. The photo is of an unknown Polish para. It's actually two photos that are backto back. I rotate them from time to time to chage it up a bit. The Army Book 64 is also to a Polish para. The little box in front of it is the British War Medal that was awarded to the man with the Paybook. Mixed in are a few little odds and ends that are related.

Shelf full of Polish berets. All but one of them is ID'd and those came directly from vets or their families (as most of my collection has). All are Italian Campaign (my speciality). The Perth Regiment BD. Original weare was a man by the name of Malven Mack. He was a stretcher bearer. I also got all of his paperwork as well as his SB and Medic's Armbands. He served in Italy and NW Europe. Wounded twice (as noted by the wound stripes on the sleeve).

General shot of the left side of my collecting area. Apologies for the clutter but as I said room is limited for now. The Perth Reg't BD is ID'd. I will detail later. You can see a bunch of stuff under the mannequin. That's mainly my spare British pattern 37 web and such. The "busy area". I do a lot of work here so sometimes it's hard to keep things tidy. You can see a tonne of photos that have to be mounted. Also a WWII period Canadian Ensign that is due to be framed when I get the time. The right side. My display case housing much of my badge collection. The mannequin to the right is a Polish 2nd Corps Zandarm (MP). It is also ID'd.

Hi all, As I am new here I thought I would introduce myself and post my collection for all to see. Some of you may recognize me from another forum but I thought I'd try things out here for awhile. My collection mainly consists of WWII Polish 2nd Corps with a smattering of Polish Airborne and some Canadian Armoured Corps. Unfortunately I don't have the room to display it all at the home I'm at now but as I have bought a new house I will finally have a room all of my own. This will allow me to display most of my collection. I will try to describe the photos as I go along. If you see any items that you would need additional photos of please feel free to ask. Feel free to comment (positive or negative..I don't mind). Thanks, Greg

Hi Leigh, I echo Ed's comments. Very beautiful sets you have. Both very complete and very RARE!!! In fact I can count on one hand how many of the books I've seen to accompany these medals. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Greg PS. If you haven't had the paperwork translated yet and need someone to do it then I would gladly oblige.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to reply to your post if I may. "Greg you are entitled to your opinion on this matter, but it has to be said that when a new member turns up and within eight posts starts to cast aspertions on the credibility of internationally known leading collector (and I am leaving Doc out of the equation) it makes me wonder at your motives ?" I have no ulterior motives. I in no way attacked the Professor's or Doc's credibility. All I said was that Wesolowski's book is more than 20 years old and needs to be updated. In fact I praised him for writing it as it was groundbreaking at the time. Do you remember when Angolia wrote his books on awards back in the 70's? People praised them as being the "Bible" for collectors of that material but in the years since much of the information and and examples he pictured have been deemed false. Others have taken the reigns to write new and more modern books based on new information. "I am sure that you have your own credentials, but come on let us all establish them before you go in at the deep end". All I did (or thought I was doing) was offering another point of view. I have made posts in many other forums and have shared knowledge gained from years of study in the field. If I should have posted more before jumping in with an opinion then my apologies for doing things out of turn. Any opinion I expressed was backed up with detailed photo evidence pointing out some differences. It was not just a blanket statement or accusation. "I am glad that you have tried to support your statement, but you give no mention on the provenance of your own posted award, which as far as I know could have been made yesterday ! We need some objectivity here and before peoples names are tarnished with sweeping statements we need a lot more proof than you are offering." The award that I posted was given to me by a good family friend. It was his fathers cross. If need be I can post an identical example (albeit with a different number) that was my grandfathers. "It is nice to see someone who says he has got knowledge of these awards join the forum, but I think you seriously need to establish some credibility with the other members here before you challenge what you perceive to be a bad group, when everyone else so far thinks its good." I have done much study on these. In fact the statement that they were made in Italy is false and I have documentation to prove it. I read the other members' statements and not one claimed that this group was 100%. As I mentioned above if my coming here and offering a differing opinion offended anyone then I am sorry. After all is said and done though I thought I handled myself very well given the situation. I didn't resort to name calling even after many rude and hurtful things were said to me. I offered the olive branch as I am a peace loving individual and life is far too short for confrontation. My offer of an apology to Mr. Riley still stands as I bear him no ill will. I can understand his viewpoint as it's never nice to hear something negative about something you're proud of. He was angry and he vented his rage. I do not apologize for my viewpoint as I do stand behind what I said but I do apologize if it offended him so. In the future I will refrain from posting if I see that it will turn into a "fistfight". I would hope Mr. Riley would see fit to replace his photos as I think they would be beneficial to all. Thanks, Greg

