Hugh

Looks as though you'd better get out a needle and thread and embroider it yourself. Sorry

H

Chou blanc - I love it! I assume it means "not a sniff".

How about the OMSA ribbon bank? Seems like a VERY long shot, but maybe John would have an idea.

H

I'd try Arthus Bertrand. arthus-bertrand/magasin

H

From my experience, Irish Gunner seems to have the right answer (as usual). A deployment in the combat zone (as opposed toWestPac) of a year would be unheard of.

Best,

Hugh

Blimps were probably the most effective single ASW platform during the war. They were low speed, high endurance vehicles with carrying power for plenty of weapons. Remember that sonar was not yet very effective for detection, so many (most?) of the detections were visual, and blimps were ideal for this. Of course, many of the detections were marked by a sinking merchantman. The blimp could stay on station over the sub until the convoy had time to pass through the danger zone, and the sub didn't have the speed / endurance to catch up after they had passed.

Your perseverance is an example for us all. Congratulations. Almost don't want to see the story end.

Hugh

I agreed that it was a wonderful posting for the Europeans Officers posted in Singapore.

Thank you for your interest. I am not a veteran and I had simply done up the website for our local forgotten regiment. Although they were many more, but I shall cover them within my availabilities. In future, given enough materials and time, I would like to cover the British SAS trained Police Field Force, Jungle Squads/Company as well as 'Senoi Praq/Pra'aq/Praak' also known as native aboriginals scouts.

Thanks for this, Kit. I lived in Singapore for 7 years, and would love to hear more about these units, especially during the Emergency and Konfrontasi.

Best,

Hugh

Thanks, Ilja, Interesting to see them splashed across both sides of his chest. From my personal point of view, I would reduce the size of some of the ROC medals. They're just too big and hunky for my taste. (But that hasn't stopped me from collecting them.)

Glad to see these new additions, Ilja. Do you have any bio data on Dr. Sarundajang?

Best,

Hugh

I should know better. Thanks for the reference. My father's cap badge was the American eagle.

Merry Christmas!

H

With the humblest respect, might this not be a collar badge? I'm not a student of the US Army, but my father's collar badges from 1917 looked just like this (without the numerals). Just asking.

I understand that the 16" guns later had rocket assisted shells with a range of 75 miles. I can't image the mathematics needed to hit anything, with time in flight and earth rotation etc.

We had a RAP round with the 5" naval gun, and the Army had 105 and 155 RAP rounds. I can't remember a RAP round for the 16/50, but perhaps someone here has a better memory. The 16" unassisted range was about 39 km.

My gunnery instructor when I was in the artillery basic course in the 80s told stories of calling for naval gun fire in Vietnam and getting the Jersey!

I did a little airborne spotting in the O-1s, but never got to shoot with her. A big disappointment.

Button suggests socialist / Eastern bloc, but that's not much help.

I 've probably mentioned it before, but I can remember sitting in a Boston Whaler off the DMZ in Viet Nam watching the rounds go ashore from the USS New Jersey. It sent a powerful mesage.

Thanks. Reminds me of Paul Hogan (Now that's a knife!).

I got accustomed to the look and length of the 5" / 38 WW II guns on our destroyers. Stubby little beggars.

You'll have to forgive my spelling. I was corrupted by the Brits and the Commonwealth whilst (had to do it) living in Singapore for seven years.

H

Hugh,

155mm or 6.1"

Sorry, I meant length of barrel. (How many calibres?)

H

Prior to WWI, the US Army lacked heavy artillery. In WWI, the AEF was equipped with British and French heavy artillery. After WWI, the US Army began working on a heavy artillery piece based upon the French Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) mle.1917. The US produced gun was named 155 mm Gun M1917 / M1918

In 1942, that piece was replaced by the 155mm Field Gun M1 - Long Tom. 49 battalions were fielded during WW2 with this gun.

What was the calibre of the Long Tom?

Thanks,

Hugh

The AEF also obtained it's heavy artillery from the Europeans... Here are the 51st Coast Artillery's Mark VI-VIII 8inch howitzers. The US Coast Artillery Corps was the American heavy artillery, like British Garrison Artillery or German Fussartillerie.

My father served in the Coast Artillery at Fortress Monroe (as it was called then) in 1917-18, guarding the entrance to Hampton Roads, Virginia. If memory serves, their guns were 14" naval rifles. It seems like a remarkably large gun for the era. Do you have any data / images for these guns?

Thanks.

Hugh

Yes really cool group appears to be Vietnam and Cuban Missile crisis.

Viet Nam? He's missing the US Viet Nam Service (yellow w/ green edges and three red center stripes and the RVN medal (green and white stripes). I seem to remember that very early in our involvement, they gave the Armed Forces Expeditionary instead of the US VN Service, but don't know the dates.

Sorry, forgot to answer. I was Navy, serving in USS Robert L. Wilson (DDE - 847) in DesRon 36, Part of Task Force Bravo, an ASW task force.

I think there was a period when National Defense Service wasn't awarded, because I wasn't eligible for it when I came out of the Naval Academy in June '61. People who were eligible for it in the earlier period got a star to wear on it when it was reinstated.

Best,

Hugh

Thanks all. Hugh, which medals did you get for the Cuban Missile Crisis? The Navy Expeditionary Service Medal or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Service Medal? I would have figured the Armed Forces Expeditionary Service Medal to have been related to Vietnam(service in Taiwan or etc). Were you in the Navy or Coast Guard?

Yeah, the price was too great to give up on, especially since it was Coast Guard.

Believe it or not, I got all three for Cuba: Navy expeditionary, National Defense (or whatever we call that red and yellow one) and Armed Forces Expeditionary. The ship was already down in GTMO for RefTra before the President's speech, so that was Navy Expeditionary, and then they gave us Armed Forces Expeditionary for sailing in circles escorting the Marine landing force. Somehow NAtional Defense snuck in the middle.

Looks as though this guy may have taken part in the Cuban missile crisis. That's the same set of campaign medals I got for Cuba.

Many thanks, This is perfect.

Hugh

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but it seems that the legend - "zur Errinerung" (in remembrance) probably puts this in the category of some sort of veteran's badge.