Chris Boonzaier

I am sure you will appretiate the rarity of this signature.... Not many folks asking him for one after 17...

""The "Hero of Verdun" was also the hardline martinet whose Romanesque decimation of several mutinous French units during the War of 1914-1918 was referenced in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory. P?tain was a product of his age and his generation, an arch-conservative Catholic. This informed his pleasure, for example, in passing anti-Jewish legislation. His generation had never forgiven the Dreyfuss Affair."" If I remember correctly Petain was not involved in the executions, they were before he took over... his "soft touch" and bettering of the conditions of the men helped get the army into shape again?

I guess when you are towing one f those you seldom get some A-Hole tailgating you when he thinks you are to slow ;-)

Its good to see the interest in SA medals... i only have my uncles John chard medal... I will post it as soon as I get a photo done. best Chris

A very nice, concentrated collection. I agree with Kev, how about some close ups? Best Chris

very close, but still lacking the concrete "They locked them suckers up!" confirmation. maybe he was not even held and made his way to germany?

Wow, for a guy who loves documents... that is a knockout group indeed. Did they see much combat?

What a superb collecting field. Probably countless variations and realistic prices. its soething I could actaully consider collecting if my finances were not already so stretched ...

An old thread up to the top... Verdun at the end of the week... I see a half a dozen new shields on the horizon !!!! Yeah... right... Anyway, this is an old old thread... thought Mr murphy would enjoy it as it was before his time...

An old post and we have many new members since them. Anyone know what happened to the german crews?

Off to Verdun again this week.... open invitation to any brits.... if you can make it to Frankfurt airport Wednesday night or Thursday morning... and fly back to britain on Sunday afternoon/evening.... I can fetch you and take you with to Verdun for the trip.

As I have a bit of time on my hands i am trawling old threads... Does anyone out there have any period british histories where a larger picture of the sea skirmish is pictured? I know there must be one soewhere as the small one pictured is from some (unknown) history.

To the top because the region is ever more relevant nowdays. I met the ex president of the Sudan last week, so it brought the medal to mind again.

So... anyone wantto post examples of the British / American whatever chocolate and sweetie tins)

Also his medal bar and a small stone/chalk souvenier of the war 14-15. What is interesting is the souvenier was made in march 1915 by his comrade Joseph M?rz when the regt was in position on the Somme at Grenouillere Ferme. Here in 1914 the Regiment won 2 of the 7 Golden bavarianbravery awards it recieved in the war.The regiment spent a few moths here and in this timethe small carved stone was made.

he did the Verdun things we walked on outr last trip....

On the threads below you can see two of my favourite items/groups, both to the 12th Bavarian inf regt. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7534&hl= http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6534&hl= but today I got the following.... One of these Ehren Chroniks to a guy who served through the whole war in one of the premium divisions....

Hi, I am still guessing the Aisne as opposed to the eastern front. The award was made about a month and a half after the Regt arrived in the east. BUT in that time the guy had been wounded bad enough to get the gold wound badge, been through hospital, landed in the recovery company? I would guess he was wounded late 15, early 16...did his hospital time, landed n the recovery comapny and then got his EK. Tom is right, a good potential buy... but I have almost 500 imperial EK docs and 130 or so regtl histories.... and only 2-3 cases is there anything relevant to an individual :-(

Hi, model 17, but no mention of when they were made.... Still no chance of making verdun this weekend? ;-)

Shoot him a mail and ask the exact criteria.. Is the photo taken while in service or after he left the legion? maybe he thinks he is entitled to it, but is not? i to am curious.

Here for example... there is a belgian Email address for him, so you can ask http://www.amicale-online.ca/modules.php?n...ent&tid=251

I have seen ex Legionnaires wearing this with service from the 80s-90s. I thought they were just wearing this because they thought they were entitled to it, but were not?

Hi, depending on the owner you find them with or without photo, some varaitions have an EK printed between the leaves. Fom the fading on this one there never was a photo. Chip, I hear you. This arrived by mail in a frame... the glass broken. I have become a hardass frame chucker outer. 95% of frames are removed at the door. in the long run its better for the docs. If anyone has a little web savvy and some time, I would be glad, along with a coworker volunteer, and a nod from the chairman, to do a GMIC page on these commemorative docs.

I wish I had the history :-(