Ulsterman

Twenty five years on from the initial attack on port Stanley, there seems to be a mini boom going on in Argentine web sites about their war. There is almost nothing out there about Argentine awards from the war, apart from Jeff Floyd's article many years ago in the JOMSA. There was a specific Argentine campaign medal, a KIA medal, gallantry and merit awards and apparently a wound medal. Since then there have been an explosion of provincial commemorative awards in Argentina, as well as seemingly a number of variations on the campaign medal. There may even be a few "fakes" out there. A large number of merit medals were awarded, as well as gallantry awards (some well deserved indeed). See here for a look at some of the ribbons: http://www.avejer.ejercito.mil.ar/menupr.htm alas! 5 years on the web link has evaporated as with sooooo many Argentine web sites!

here is the front of the badge-bad scan, but you can see the poor 'painting" of the rays. It is almost pristine, of the metallic alloy that became common in the 1960s. The PPHs are put in place by a punched rivet, as are the star and crossed "bars"- NOT glued (as one might expect in a fake). Much to my surprise this "1960s' version is 30gs. The other, earlier badges I have are all 20 gs. -with a slightly different pin construction too. All are 4 cms in diameter, but the 1960s one is 4mm thick, (base to top of wreath), whereas the others are all 2mms. In staring at these under a microscope though, it is apparent me that the 1960s badge was almost certainly made from the same die as the earlier ones and that the enamel work us exactly the same- (spare parts).

Now for something completely different: The "Educators' medal: 1975-1991.This medal was established for teachers in 1974 and originally cast. This type, by the ribbon is from 1977-1987. After 1987 the medal was gilded and die struck. before 1977 (1975-77), the ribbon was different. Awarded to teachers upon retirement with a nice cash bonus, discontinued in 1991 (sadly). Not a great scan, but a nice little medal. I wish i had a box and a document to go with it. Sorry about the poor quality scan.

Ah-my mistake! I forgot about the Vietnamese invasion, although my best friends' Uncle was a Vietnamese tank colonel who once regaled me fascinating stories about how they toppled the Khmer Rouge ("we lined the tanks up and drove them in"). Anyway, the Khmer Rouge didn't issue medals and were driven back into the jungles by mid 1980. The Vietnamese/Soviet backed Peoples Republic, far more benign than the Khmer Rouge, issued a series of medals according to the CIA survey of 1987. Their army of @ 35,000 was mediocre and the Vietnamese did a lot of the hard fighting against the Khmer Rouge remnants (as did a surprisingly large number of Thai "border security patrols"), but they issued a series of Vietnamese style medals 1982-90/1: 1. Order of Angkor 2. Fatherland Defense Order (in 2 classes) 3. Victory medal (1st,2nd and 3rd classes) 4. Labour medal (see above posting) 5. National Defense Medal (1st,2nd,3rd classes) see bottom below- as well as a number of diplomas for building socialism etc.. There may also have been a "friendship medal" awarded to Vietnamese troops, although some authorities suspect this is also the victory medal. This below-about 3 cm in diameter is an unknown medal: possibly a modern Chinese tourist fake (although its so obscure, who would bother?). I strongly suspect it's a "good worker" type badge -if it is real. Made of light stamped brass and painted red .

Nice. Are they faking medal bars yet? If so, how does one spot one?

Obviously undermining the sanctity of U.S. medals- a la guillotine!

99% of all law enforcement people will ignore this-but that 1% who need to bump up their arrest roster quarterly numbers-this happens in BTAF and in some provincial FBI offices. I note the arrest last year of a 150 year old stuffed shore penguin in some lobster restaurant in Maine by two FBI agents who had had only one arrest the entire prior year. It isn't the end of the world, but it's a stupid, unnecessary pain in the butt. Still, I'm emailing Conrad to ask him to promote amending legislation-bit by bit ... a simple phrase inserted thusly, "not to apply to historians, antique collectors, bone fide veternas or active service members".

Rick is right, in appellate court legislative history and legislative language are ancillary,indicative but not proof positive. They make great cites for the brief, but don't prove the case. Trust me, I know better than most.

well, I'm in-how do we order them?

now -THAT is cool.!

If that microfilm is available, I can copy it at the law library, easy. How did you get it on microfilm?

a nice collection, but I see 3 alas that are probably not good. The howler is the NSDAP one. Rick L. is the world expert on these and can tell you more. The third from the bottom is very nice indeed.

Oh I don't know -his Freikorps service is interesting, as is his EK1-which is unusual for a Dr.. Note also his NSDAP service at the university. He is a classic Maiblumer. with that NSDAP entrance date.

Welcome Ms. M! I refer to your website often.

wow! Good luck!

