David B 1812

This is wonderful news, Gavin, that you are able to confirm this combination awarded to Brigadier Edwin Williamson. Thanks also for your email with a photo of the Brigadier, along with General Dan Pienaar. I assume that Brigadier Williamson is the very large man on the right hand side of the photo. Should you be able to / want to share any further details of the Brigadier with me, please Gavin, I would be most grateful to you for anything further. THANK YOU for giving me these details and confirmation ............ all the best to you.

Hi Gavin - This is wonderful news, indeed. Would you care to share any further information on Brigadier Williamson with me please? For example - a photo of his full - size medal group. Possibly a photo or two of the man himself. Have you done any research / or a write up on this man you would care to share, please ??? In fact I would gratefully receive ANY further details about Williamson and his group that you would care to share with me. I see that you are in Australia. Are you a former South African? Did you acquire the Group there? When? As I say, anything would be most useful for me, thank you, Gavin. If you wish to keep the matter private, then kindly email me at: david@burvest.com. Thanks SO MUCH, again, Gavin. All the best, David Bennett ===========================================================

C.B.E. Miniature Medal Group - WHOSE could it be ???? I recently bought the miniature medal group (illustrated here) on an auction. Of course, as a long time medal collector, I am well aware that miniature medals groups are NOT named (in the normal fashion). As this group did not come with a photo of the group with its recipient, nor was it accompanied by any documentation - so it is pretty much impossible to attribute the group to any person. OR IS IT ????? What are the facts? Well for a start, it is awarded to a South African, as the Africa Service Medal shows. Then there is the C.B.E. which is a very uncommon award to South Africans. Thirdly, he served in BOTH Wars, but after 1914-15 in the Great War, and he was M.I.D. in that War. In World War Two, he saw service in Africa, but did not go on to Italy. And, finally he has THREE Jubilee and Coronation Medals including the 1935 Jubilee, and the 1937 Coronation - which were not commonly issued to "just anyone". So he could have been a fairly senior officer during the 1930s - he may have been a long-time "career" officer ............. SO NOW - would any member of this group like to say WHO the group might have been awarded to - assuming that it is a "genuine" group - and not simply made up ............ ?????? (Here, I must immediately confess that I have NO idea). BUT I have tried to do a little bit of research to try to find out - and although it is quite easy to identify some likely South African C.B.E. recipients, it is very difficult to establish WHAT OTHER AWARDS they got.................... so this is a challenging and interesting exercise. I have managed to identify a few South African CBE recipients (who did not get other awards - eg: DSO / MC / CB / DFC. etc ) These are: Major General HG Willmott CBE Brigadier J. Daniel CBE Brigadier P. de Waal CBE Brigadier JB Kriegler CBE I have excluded Maj. Gen FRG Hoare, as apart from the CBE, he was also a CB: and also Maj Gen KR van der Spuy was excluded - he received both the CBE and an MC. I suppose that one clue to the solution would be to check the names on the three Jubilee / Coronation medal rolls to narrow down those South Africans who received ALL three, then also got a CBE and was MID in 1914 - 1918. But alas, I do not have access to those rolls. But, without knowing what other awards and medals these men received - can anyone hazard an educated guess as to who MIGHT have been awarded such a group .................. ??????? Any ideas .............. ?????? All the best, David Bennett =============================

Thanks Mike, for your thoughts. David B.

LADYSMITH SIEGE MEDAL : What IS this ??? ANGLO-BOER WAR: Item of Interest - Can YOU help with DETAILS, please ??? Right - something to test you chaps: THIS is a 25mm X 25mm "Maltese / Cross Pattee" type of cross. It is roughly made, and is impressed (on one side) : "Siege of Ladysmith (and) P. of L.T.S." and on the other side: "2.11.99 / C.J.L. / 28.2.1900". NOW, either THIS cross, or one very, very similar to it was SOLD at auction by Messrs DN&W on 20.09.2002 (At the OMRS Convention); and yet another very, very similar cross (or even THIS cross) was sold at auction by Messrs GILDINGS Auctioneers, U.K. on 24.10.2017 . QUESTIONS: Has any member seen this before? Anyone have experience of this "cross". Is it unique? Or are there MANY? Who or What is the abbreviation: "P. of L.T.S." and also : "C.J.L." ??? One source claims that it is made of "gun metal" and another claims that it is made from shrapnel. I have to ASSUME that it is NOT unique, as the specimen sold by DN&W (and later by Gildings) had the SAME abbreviation: "F.C.E." (and these may be a person's initials) whilst the specimen I am showing HERE has the abbrev/initials of: "C.J.L." - which strongly suggests that there are at least TWO of these crosses ??? All comments and information would be much appreciated. Thank you.

