gavinmedals

Thank you for the link, had a quick look a the book and some interesting info. Regards Gavin

Great group and really enjoyed all the ephemera that went with it. It just adds to the whole story. Thank you for sharing. Gavin

Hi, I am aware of the following guys you can try is Alec Kaplan and son (Mike Kaplan), 115 DUNOTTAR STREET, SYDENHAM, 2192, JOHANNESBURG, PO BOX 28913, SANDRINGHAM, 2131, R.S.A. TEL: +27 11640 6325 / 485 2195 There is also the War Store which is at the SA National Military History Museum in Johannesburg. Hope this is of help Cheers

Brian, thank you for taking all the time to post and share the stories. Still some reading to do but it is appreciated. I have a SA Police group to a POW, I am waiting for the copies of the research document and will share once I have had a chance to work through the paperwork Cheers Gavin

Excellent, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately do not have a Sudan group to tempt you with.

It is a change however back to the medal, it looks like an Air Force Cross. It was instituted by warrant dated 11 April 1981 following approval by PW Botha, State President of South Africa at the time. Awarded to members of the South African Air Force and other members of the SADF, Auxiliary service or other armed forces attached to the SAAF. It was awarded for "distinguished service in dangerous situations by their exceptional courage, leadership, skill, ingenuity or tenacity in the handling of personnel, weaponry or other equipment." The paratrooper to her right has been awarded the Army Cross, if I am spotting the colour correctly. Cheers Gavin

Chris, you are correct with the order of precedence. The DTD came before the DSO. Great impressive collection of groups. Cheers Gavin

Hi, I have had a quick look in Vol 2 of the "Salute the Sappers" and there are a number of short references to him. An initial glance through the various photos in the book i have not found any depicting him, however a more studious look may deliver results. A brief reference is made to the incident. It occurred in April. On the 12th April Capt Pavitt and Lt van Ryneveld undertook a dangerous recovery of three casualties from a mine field near Ravenna. The casualties were Cpl W Chant and two that went out to try and recover him, both Capt Burton and Sgt Lobban were also fatally wounded. The following day Capt Pavitt became company commander of 11 Field Company and the unti moved to a position North of Alfonsine. At this site they began the construction of a 151m three pierced bridge to extend the so called Route 16 over Saterno. While moving forward to recon the site in dusk and "armed" only with a torch, he captured 12 Germans. His Military Cross was gazetted on 13/12/1945 There is a photo of the "Springbok Bridge" on page 324, if interested let me know and I will give it a shot to scan it in. The bridge was approximately 305 metres long and was considered one of the finest achievements of the SAEC in Italy. Apparently the bridge was constructed in just 8 days working day and night by three companies under the respective command of Mjrs Pavitt, Thompson and Cowin. I will go through a few more references and see if I can find anything else, however hope this is a start. Perhaps someone has a copy of the citation. Regards Gavin

Great uniform and medal grouping. Thank you for sharing the pictures. Gavin

Hi Hardinge, great group and thank you for the information. Really appreciate it.

William, thanks for the note. Good to see you online again. Certainly will look out for it when it is released. On a side note I also have a private published history written by an SSB office for the period of 1939 - 1945. With the information shared above I will make a plan to go through it as it is a fairly significant document. Cheers Gavin

Very interesting items, thank you for sharing. Indeed looking forward to a new book on the SSB that will cover a full period of the history relating the unit. I have a copy of an older book on the SSB by Cmdt W Otto that covers the period from 1933 to 1973. It is bilingual i.e. English and Afrikaans and has some interesting photos relating to uniforms and equipment.

Hi Mervyn, thank you, I have contacted Audrey. She is also assisting me wiht some other research which I will communicate some info on other Police groups once I receive them.