I in no way personally attacked him. I just stated thathis book has errors and is out of date. Sorry to say but it's 20+ years old. Most reference works published then have since been noted as full of errors. That goes if you're collecting German medals, Polish medals, teacups, spoons or anything else. As I said he did his best at the time and I applaud him for it. Warmest Regards, Greg

Guess you didn't see the apology I extended. Oh well. No big loss. If you are comfortable with this pair then by all means that's the most important thing. You spent your hard earned money on them and in the end it's you that has to be happy. I personally would not have them in my collection but that's me. My apology still stands from the above post. I bear no ill will towards you. You have your opinion and I have mine. Let's agree to disagree. Cheers, Greg

Doc, Didn't see your reply before I posted. Apology accepted and please accept one on my behalf. I didn't come here to make enemies. I came to share my knowledge and to learn from others. No hard feelings. Cheers, Greg

Closer shot of the reverse. Note how sharp the stamping of the #'s is. It is like this on ALL originals. Note the soft trasition in the valleys of all the arms. On yours it is much sharper and far less uniform. See also the detail around the box. It's lacking on your example. Lastly the hole on yours appears rounded out. These were made of a very sturdy alloy. I've seen these where they looked like they were pulled behind a truck and the hole has always remained in perfect condition. Yours unfortunately is not. You can now do with this information what you like but please note that I have many badges that are known originals that the Professor has misidentified in his book. In fact in a couple of cases he only has drawings of them and the information provided is incorrect. His book was groundbreaking in it's day but much of the information has been refuted inrecent times. He was working with the best information he had at the time and for that I applaud him but his book is now 20+ years old and needs to be amended.

The reverse. The detail is far more clear in this photo.

The fron of one of my crosses. Note the detail around the box.

Against my better judgement I will post one example only and point out the differences. You can do with that information what you please. I'm not asking to be your only source of information...all I wanted to do was give you another point of view. If you choose to trust the professor as your source then that is your prerogative. All I can say is Caveat Emptor. I'll let the pictures speak now. Regards, Greg

Hi Doc, Sorry if I offended you. It was not my intent. As far as you calling me "Full of hot air" I do take some offence to that. All I was doing was offering another viewpoint. As far as me being unknown that may be the case on this forum but I assure you that there are many around that would back up my reputation and knowledge. If you search other forums for my user name you will see that I have a great deal of knowledge in this area.I am also a member of the local SPK and have handled literally hundreds of these particular medals in their archives so I do have some experience. I don't claim to be perfect (far from it even) but I think I do know what I am talking about. As far as the Professor selling you a copy he may not have done it intentionally (I never acused him of such). Just because you have a name to go with this # does not mean that this is the medal awarded to that individual. I can buy a set of metal stamps at the local hardware store and stamp Anders' # on cross and sell it if I wanted to. If you'd like me to I'm still willing to post photos of mine for comparison. If not then that's your loss (both intelectually and monetarily). Ceers, Greg

Hi Doc, No offence to you or the Professor but I stand by what I said. Just because they came from the Professor's collection doesn't mean that they are original. Writing a book on a topic does not mean that you know everything. I have seen too many people get burned by trusting someone based solely on their reputation (not talking about anyone in particular...just a blanket statement). I can and will post photos of 100% originals and point the differences between mine and yours. Regards, Greg

Hi there, New to this forum so please don't take my next statement the wrong way but I'm not convinced that these are original. I especially have my reservations about the Monte Cassino Cross.I have several of these in my personal collection and all of them are identical to each other but different to this one. Secondly I find it difficult to believe that a person would have been awarded these two awards and none others. At best he should have had at least had the 1939-1945 Star as well as the Italy Star and Polish Medalu Wojska. I'm 98% sure that these are bad but would really like to see side shots of the Cassino medal to be positive. I can also post my known originals for comparison if need be. Cheers, Greg