UPDATE: 13 December 2017 - I have found two AUCTION prices for this rather RARE badge - see HERE - for 2016 and 2017 - All the best, David Bennett. Durban, Natal. ============================================================================================== SAAF NAVIGATOR / Bomb Aimer BADGE WORN 1937 / VERY RARE Secondhand R1,599.00 auction closed Closed 24 Jan 2017 ======================================================================= Top of Form Item: W4035 A South African Air Force -Navigator/Bomb Aimer Badge, 1937 On October 8, 2016 Auction Won For $151 = about R1960 Bottom of Form A South African Air Force; Navigator/Bomb Aimer Badge, 1937 A die struck gilt metal breast badge, issued in 1937, extremely fine. This badge was in use for a very short time, and is very scarce, with less than one hundred issued. See “Eagles Recalled”, page 214, top.

And another view:

And HERE is something to ADD to this discussion, which I have just today discovered: A friend of mine (in Europe - who also collects these medals, amongst others) has shown me that he has one of these medals WITH AN UNOFFICIAL Clasp, which I am advised is called the "SHAQMA" clasp. And I have an illustration of it HERE. You will see that the border of the clasp is very different from the more elaborate border of the official clasp, AND that the unofficial clasp and scroll LACKS the "FIVE POINTED STAR" - or flower of the original. And finally, notice ALSO that the medal itself is similar to the SIACHEN GLACIER example we already know about - where the suspender is NOT PINNED onto the medal disc, but seems to be of a one-piece manufacture, or, at least added later by soldering (?). Any ADDITIONAL comments, fellow collectors??? And also any further information on WHY / HOW / WHEN / WHERE this new, unofficial clasp originates, please ?????? Best regards, David BENNETT.