A picture of the group to inspector Whitsitt, BPP for interest sake:

Hi All, I recently purchased the group of 8 to inspector William Charles Whitsitt from the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police, consisting of: Colonial Police Medal (GVIR, 2nd Issue) for Gallantry, 39-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence medal, War medal, Africa Service Medal and Army LSGC (GVIR, 2nd Issue) Bechuanaland. All medals are correctly named. The group came with copies of the WW II service records for his time in the South African Forces. The CPM for Gallantry was gazetted in the London Gazette on 28th August 1951. As usual there was no details of the citation in the gazette, however I believe that the detail would usually be published in the Colonial gazette. I am hoping that someone in the forum can either help with where I can access the information or alternatively perhaps has a copy of the citation please.

Apologies cannot help with the two lapel pins, however appreciate sharing of the groups. Interesting topic / theme.

Hi, I had a quick look in the latest Medal Yearbook 2013, and according to them the KSA was never issued on its own but in conjunction with the QSA subject to appropriate qualifying service. The KSA without the SA01 and SA02 clasps are known, with about 600 nurses and a few odd men receiving them. Single clasp KSA's are rated as being very rare. A quick look at British Battles and Medals, resulted in a reference to no clasp KSA's to 587 nurses. They also confirm that the KSA was not awarded without the QSA. It is important to note that the QSA could be awarded with no KSA based on service in the Boer War predating January 1901.

Paul, in terms of your question, two decorations would not be worn. A relevant bar would be mounted on the ribbon, these do differ based on the relevant decoration. I attach a photo of the VC and Bar group to Charles Upham, that I photographed on a recent visit to New Zealand. The group is on display at the Army museum on North Island, which is well worth a visit. Apologies that it is a bit dark but it shows the bar to the VC mounted on the ribbon as would be the practice. Hope this helps to clarify.

Hi, as per the other members, thank you for taking the time to share your great and comprehensive collection. It was great to see!!

Hi, a rather belated thank you. I will contact and see if there is some additional information can be sourced in terms of the groups I have.

Jean Paul, thank you for the posting. It was great to read the citations and know there are still people out there who will go to the aid of others.

Hi Paul, while I am sure there are others with perhaps more accurate information on your question, the only reference I have is an article by the late Gordon Bickley, entitled "The numbers of Blacks, Coloureds, Malays and Indians who served in the UDF in the two world wars", and published in the Military Medal Society of South Africa Newsletter, Newsletter #294. According to this information a total of 25 000 females served in South African forces during WW II. This represents about 7% of the total of 342 700. Of interest according to another article there were more than one prefix used to denote female service personnel in WW II, namely F = Women Auxiliary Air Force, W = Women Auxiliary Army Service, WN = Women Auxiliary Navy Service. Hope this helps.

Hi, no the medals I have seen are not inscribed but rather impressed naming. The naming is very similar in style to that illustrated in the other medals in this section. If interested I can try and take some photos of the naming on one or two examples. Please let me know.

Hi, Thank you for the pictures of the SAP group. In terms of the Medal for Faithful Service, or the SA Police Medal for Faithful Service, I have double checked the sources I have and according to the Terence King book this medal was originally instituted to recognise 18 years service in the 1960's. It was subsequently adjusted to recognise 10years service in a warrant published in May 1979. As far as naming is concerned on this specific medal, I have a number of examples in my collection and inspected a few others that have all been named with the SAP force number, rank, initials, surname and date of award. The naming was done on the rim of the medals in the cases I have viewed. I would be keen to hear if you managed to source some information on the person as I have been fairly unlucky with researching SA Police groups thus far and have relied heavily on information and some of the citations that are published in Terence King's book.

Hi, I noticed this topic and even though it has been a while, I recall there being a good article written by Henk Loots regarding the ABO. It was published in the OMRS Journal, the now defunct South African Military Medal Society and later in one of City Coins Auction Catalogues, Auction no 57. It showed there are essentially three types of ABO medal classifiying them as type A,B and C. Each with unique characteristcs relating to the suspenders and the naming, which could aid in narrowing down the identity of the receipient when compared to the dates of application through the "Vorm B". This is especially handy if there are more than one person with the same name in the Medal Roll that was compiled by Don Forsyth. If there still is interest in further info I can have a look for the article and be more specific after I return from three weeks of travels.