I just got an unnumbered badge today and I think Craig is right. The badge looks like a soccer badge, made to proper dimensions and the enamel is good, but the paint along the rays is terrible! The PPHs are also bright silvery, spanky new. Update- I have spoken to a few people in the badge industry in the USA and the UK today. This sort of lighter metallic alloy was only commonly available in the later 1950s-early 1960s. It became common 1962+, so it may be these "staybrite" partisan badges are 1966 versions stored away somewhere. But not a good sign that KISZ and academy badges were of better quality than these unnumbered partisans. Also worth noting is the lack of patina around where the number is engraved on some badges.

Given there were NO other Hungarian items there last month-he i.d.ed what I got as "Yugoslavian", which he got off some "strret vendor" in Czechoslovakia last year, I would reckon there's more. I will certainly TRY to be there, cash in hand , next month. Maybe there will be a partisan badge-type 1..... He didn't have those Bulgarian medals either-and some Russian guy pulled about half a dozen older Soviet and DDR sports badges out of the bin. I recognized one as a 1949/50 "dynamo" badge. He got it for $12!

Your man had some pull-or was a member of an affiliated Nazi organization before 1933. That is a lowish ended number for 1934. They closed the NSDAP to new entries in Mai, 1933. Your man was one of the backlog-but the number is still low for a Maiblumer.

To throw in my 2 pennies. Local vets groups continued to award their own medals until the consolidation of the varied vets associations was completed in 1936. The time line goes like this: Jan. 1933 Hitler gains power. Shortly thereafter Stahlhelm and other armed paramilitary vets groups incorporated into the SA as "SA Reserve". Unruliness ensues. Many newly minted SA members, eager to demonstrate loyalty to the new order (and receive benefits) mount medals, wear altered uniforms and attend long meetings with enthusiastic frequency. Many private medals purchased so as to enhance new uniforms. 1934: SA comprises of 2-3 million members, gets threatening. Initial weeding out of SA begins, with anti-NSDAP conservatives and others forced to resign. Night of the Long Knives occurs in June, 1934. Shortly thereafter in the Fall, 1934, Hitler proclaims Hindenberg Cross. Hindenberg insists jewish vets receive it also. HKs begin to be issued in late Fall/Winter 1934-1935. Sept. 1934-1936: Weeding out of SA reserve begins, @ 350,000-1,000,000 expelled/resign. You will see many very nice documents issued from 1935-1936 to expelled SA Reserve members (or those who resigned) saying "Service Honour diploma" etc.. New uniform regs established. NSDAP party members argue over who controls what, how, where-ferocious Gauleiter/SA/NSDAP central office/ Wehrmacht (!) and NSRKB (inchoate) turf squabbles ensue. Late 1935/early 1936 Govt. reissues wound badges to all WW1 vets who can show wounds and badge never awarded. @ 350,000 + badges awarded. Street protests occur by war invalids who were invalided out by illness or accident and who do not receive the wound badge. Angry letters written in newspapers about whether trench foot was a 'wound'. Late in 1935 (October?) almost all "unofficial" vets awards banned for official wear. News published later in month in SA magazines, newspapers etc. Wearing "private awards" frowned upon, but pictures clearly show this continued through 1936. A few random snaps show up here and there with Freikorps awards or other medals in wear, but almost NEVER on Wehrmacht uniforms. One does occasionally see private awards (notably the Hamburg Feldehrenzeichen) here and there on civilian clothing and sometimes, SA uniforms, but almost never after 1937. Official pronouncements made about possible 'disloyalty' being displayed by non regulation awards being worn. Jan. 1935-1936, military build up starts in earnest. Many old soldiers recalled. 1936-38: Long service awards issued, requiring medal bars to be remounted and regulations to be reviewed by many awardees. The big difference is that the veterans associations were national, but with strong provincially based subunits. I have a partial run of the Saxon veterans magazines from 1923-1939 and it is clear that they continued to award their local awards through 1939. These magazines, filled with stories about the heroes of Mars La Tour, the winners of the local auxillery baking contests and local commemorative parades are VERY different from the Stahlhelm. The Stahhelm had prestige, numbers and training and a LARGE number of ex officers in its midst. They were dangerous and tough-and needed to be defanged -and they were.

Actually there was, but no search engines. It was all technical crap anyways. I do remember back in 1992 having a conversation with my Father in law about the new search engine and thinking, "how can i use this for collecting medals?".....

Me! Me!!

wow! THOSE ARE GREAT!!!

Nice badge! I bet you are glad you have nice friends who tell you about where to find these things!

well, this just-sucks! I figure faking is on the cusp of today. I have wondered about the unnumbered badges myself-and supposed they were "unissued" or issued but not engraved because of cost-or maybe even replacement badges. It's such an obscure area that it doesn't behoove them-yet-to make fakes, but soon, very soon. any chance you can interview any partisans?