Hi Brian, I collect military medals in general, and have examples from about 30 countries, but the bulk of the collection is British. Some years ago, I decided to “specialise” and now I concentrate – where my currency, the Mickey Mouse, useless, worthless S.A. Rand will permit - on the INDIA GENERAL SERVICE series, and the GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL series - and of course, local buying opportunities rarely present themselves, because, as you may know, there is a serious dearth of medal stocks available in South Africa - unlike the UK or the USA - where they are pretty much available on every street corner. And so what I am trying to accomplish, is to attempt to obtain at least ONE of each CLASP issued in these SERIES, either as singles, or in multi-clasp issues. And I have made reasonable progress, to the degree that I am now up against (mainly) expensive, or high-cost examples to complete the collection. And those medals that I DO have are mixed between British issues, and those issued to “local” or “native” recipients. I do not discriminate. Anyway, SO FAR, I have managed to accumulate the following CLASPS into my collection: INDIA GENERAL SERVICE Medal Series: 1854: Pegu; Bhootan; Jowaki 1877-8; Burma 1885-7; Hazara 1888; Burma 1887-89; Samana 1891; Hazara 1891 and, Kachin Hills 1892-93. (NINE clasps of a possible 24). 1895: Relief of Chitral 1895; Punjab Frontier 1897-98; Samana 1897 and Tirah 1897-98 (and including both a silver and a bronze example of the PF 1897-98) - (This gives FOUR of a possible 7 clasps). 1908: North West Frontier 1908; Afghanistan NWF 1919; Waziristan 1919-21; Mahsud 1919-20; Malabar 1921-22; Waziristan 1921-24; NW Frontier 1930-31; Mohmand 1933 and NW Frontier 1935. (This means TEN out of 12 possible clasps) 1936: North West Frontier 1936-37 and North West Frontier 1937-39 (TWO out of two) Then in the GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL 1918 – 1962 and 1962 - 2007 Series (Army and Air Force), I have: !918 – 1962: Iraq; Palestine; S.E. Asia 1945-46; Palestine 1945-48; Malaya (GVIR); Malaya (EIIR); Cyprus; Near East; Arabian Peninsula and Brunei. (TEN of a possible 20 clasps). 1962 – 2007: Borneo; Radfan; South Arabia; Malay Peninsula and Northern Ireland. (FIVE out of a possible 13 clasps). ====================================================================== Now, ALSO, as a sort of “supplementary” collection, because they followed the BRITISH system (more or less, after 1947-48), I am also collecting both the INDIAN and the PAKISTAN equivalent versions of the British IGS series. And, so far I have managed to acquire these: INDIA IGS 1947-1965: Jammu and Kashmir (1947-1949); Naga Hills; Goa 1961; NEFA 1962 and Mizo Hills. (FIVE of a possible seven clasps) INDIA SAINYA SEVA 1960: NEFA and Bengal-Assam (TWO of a possible six clasps) PAKISTAN GSM: Kashmir; Dir-Bajaur 1960-62; Rann of Kutch 1965; Kashmir 1964-65 and Siachen Glacier 1984. (FIVE out of FIVE clasps). I HAVE NOTICED, Brian Wolfe, that a recent acquisition of mine – the PAKISTAN GSM (or Tamgha-i-Difaa as it is also known) the MEDAL (and clasp) for the PAKISTAN GSM SIACHEN GLACIER 1984 is of a noticeably different quality / production finish to the earlier examples of the series. As you are well aware, Pakistan COPIED the BRITISH IGS and used a fancy SCROLL suspender, but instead of the British “flower” or “rosette” on the clasp, Pakistan used a five –pointed “star” or flower - but giving a similar appearance to the British issue. Using your earlier photographs of these clasps - above, I can confirm that my example of the SIACHEN GLACIER looks just like yours. That is, that the “star” on the suspender is poorly finished, and is not neatly “cut out” as in earlier medals, leaving rather thick borders around the star, and also the actual suspender appears not to be separately pinned to the medal (as should be “usual”) but seems to be formed with the disc, in a “one piece” production. These is only ONE other photograph of this medal and clasp, which I can find on “Google” and it is the SIACHEN CLASP example presently for sale by Floyd Medals (Florida, USA) HERE: http://www.floydmedals.com/order/exec/frmProductDetails.aspx?abs=1&navtypeid=MTM1&navtype=Q09VTlRSWQ==&productid=MTQwMw==&CatID=Mg==&1=1 AND you will see the same poorly formed five-pointed star and one-piece suspender/disc - the same as yours, and the same as mine, just acquired. SO, Brian, the QUESTION : It is my theory, that the earlier examples were produced in the 1950 – 1960s, whereas the SIACHEN GLACIER example could only have been produced twenty years later, in 1984 or after that date, AND that the recent medal was either produced by a different (and less skilled) manufacturer, or that less money was allocated to the medal by the authorities, resulting in what is obviously a medal and clasp of lower quality. What are YOUR thoughts on the matter? With best regards, David BENNETT. The David Bennett Collection, Durban, SOUTH AFRICA. And HERE are my three latest acquisitions, - Kashmir 1964-65 and Rann of Kutch 1965 and SIACHEN GLACIER 1984 - and I think that the comparison clearly illustrates what I have suggested in my post, above. David Bennett Durban, Natal SOUTH AFRICA

Thanks for your opinion and comments, Peter. Much appreciated.

