Khyber

This is a unit award banner for participation in the Tet campaign of 1968. The badge in the center is the Tet Campaign badge often seen as a "tinnie" on the right uniform breast of PAVN/NVA soldiers. The badge reads "Victory 1968. The translation is "Vietnamese Peoples Army" at the top and "Overall Offensive and Uprisng, Spring 1968" at the bottom. I hope this helps Ron

I am a collector of PAVN/VC militaria with a focus on awards, medals and banners/flags. I have found I have to be a researcher as well as a collector because of the scarcity of decent references and conflicting information. I have yet to find a decent PAVN/VC order of battle or series of unit histories. Recently I found an old MACV intel report that provided a lot of the Also Known As (AKA's) designations for a number of the units in the 68-69 time frame. A lot of my fellow collectors stay away from this area because of persistant stories of fakes and frauds. I did note recently that one of the collecting authorities that has been warning about the fakes has been a heavy buyer of the same unit flags he has been warning people not to buy. I am having a lot of fun sorting out just what I have found and the prices are reasonble compared to the British Victorian campaign medal and Imperial German helmets I used to collect. Other than some of the PAVN award flags, the overall quality of the items is pretty low.

Hello all, I think the Quyet Thang medal pictured is mounted with the wrong hanger. The ribbon is for the Liberation War Exploit Order and the medal should be hung from a dated metal hanger as in the picture. It is a PAVN award issued after 1975 and, I think, replaced the various Emulation awards. If feel Ed is, once again, right on target with his guidance that the shortage of good VC/NVA militaria references is a great collecting opportunity (rare these days). I will post some of my acquisitions as time permits. Ron

I am sorry it was not what you were looking for but it is the best I can do. Here are the details. CRANKSHAW, Eric Norman Spencer; Group to Sir Eric Norman Spencer Crankshaw, Lt Col Royal Fusiliers. KCMG in case by Garrard, MBE 1st issue military, 1914-15 star trio with MID, Defence and 39/45 War Medal, Order of El Rafidan 3rd Class, Order of the Star of Ethiopia 3rd Class, Transjordan Order of El Nahda 3rd Class. Entitled to CMG (1934), KCMG (1939), MID twice in WW1, Order of El Rafidan 3rd cl Commander (Iraq) 1933, Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar 4th cl 1929, Order of the Star of Ethiopia 3rd Cl Commander 1932, Order of El Nahda 3rd Cl (Transjordan) 1934. MBE 1919. Secretary Government Hospitality Fund, 1929-49 and Office Commandant New Public Offices 1940-49. B. 1 July 1885 Dunlewy, Gweedore, Co. Donegal. Educated Eton. Royal Fusiliers, 1905-21; Served European War, 1915-18 where he was wounded and mentioned in dispatches twice Lond Gaz 22 June 15 and 11Dec. 17; Served in 3rd Bn. RF attached Army Signal Service, 1915-16. Camp Commandant (DAAG) 4th Army Corps, 1916-17; Camp Commandant (DAAG) Supreme War Council, Versailles, 1917-18; DAAG&QMG Peace Conference, Paris, 1918-20; Assistant Private Secretary to Secretary of State for War, 1920-21; Reserve of Officers, 1921-1936; Re-employed, GSO (1) MI War Office, 1939-40. Lt. Col War Cabinet Offices 1940-48; Died 24 June 1966

Here is an example in a group to LtCol. Crankshaw.

The West Point Register of Graduates provides the following information; Class of 1938 graduate 11177 James Russell Holmes. Born PA: accepted from Ill. Coast Artillery Corps: 60th Coast Artillery Manilla: POW: Killed-POW ship 24 Oct 44. Cpt. A-29. Silver Star and Purole Heart. V/R Ron

This has been a very informative discussion. My thanks to all who contrbited their thoughts and expertise. Ron

The box.

More images

More images

Here is my only Order of Lenin. Can anyone tell me his name? I am not sure about the box, it looks like a later addition. This medal came from Yuri aka Boris Badanov.

These comments sure take me back in time. I remember Yuri getting items in plastic bags out from tubs under the table and adding up the value of the "groups" by individual medal. Some of the groups I bought were good and quite hard to find these days. I will post some of them as time permits. As you said, he did not charge a premium for the groups, just added up the value of the singles and a slight kicker for the book. I did not know a lot about the medals (other than I wanted them) but figured a low number was better than a high number and bought accordingly. I got a lot of neat Soviet ordnance from him - those days are gone . It is a shame that so many Order Books were disfigured in the process. Ron

Thanks to all for the comments. I just sent my research order in after being informed that he should be researchable - at least his pre KGB service should be. Now the long wait begins. Ron

Thanks Paul. This forum has re kindled my interest in researched Soviet awards. I was getting a little burned out by the intense competion in Britsh Victorian Medals and needed a break from them. Ron

Rick, thats the guy. I think the full name he was using was "Yuri Altschuler" and he usually had a good selection of training mines and grenades. Ron

The book, "The Historical Records of The Buffs East Kent Regiment 1914-1919" by Col. RSH Moody has been reprinted and is availalbe from the Naval and Military Press (that is where I got mine). 554 pages of great reading. Ron

I can confirm Ed's comments on the attitude towards medals of "non British Isle natives". I was medal shopping during my government days and when I asked about IGS 54's to Indian units they were quite disdainful and suggested I buy books about medals if I could not afford the real ones. Ron

More on the Nevsky.

More on the Nevsky.

The commendation is for a Suvorov 3rd Class. Somewhere on the way to HQ, it turned into a Nevsky. He ended up with a lot of awards. I would have loved to have his complete group but am happy with what I have.

Here is the Nevsky

The Red Banner commendation.

Here is the information on the Order of the Red Banner #83699

Here is the front of the orders book.

The following story is about one of my early "groups" that I acquired in my Soviet medals feeding frenzy in the mid 90's. This assembage was acquired at a show in Ohio from a dealer named Yuri. It was missing the Lenin but otherwise appeared complete. I liked the combination of the Hero star and the early Nevsky. The Hero star #688 has been posted elsewhere on this forum. My first alert that things were not right was when the name in the orders book did not match any name on the Hero register. The dealer later explained that it was because he was a low number and had probably been purged. When the research eventually came back. I found that it was an assembled group with a doctored book. Of course with current values, I have not lost and it was a great lesson that, unfortunately, deterred me from Soviet groups for years. First the scans of the orders book.