Chris Boonzaier

Here is an interesting Photo.... it seems he has saved himself the leather rig, by clipping the wooden holster onto a breadbag strap?

This was the auction....

Painted on a Car, the arc over the front wheel is what is cutting off a bit of the lettering. I will try and scan tomorrow

Hi, unfortunately i have no idea :-(

It must be III Batl.... I also see K?RR

2

Some good shots of the crosses....

Am i right thinking this is "III Batl GRPR" ?

I have quite a few groups where the guys served 14-18... but this one is unusual in that his service was never interupted. He went into the field in October 1914... and stayed in rgw regiment (Verdun, Somme, Champagne etc) until 1918, Left for hospital in April 1918, then officers course... but between those dates he was "there"... From memory, all the other groups I have have guys being wounded, then off in hospital, then time at the ersatz Battalion, then on a course of some sort, maybe some time at the Feldrekrutendepot, many guys after 2-3 years were sent to work in a factory for a while (!).... but this is the only infantry Guy I have (as far as i can remember) that was in an infantry company, in an active western front unit, that spent 42 months on service (with leave of course!)

Hi 8th Mounted Rifles Best Chris

But I thought you collected artillery ????

Very nice books!! Good luck on finding the missing docs!

It is not for 50 years membership for an individual, but for 50 years existance of the association, nice design!

I have never seen one of those boxes before! Are they private purchase, or did higher ranks get them in a box, and lower ranks in a packet?

Hi, at the moment I am on the move 24/7, hope for some time later this week to catch up on things and will scan the inside. Best Chris

Fantastic! I wonder if there are ariel photos out there, with allied positions, with their name on the back? Usually the name of the crew and the FFA are written on the back

He fought in all the battles, started as a Private, made it up to Offiziers Stellvertreter, was lucky never to get wounded... always rated as "outstanding" in his reports

And the rest....

Docs....

Here is a nice group to a guy who fought from October 1914 till the end in the Füsilier Regiment 36

If it is 12th Division and 22 R.... Surely it is a 22nd Infantry regiment? I am still in the dark as to what the "royal Saxon Rifle Corps" is supposed to be ? What is the German term?

IMHO there is nothing wrong with the Relatives voicing their opinion, the two things we hear very often are 1) History being split up and 2) Some member of the family flogging Grandfathers medals When case 2) comes around, they should clear up the issues (both legal and moral) beforehand, it avoids recriminations afterwards. The sad but realistic fact is, the legal owner is the legal owner, period. If some Nephew or Greatgrandson pops up and wants the goodies... the Owner (even if family) is no required to say "ooooohhh... whats EUR50 000 compared to keeping it in the family!... here little Johnny, keep them in honor!" If I was the legal owner relative, and I had planned to sell, and some distant relative popped up and said "My whole life has been built around honouring dead uncle Mac, for the last 45 years I have had a shrine in my living room, and I visit his grave twice a week... "... I may consider giving them a price break.... but if there was a case of "Well, I am a relative to...."... I would give them a link to the auction and tell them to bid.... UNLESS there was a legal reason not to and it belonged to the someone else in the family.....

The Upside is... if ALL items were withdrawn, then it is very likely they will be staying together.... which would probably not have been the case if the items had been auctioned. I have missed out on items in the past because Auctions had been pulled, it is irritating, but on the other hand, for a group like this I am happy to see that at the end of the day someone managed to arrange that all stayed together.

I was considering bidding on a nice pic with a group of men wearing the Draeger Gasmasks on some Pionier course... but it went for over EUR140....

Well, technically the potential Buyer would only have paid EUR800 if there had been someone else willing to pay EUR799 as Undebidder ;-)