Is DOUGLAS LIONEL BAKER the DOUGLAS LIONEL BAKER.........??????? OK - so WHO of you would like a research CHALLENGE? Is Douglas Lionel BAKER (who died on 26 April 1941) the same as Douglas Lionel BAKER (who died on 26 April 1941) ????? Puzzled ?? Yes - of course you are. And so am I. BACKGROUND: I recently bought 5 medals to "Baker" - a WWI Trio to L/Cpl Herbert Lionel BAKER - a South African who served in the 4th Infantry, then in the 3rd Mounted Rifles and finally in the S.A.S.C. (MT). And I have his full personnel file from Defence HQ in Pretoria with all his details from when he enlisted on 1.9.1914 to when he was de-mobbed on 1.4.1919. He was married to Margaret Baker. All good so far. AND with this trio came a WWII PAIR (consisting of the Defence Medal and the War Medal) as well as the Medal / Condolence Slip (shown here) and issued to a WOII D.L. Baker (for two medals), as well as two medal boxes (shown here) addressed to a Mrs H.L. Baker (the mother of Douglas Lionel Baker). The initials of "H.L." were those of her husband (and Douglas' father, Herbert Lionel) - as it was customary to address the spouse of a married couple in those days by the initials of the husband. You will see that the Bakers resided in the town of Gwelo - in Southern Rhodesia. I then did some further genealogy research and found that a Douglas Lionel Baker was born on 11 August 1916 to a Herbert Lionel and Margaret Baker. Now if you go to the CWGC website, and search Douglas Lionel Baker and the date of death, you will find ONE Douglas Lionel Baker, who died (and was buried) in KENYA on 26 April 1941. NOW THIS IS WHERE the matter starts to get a bit fuzzy, shall we say. IF you KNOW how to use the modern CWGC website, you will know that they are being very thorough, and are even allowing us to obtain COPIES of the actual DOCUMENTS filed for the deceased person, the subject of the search. The PROBLEM with the papers for Douglas Lionel Baker, is that the MAIN search shows him to be No. 6296009 Warrant Officer Class II (Company Sergeant Major) Douglas Lionel Baker of the 1st Battalion, "The Buffs" - Royal East Kent Regiment. NOW, if you examine the supporting filed papers you will find that THREE of the five papers refer to W.O.II D.L. Baker of the Royal East Kent Regt. BUT the other two papers refer to a C.S.M. Douglas Lionel Baker of the Rhodesia Regiment, attached to the 3rd Company of the 4th King's African Rifles. WHY??? WHY??? WHY???. Is this the SAME person??? (And remember that the WWII pair, and the Medal Slip (for WOII D.L. Baker) and addressed to Mrs H.L. Baker came WITH the WWI Trio to H.L. Baker - who we KNOW was the father and mother of D.L. Baker). SO: Are we talking about the SAME D.L. Baker??? Why does the CWGC refer to TWO different units in their records? We must ASSUME that D.L. Baker lived with his parents prior to WWII IN RHODESIA. Did he enlist and serve with the Rhodesia Regiment, later Attch. to the K.A.R. - and then (for whatever reason) found himself with the Buffs - and for whom he was serving when he died. (And we don't know how, or why he died - he was just 24 years old). IS Douglas Lionel BAKER the Douglas Lionel BAKER??? And WHY is he?? Or not? There is a little something for you guys to get your head around.......................... Comments and opinions most welcome. One possible suggestion (from a collecting friend) was that it IS the same Douglas Lionel Baker, and that upon his death, BOTH Regiments he served with submitted their papers to the CWGC. (From the David Bennett Collection)

Dear Paul Wood - Shearcroft ended WWI as a Sergeant. His Medal Index Card shows him having THREE NUMBERS: 5776 On the TFWAR Medal (The Queen's) and, 240050 for the East Surrey Regiment and, L/14214 for the Queen's Regiment. Shearcroft has MANY entries (I have them all) in either the IML and/or the LG in these years: 1928;1935;1936;1939;1941;1942;1949;1968. The ONE entry which I DO NOT have (or rather, I cannot find in the damn LG) is for the M.I.D. (And, as he is wearing the MID emblem on his VM, then we must presume that the MID was during the Great War ............) If you have ANY ideas of where I might find a PHOTO of Shearcroft, I would appreciate that very much. Thank you. All the best to you, and thank you to the earlier members for their kind comments. David Bennett In the Last Outpost of the British Empire.

