Chris Boonzaier

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2

Now it begins to get sexy...

Don Sent me the following for posting... some nice stuff!

Not my field of collecting, but more than a steal IMHO.

Ello, ello... What's all this, then!? Secret meetings of members behind closed doors.... right suspicious if you ask me!

Nice looking badge. Pity they did not number them with an issue booklet!

I think it is probably a political move, IMHO rather transparent. Step one) British court issues arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza. This automatically leads to claims of antisemitism. An Israeli leader was discussing this on CNN last week. Step two) How do you defuse charges of antisemitism and at the same time still stay strong on the issue of Gaza? You state your views on Bulldozers and clusterbombs and the Gaza offensive then protect yourself with "... any I must say! Some of my best friends are Jewish!" at the end. IMHO this is a political version of the two step. condemn gaza, then honor people who saved Jews in WW2. Anyway, please no comments on the Gaza issue, this is about the medal, not middle east politics. I have just given a possible reason for its institution....

Here is a new one... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8558739.stm I assume this is not only for saving Jews in WW2 and that is just by chance the first people to get it. I dont see a new medal being created just for 30 people...

A friend of my uncle writes the following... if anyone can help... My grandfather James Walsh, a seaman, "jumped ship" in Table Bay 1900/1901. He married my grandmother in 1905. At the time of his arrival in Cape Town, one had to have a certificate from an office in London (50 pounds) and one had to prove that one had 100 pounds with which to support oneself before being allowed to leave the ship. You can bet my grandfather had neither. A possible scenario for what he was doing between 1900/1901 and 1905 (or at least part of that time) was that he was "captured" and put to use in the British Army. Not so unlikely as may seem as I have been told of at least 2 other Irish sailors who served in the British Army during the Boer War. 30000 Irishmen fought on the British side in the War the vast majority, of course, being in regiments like the Royal Irish Fusiliers. A distant relative of mine in Ireland sent me an e-mail part of which I quote below. Note that I had not mentioned the Boer War or anything remotely connected with it in my correspondence with him. "i remember my uncle william hogan telling me that an uncle of his was in the cape police and he had a photo of a man in uniform wearing a tunic and riding britches and a wide brimmed hat pinned up to one side....he also told me of an uncle who was in the mounties in canada...not sure if these uncles were hogans or walshs." Two things are important in the above statement. The use of the words "cape police" and the uncles being Hogans or Walshs. If the latter, it could only have been my grandfather. The Cape Police were a British Army unit made up of local people during the Boer War. My grandfather was never in Canada to our knowledge. I have two questions. 1) Where can I obtain the names of those (privates?) who made up the Cape Police? 2) Where can I view their uniform or a photo of their uniform? Any assistance will be gratefully received

Hi, if the photo was from 1917-18 they probably had quite some time to win them.... ;-)

Hi, Genie is engineer, the "e" is lime the "th" after 7th... can also be 7e or 7eme (same-same) Best Chris

Very nice group, worth a magazine article IMHO.

I dont think it is possible to say as there were no central records (that I am aware of..) As the "lower grade" could be awarded at regimental (and in some rare cases battalion) level, it would hinge on th epossibility that the totals were reported to a central office who kept score. Then there is the complication of ... how would they be counted? I have 2 groups where the men each had 7-8 stars.. for these two men alone you would have 15 awards reported in the statistics... but in fact it was 2 men, each with one medal (although in total awarded 15 citations)... gets complicated for whoever whould have kept the records...

Kiknadze .... I tried googling it and came up with a youtube video of someone being kicked in the crotch and the offered google correction "do you mean "Kicked in the Nads"?"

Hi The theory that a fake always comes in bunches hold water when a mould or die is made...the faker can chug out badge after badge... when someone has to do everything by hand (like in this case) the person making them can do one.... or two.... or more... or not.... Basically it is like "print on demand", I never expected a deluge... maybe the maker calculated the effort needed and what he got for them.. then stopped after 2. Workmanship did not die in 1918... everytime I am in Norhtern Ontario I visit an old lady who belongs to a patchwork circle... a bunch of old ladies who sit around doinf neddlework... any one of them makes stuff more complicated than this. material... no problem. A faker does not have to MAKE cloth... old cloth can be found at any flea market. I think this is an interesting piece, but if its good or not will be left to each to decide if he believes it or not. I am also not convinced by the black and white photos... it is all guesswork and supposing one ma be a different color. The argument has been used on the forums that one cannot tell how many german helmets were cammo in 1918 because black and white hides the shades... if that is so.. then a small badge is even harder!! There may be a proof out there that this is real, I will be the first to admit it IF it happens... but the above arguments dont swing it for me ;-)

You shoulda listened to Nancy!

Some pretty cool stuff up today... Harry adds a piece to the Africa puzzle with British East Africa in 1914 Sturmbataillon ROHR !!!! Yes! there is more up! And some more added to the MG page... http://www.kaiserscross.com/152301.html

78?

Here is another neat one... I think iR 78?

whats the score so far? Best Chris

Unfortunately he seems to have been taken by the Russians in 1945.... many of the articals have a "?" behind his date of death....

Google knows a lot about him... apparently he was (at least in his mind) an expert on genetics and hereditary weaknesses... His clinic was for children and he studied how sterilization could improve the race... Of course, he was a party member and SS man. On one google hit was a paragraph about how he was keen to follow 15 young people who he had somehow "cured" and put back into normal life, they were now guaranteed not to be a detriment to the state and would not dirty the gene pool... I assume his work was one of the keystones of the German forced sterilization program.

Professor of medicine at the Berlin University, had a special Outpatients clinic for children in Berlin, attached to the Charite Hospital...

Certainly had "the look"... eagle eyed old officer we automatically respect....