gavinmedals

Great groups and well done on keeping them together with all the ephemera. There must be a lot more behind the medals with the Chindit link. I am sure it will be a group that will continue to reward as you find out more.

Great display, congratulations on the result. Gavin

Very interesting story associated with the medal. Do you know more about the citation for the MM as your reference sounds interesting. Certainly a project to try and get a reunite with the MM. Gavin

Unfortunately I have certainly not come across another example of this badge in my travels etc. So it is an important photo and reference on this item going forward I would suggest. Gavin

As already mentioned a great group of medals and illustrating the dangers of being a policeman. I am curious on the last paragraph of you article. I am not sure whether the executed men's bodies were repatriated to Israel and if so why would they be buried with military honours if that is the case?

One or two more that I have found paging through the latest edition of Medal News: The London Medal Comapny There is also a website called medalnet that could provide some leads.

Hi, I am not resident in London, however would suggest a reference to the Medals Yearbook. A few of the dealers that are listed in London are as follows (no means an exhaustive list and as London is a big city I have no idea where they are relative to each other: Norman W. Collett Great War Medals Spink and son - auction house. Stephen Wheeler A search on the internet should provide their addresses.

thanks for the posting William. Some great pieces. Gavin

Hi David, if I have the description correct it is a known SAAF badge. It is the SAAF Navigator / Air Gunner brevet worn in 1937. I believe they are relatively rare as I have only seen very few in many years. I had one that sold on one of Michael Kaplan's auctions a couple of years ago but cannot recall what it went for. Will see if I still have this info. Cheers Gavin

Hi Mervyn, thanks for the tip. I am certainly aware of the Bronze Cross being the subject of tampering and I will bear the above news in mind as I am looking for a BSA Company medal in a group. Cheers Gavin

Hi Mervyn, I agree that the RGSM is underrated at the moment although as soon as you start talking Selous Scouts or Rhodesian SAS it becomes a bit of a different matter. Also the Rhodesian's were very sparing with their decorations and lately they seem to be doing very well, if they come onto the market e.g. Silver Cross of Rhodesia, Police Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and so on. Apart from those where there is some published information / pre research already done I would suspect that it is nearly impossible to research under current circumstances. (hopefully I am wrong) Cheers Gavin

Hi Chris, good one William, i have not seen this before and am scouring through some references. One thing though is if the abbreviation is in Dutch / Afrikaans then the "C" would be a strange one. Cheers Gavin

Great memorial to him. RIP.

Chris, the USA DFC was seen as a foreign award and would thus not be mounted in the front of a South African group according to the order of precedence. As I recall the only "foreign" medal that received precedence over the South African series of awards, even after the Republic was established in 1961, was the Victoria Cross. Cheers Gavin

Hi, while waiting for the medal from the safe some of the following info for further consideration, unfortunately I am not near some of the references that I normally use at hand however there is a photo of Dodson in the book "2 Squadron in Korea" page 27. Brent's book says there were 55 USA DFC's awarded to South Africans for Korea. He completed 75 sorties and served Korea from 4 March 52 to 19 Aug 52. He completed his tour on the F51D Mustang. The Cheetah Squadron formed part of the 18th US Fighter Bomber group. In terms of the order of wear the group is not correctly mounted assuming that he was only serving in the SAAF and the correct order as I have it would be as follows: SA Korea medal, 39-45 Star, Italy Star, War medal, Africa Service medal, USA DFC, USA Air Medal, UN Korea, South Korea Medal. According to my information he also received the Distinguished Unit Citation emblem during this time. I have at times seen the USA medals worn after the UN Korea. Cheers Gavin

Hi Mervyn / Chris, thank you for showing the group, it is a great group. I am fortunate to have a few pilot groups in my collection. For interest sake there is a SA Korea pilot group to Naude with an American DFC and Air Medal on the currect City Coins Auction, Auction 63. I have checked Forsyth's rolls and there is no reference to him having received the British DFC. Cheers Gavin

Yes, they are the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. In terms of the former there were about 48 awarded to South Africans for Korea and 178 Air Medals. Regards Gavin

Very interesting item. Thank you for taking the time to post it. Cheers Gavin

David, Thank you for the detailed story and the statistics on the decorations awarded. Will. thanks for sharing your group as well. A new addition?

In addition the Arctic Medal would most likely have been mounted after his campaign medals?

Hi Chris, that could very well be. In addition I have taken a bit of a closer look and suggest that the second ribbon is perhaps the horizontal ribbon for the DFC, as the stripes are more blue. Cheers Gavin

Hi, thanks for listing these. I received a copy of these from Henk a number of years ago and agree that they are the best references for the ABO medal I have come across. Well worth a read by any one interested in the ABO medal and medals in general for that matter. Cheers Gavin

Hi, agree that it looks like a KSA ribbon on the ribbon bar, however I do not see a QSA ribbon. This seems a bit odd, given that I was always led to believe that the KSA was not awarded without the QSA or do I have it wrong? Cheers Gavin Apologies omitted to mention that it is great tunic.

Hi, I would suggest that you try and source the book; "Heroes of the Albert Medal" by Allan Stanistreet. Apparently it gives the full account of each Albert Medal awarded to both men and women of the armed services who did not survive to exchange their medals for the George Cross in 1971. Unfortunately I do not have a copy to help you out however it is available through the Medal News website. Cheers Gavin

Great tunic complete with insignia and medal bars. Are you able to attribute it to an individual?