I collect (mainly) MILITARY MEDALS - specialising in trying to assemble a collection of every issued Clasp of the India General Service Medal Series (1854; 1895; 1908; 1936) and one of every Clasp issued of the Army General Service Medal (1918 and 1962). So far I have just 39 of these Clasps - so a long (and expensive) way to go....... I have been a serious Collector of Military Medals since 1980. But being a medal collector in general, and a South African - it is only natural that I should have a fair selection of South African medals and groups, too. I obviously have some South African WWI trios and pairs. Similarly, I have a good representative sample of South African WWII Groups. NOTE WELL: In the discussion which follows, we will IGNORE any medal groups which contain Gallantry, Long Service and similar medals in the groups. So, in WWI the VAST MAJORITY of South African soldiers were awarded either the WWI Trio, or, at least a WWI Pair. And, in WWII MOST South Africans earned, probably, FOUR, FIVE or SIX medals - this would depend on HOW LONG you served "up north" and whether you went to Italy or not. SO, the most common South African WWII Groups are: FOUR: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; 1939-45 War Medal; Africa Service Medal FOUR: 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; 1939-45 War Medal; Africa Service Medal FIVE: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; 1939-45 War Medal; Africa Service Medal, and, SIX: 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; 1939-45 Defence Medal; 1939-45 War Medal; Africa Service Medal And I KNOW that there are variations of these - where just two or three medals were awarded, but in my experience, THESE are the four MOST common groups to South Africans. Also when one considers that South Africans earned over 60,500 Italy Stars, and more than 105,000 Africa Stars then the 7,200 or so OTHER STARS (excluding of course the 1939-1945 Star) awarded to South Africans do not merit discussion here. And I am also excluding things like the "8th Army" and the North Africa 1942-43" Clasps, as well. And, we are also not including in this discussion the possibility of Anglo-Boer War / Zulu Rebellion / and Korean War medals as well. Such groups are VERY scarce......... Now, if you will agree with me, based on the criteria I have defined above, then it IS, and WAS most certainly POSSBLE for a South African soldier, under the "RIGHT" conditions, and IF he served in BOTH WARS, to earn what I call a "FULL HOUSE" - THAT IS the WWI "TRIO" and all SIX of the WWII MEDALS. But in reality, how easy was this? To qualify for what I call the South African "FULL HOUSE" for the two World Wars, would mean a group of NINE medals - excluding gallantry, long service, coronation / jubilee medals, etc. So I checked my collection. I have South African WWI pairs and trios. Some WWI groups which include a couple (or more) WWII medals, but until a recent auction acquisition by me, NO S.A. GROUPS which give us the NINE MEDAL "FULL HOUSE" - the best I had were some five, six, seven and even eight medal groups. BUT NOW, AT LAST, a NINE MEDAL "FULL HOUSE" Group in my collection. So as a result, please show us (with names / details) YOUR "Full House" WWI / WWII groups in your collection - excluding, as I say, gallantry, long service, etc etc. This would be an interesting exercise. And I would say that - when compared to your full collection - the number of "full house" groups is probably quite small................... ??? I have ILLUSTRATED a few groups from my own collection ("The David Bennett Collection") including the new "FULL HOUSE" group - merely to show some representative examples of what I am talking about. Thank you for reading this. All the best, David Bennett Durban North ============================================== There are three groups illustrated below, without details: The first (with a North Africa 1942-43 Clasp) is to Sgt H.J. Whitebooi, 24 Bomber Sqdn, S.A.A.F. The next group (of five medals) is to F/Sgt E.F. Williamson, S.A.A.F. and, The third group (with the 8th Army Clasp) is to Gnr. H.F.P. Combrink, S.A. Artillery. (I have yet to "lable" these 3 groups.) By the way, the group to COMBRINK is interesting, because his parents named him after the THREE LEADING WWI ALLIED MILITARY LEADERS: So his name is HAIG FOCH PERSHING Combrink ............ not something you see everyday !!!!!!!

