JimZ

Here goes. Happy to oblige. Jim

You start with one innocent ruskie medal and nowadays, you find you're driving a lada instead of a porsche just to keep them coming in! Its a slippery slope at the edge of a very deep abyss! What else can I say.... "Welcome. Abandon cash all ye who enter here!" Jim

I have looked at the jacket again. I have tried to see if there were any stains from dyes and this does not appear to be the case. The lining is pristine. It has not been removed and the the jacket's colour is consistent. I would conclude that IF the material was ever dyed, then this happened before the tunic was tailored. I was once told by a collector of german uniforms that this jacket is a late war production manufactured from material captured in Italy. This was communicated to me before I knew that the veteran was captured in Italy. If it has anything to do with that I do not know. What I do know is that very close inspection of the jacket reveals no evidence on the threads, lining or even the outside of the tunic itself of having been dyed. The mystery surrounding this tunic continues.... Jim

I thought that this site might help you but it does not! - http://www.medals.lava.pl/it/it3.htm My only thought is that the ribbon may be mounted upside down.... as the usual sequence for the Italian flag in the middle is green white and red. Sorry if this does not help much! Jim

Erm .... no cropping on my end.... or so I believe!! Jim

Service Record, Part 1

Service Record Part 2

Citation part 2

Citation part 1

Awards Record Card part 2

Here goes.... a pleasure to help Awards Record Card part 1

Marc... Anything for us? Jim

If its an army tunic, do any of the epualettes, collar patches that belonged to the same vet fit on it? I sometimes wondered if I should put the epualettes and medals plus belt on an army tunic, when I am not sure of the reason for its colour. I somehow have doubts as to whether I dress it up or not. Moreover, if flak had different tunics then it sure becomes a pointless exercise. Any thoughts? Jim

When they run on that sort of fuel its hard to stop them. No wonder the Germans could not! Jim

Hi Ed, I did visit some other museums but non military and therefore I cannot comment further about ODMs and other museums. I'll have to leave that for later on this year! I did get half put off by seeing so many fakes around.... Guess I had higher expectations and I was in away expecting 100% original medals and groups. Mind you, its educational nonetheless.... but I remember telling my wife that I would not take home half the medals even if they were offerred to me free. On second thoughts I would.... hoping that they'd give me the wrong half! But it makes me wonder why, they cannot issue proper museum replicas from the mints using the exact same processes. Nobody would be anywiser if they did not chose to say "museum replicas"!! Jim

Maybe. But the prices will never be as accessible as they were in the original russian crisis. And notwithstanding any crisis, there is now a legal framework preventing export of such items. Once they are gone they will indeed be gone for all but the very rich. To return back to the original topic....... I noticed that some of the orders were indeed said to be repros - and I am ok with that. What worried me more was that others that were very evidently repros/fakes were nested as part of groups but there were no indications that these were fakes. This is indeed worrying as to me it reeks of an outflow of originals and inflow of repros/fakes..... no.... lets just call them fakes!! Jim

First up, his luftwaffe (I believe) bayonet. I am afraid the spring mechanism is jammed and I do not have its proper sheath. Any generous contributor out there with an extra sheath?

So.... much to my wife's annoyance I have taken the following pics for posting. I'll need few sec to edit but they'll be on site today rather than tomorrow.... Thanks for bearing with me! Jim

Oh... and to leave no stone unturned: When I was handed over the various insignia, gulls, epualettes, pips etc, they came in this bag. I kept the bag but never thought anything of it. Is this just any bag or is there some surprise there....?

Rick, Any reason for it being dyed? Would it have been grey originally? If so would the flak epuallettes posted earlier have matched this tunic? There seems to be no trace of the lining being removed at all and I believe silk would also colour if dyed. I also would think that he probably wore his belt after the war judging from its de-nazification. I also know that his bayonet (which I will soon post) was used to kill or skin rabbits (or so is the story according to his son!) But I can hardly imagine him wearing a Nazi uniform tunic in post war Austria in an area controlled by the Russians. So unless there is a valid reason why it may have been dyed green should I consider it as being a home job for post war use? You also say it is an ARMY tunic. Again I believe him to have always been Luftwaffe flak? Would they wear regular army tunics? What exactly makes this particular tunic so rare? Thanks for your info.... I am finding this really enlightening! Jim

So.... the belts and the uniforms are all new posts...... anything you can throw my way in the form of additional info will greatly be appreciated. I will next post his bayonet, and some service pics of his. And that should complete pretty much everything I know about him. I still wonder if it is possible to research him, find his unit, ranks etc from Austrian Army till Wermacht and POW as well as trace his movements. I await any info eagerly!!! Look out for the final posts as soon as I take pics (mebbe even tomorrow). Jim