Chris Boonzaier

What are the chances of finding a photo of a specific junior officer with the 10s of millions of Photos out there? Related to this tunic... Here are 2 pics that came with the tunick... a WW1 pic and a WW2 pic.... Then I got a group photo wit this face in it.... Narrowing it down to the same Battalion staff, his WW2 Wehrpass and Writing on the wall in the photo

I missed this.... nice find!!

Here is another one from the same seller... ALFRED MAYER HUMMEL Kr.LÜBEN 6.9.80 GARDE RES. PION. REGT. 5.KOMP. No.331 http://www.ebay.de/itm/Erkennungsmarke-WW-I-GARDE-RESERVE-PIONIER-RGT-5-KOMPAGNIE-/222204218686?hash=item33bc674d3e:g:o7oAAOSwTZ1XnI1e

That is a Gem!! Fantastic!

That Field Grey one is fantastic!

That is interesting, muchos Grazias!. i have just seen I have two EK2 docs to the Battalion, makes it all the more interesting to research them!!

Super, thanks! I have a photo of a PLM winner with signs from the Division, Nice to see the whole bunch!!

A couple of weeks ago on a French Military forum there was a bit of a discussion about the new "Victim of terrorism" medal.... https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Médaille_nationale_de_reconnaissance_aux_victimes_du_terrorisme Of course, the timing was terrible.... the popularity polls of the President in the toilet, and just before the 14th of July, one can assume that there is a political motivation... Not that the victims do not deserve some kind of recognition, but does it have to be an award that is so high in the order of priority? This medal ranks above military bravery awards and waaaay above the military wound medal. So a French soldier who was wounded in Mali, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indo China or WW2 after putting his life in danger, is less highly decorated than a civilian who just happens to have been collatoral damage in a terror attack? The soldier actively puts his life in danger, and gets lesser awards than a civilian, who may have been a pimp selling underage Girls to drug dealers when he was wounded by a nail from a bomb going off 50m away in a terror attack? Once again, I see the positive side to recognising victims, but is this justified in the form they have chosen? :-(

The "Inherent Resolve" campaign medal is for which branch of service? I read the Engineering/construction corps troops are getting the "Ardent Erection" campaign Medal, The Civilian affairs/Propoganda units the "Inscrutable Nuance" campaign Medal, the accounting department the "Infinite Logarithm" campaign medal, The infantry the "Onerous Burden" Campaign medal .... who thinks up these names???

Hi, Is this WW2 era?

Another

Hi, I recently found this fantastic postcard.... I have never heard of the monument... I guess it is looooooooong gone?

Hi, the Argonne is of course also possible, the 4th Komp lost a number of men on the 3.7.16, The 251 divisions says they went to the Argonne "about" the 1st of July, so it is difficult to pinpoint. Usually Units leaving Verdun were sent to quieter zones to recover and resupply. I wish I had the history of the battalion! Best Chris

The 3rd Marche battalion of the 1ere REI was not an elite Battalion, it was a war raised battalon that was later disolved. Formed with Russian Expats in 1914, Wounded twice in Feb 1915

I assume this is a local Church thing.... I am guessing he was badly wounded at Verdun with the 7th Reserve Division and died in Hospital in the weeks that folowed.... nice bronte plaque that had prongs on it, so it must have been mounted somewhere.....

I seem to remember them being in the Argonne a lot?

HI, what uniform is it? Best Chris

Hi, can you post a close up of his citation? Thanks! Chris

Hi, all opinions are as valid as the next one, so no worries! It is also a cultural thing, I think "Germany" apologised because it was "the correct thing to do"... unfortunately I meet many individual Germans who seem to have forgotten their History some time ago.... Japanese culture is different. So is Vietnamese... When the survivors of the My lai Massacre were offered a Monument they apparently initially refused, their culture making them look forward, not backwards.... But here is a Question... did the US ever officially apoligise for the My lai massacre? And how many Ex US Servicemen do you know who find it disgusting that Calley only got a slap on the wrist. I think the answer to those is probably "No" and "nearly None". So it is hard for me to really pick on Japan when noone really apoligises for anything... other than Germany ;-)

Hi, Apololgies are diffucult... Japan has apologised numerous times, but it seems that wahtever they say it is never enough.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan Somewhere else in the world people are sitting in Laos, Vietnam, Algeria or the Belgian Congo waiting for their apologies... I may be wrong, but I think Germany is the only Western country that has really apoligised for anything? I have probably missed something...

You have to be pretty resistent to the events not to recognise it for what it was IMHO, although there those who disagree... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/14/germany-to-recognise-herero-genocide-and-apologise-to-namibia/

The photos are so bad, I would not buy this as anything IMHO :-(

Duh! Wer lesen kann...

Wow! That is a coincidence...... check this out.... same skirmish... http://www.kaiserscross.com/41815/329201.html

Just to show how small the world is... A good friend of mine is a Forester about 10km away from where I live.... the officer here was a head forester just 2-3 km from where HE lives. And it turns out the officer was the Grandfather of His class teacher when he was at school (Apparently a strict old teacher of the old school). I found it on Ebay, from a seller who lives a million miles away. By 1918 there was little or nothing left of Somme Py, I am guessing that the cemetary may have been destroyed during the war, unless he was one of the soldiers whose bodies were repatriated to Germany during the war...