Collecting Police Truncheons / batons is not a specialist collecting area for me. However, recently, whilst I was on a visit to a Cape Town boot sale market, I saw (and bought) the S.A. Police truncheon shown below. Although I cannot say for certain, some people I have consulted think that the widespread USE of this MODEL of Truncheon / baton by the S.A.P. ended "around 1985 - 1986" (but I think that those are, at best, just guesses.) Is there a MEMBER of this GROUP, who can please tell me, with some authority: (A) The PERIOD during which this Truncheon was IN USE by the South African Police. (and I mean THIS specific model) That is, the DATE that use of this MODEL STARTED, and the DATE when use of this model ceased and it was withdrawn from use. (B) Does this MODEL have a specific NAME / TYPE / MODEL Number ??? ..................... and, (C) What are the TECHNICAL DIFFERENCES / DEFINITIONS between: (i) A Truncheon, and (ii) A Baton. Thank you very much, David Bennett, Durban North ==============================

I have previously written on this GMIC FORUM about my medal group to Lt. Col. Reginald James SHEARCROFT, MBE. (East Surrey Regiment and Royal Indian Army) In 1987 I bought a TEN medal group to Lt Col Shearcroft. It is illustrated elsewhere on this site. Apart from the award of the MBE (and the MID) notable is the presence of the 1914-19 Territorial Force War Medal, and later, for WWII - the Burma Star and the India Service Medal - obviously for service in the INDIAN army. Records show us that Lt Col Shearcroft served in the Army for 36 years, BUT THERE IS NO MEDAL PRESENT WHICH rewards him for his service. Not an Army LS&GC medal nor an Efficiency Medal nor anything similar. BUT SURELY he should have got something? Yes, of course. After all, the man progressed through the ranks from Private to Sergeant to Major to Lt. Colonel. 36 years. BUT WHERE IS IT???? I have asked this question in many Groups (including this one) and the most usual (and at the time, probably correct) answer was that Shearcroft likely DID earn a LS&GC whilst in the ranks, but that once he became an Officer, decided NOT to wear it - so that his fellow officers could not easily see that he had spent many years in the ranks.................. BUT THE MISSING MEDAL WAS NOT / IS NOT present with the Group........ AND THEN, earlier this year (2016), after owning Shearcroft's group for nearly thirty years I FOUND IT !!!!!!.. Whilst doing some research I discovered that Shearcroft's Army LS&GC medal (INDIA issue, no less) had been auctioned by Dix Noonan & Webb to a collector in England in 2012 - and the collector, in turn, had bought it as an Army LS&GC TYPE example. Anyway, about four months or so back, following exchanges of correspondence between myself, DNW and the gentleman concerned, it was agreed to sell the "missing" LS&GC medal to me. This was done and NOW I HAVE IT.....!!!!! I am of course, extremely pleased to have completed this important RE-UNITE after nearly THIRTY YEARS. The medal itself is an Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Third Type (1930-1936), GVR (C), Commonwealth bar - INDIA. I have also discovered (since I last wrote on the subject) that after Shearcroft left the Army, after the War, he emigrated, with his wife, first to South Africa (Port Elizabeth) and then later to Rhodesia, where he died in Salisbury in 1967. This would explain how I was able to buy his medals from an S.A. Dealer in 1987. I have done a huge amount of research on Shearcroft, and have ALL the LG entries for his M.B.E. award; his promotions; his various Army appointments, etc etc. There is just ONE MATTER not yet COMPLETE - that is the LG entry for the M.I.D. apparently awarded to Shearcroft. I have found the L.G. website VERY DIFFICULT (and impossible, at times) to use and search, and if there is ANY KIND SOUL out there with more patience than myself, it would be much appreciated if Shearcroft's MID entry could be found, please. And, of course, as you can imagine, the FIRST PRIZE, GOLD MEDAL, PINNACLE of everything would be to find a PHOTOGRAPH of Shearcroft. Anyone ??????? Thanks for reading this. All the best, David BENNETT - Durban North.