Ulsterman

good stuff! I saw on Facebook that the 2015 groups have already begun to organize. There have been some very cool pics put up over the past week and several chaps seem to have extensive research materials.

very very cool. Do you have any of the ultra-rare Paraguayan battle medals perchance? I only have a few Argentine ones from the days before people rediscovered this war-probably the worst in recorded history per capita. Here's some arm shields i wish were mine=sigh=

Nah it is not. I keep trying but I think if we can get him hooked up on wifi he might be able to rejoin us. He really is in a cable-less desert.

(cont.) " The remaining suspect was Freidrich von Ingenhol. His portrait in the Biblio reveals him wearing "black-white" Prussian-only fashion statement awards. the medal bar he is shown wearing there matches this one exactly, right down to the reduced size centenary medal. BUT the Ordenspange in that photo, alas, was not THIS bar. The ribbons drape differently. Admiral von Ingenohl is thus confirmed as having at least one medal bar omitting his peacetime GSF3a, wearing the so-called "Prinzchen" sized 1897 medal. While at this point it can not definitively be established that this medal bar was indeed von Ingenohl's, he is by far the Prime suspect. Assistance in hunting down additional photos of him potentially wearing this bar would be greatly appreciated. The awards were wired in and then ripped out. While the padded Prussian officer style bow-bottomed ribbons will allow for display awards to be neatly inserted for display, it will not be possible to do anything else. Anyone thinking wicked thoughts about peeling this and having it professionally resewn, slap yourselves upside the head. It is...what it is. Friedrich (von since 27.01.1909) Ingenohl was born in Neuwied am Rhein on 30 June, 1857 and died in Berlin on 19 December, 1933. He served in the imperial navy from 12th of April 1874 to 13th of August, 1915. From the date of his final promotion (Admiral zur See 15.11.13) until 2 February 1915 he was Chief of the High Seas Fleet. He was then shunted off to desk duty as Chief of the Baltic Station until he retired on 13th of August, 1915. He was too old and not suited to the demands of 20th century warfare. Two questions: Why would someone rip apart this bar. Then, why would someone save it?" What is left: history's ruins.

Rick sent me a letter from the islands...so...in the interests of letting people know what he is up to...I herein transcribe it verbatim (all errors are mine). "This stripped medal bar came to visit the island recently. For whatever reasons, this medal bar was pulled apart. Unlike Ober-Rossarrzt Daubenkropfs' posthumous medal bar, this one is missing awards that had nothing to do with required returns after the recipient died. First impression, as any Research Gnome will say, is that this was a General grade officers' group- with the routine Prussian Orders moved up to the neck and off the medal bar ribbons. Red backing seems to indicate that the wearer was in the army. After prolonged and thorough burrowing in the research mines, the only two suspects that came up were........ADMIRALS! Vizeadmiral Max von Grapow's post- retirement portrait in the Biblio Admirals' biographies reveals him in wartime rank with peacetime awards: NO Iron Cross...and wearing his two foreign orders after his 1897."

Hoorah! Activating my membership today! here is a US officer wearing the Canadian badge @ 1940 in portland, Me. -part of the coast artillery.

very cool. I did not know that was a membership medal (the BRK). I thought one had to be in some sort of BRK uniform.

Another old sweat-

sweet! won't the tape hurt the gilding?

Me too! I contacted a Professor and he is tracking down information for me.

The only way I could figure this was Pfarrer or technician/signals/engineer of some type. The Japanese did not think highly of Chaplain/social welfare types.

That is a VERY interesting bar. I would LOVE to paw this one. I think it's original, but what makes me pause and stare is the bars' story- made @ 1925-35 showing the owner to have been a serving BRK member in 1914-1918 with a minimum of 20 years service in the BRK. ...easily doable if he'd joined in @ 1910. What makes me wonder is "what uniform was he wearing in 1914-18"? We know that BRK/DRK members got EKs occasionally...but what about BMVKxs?

His own medals? Ok-not even a Prince Alfons character then.

On Facebook I recently came across a battlefield restoration project about Waterloo. The iconic farm has fallen into disrepair and private charities are attempting to raise funds to protect the farm from sale/further ruin. Along the way a whole series of interesting Napoleonic scholars have popped up. For anyone interested in doing Napoleonic research I urge you to have a look and maybe even join in. Maybe we can also recruit a few additional forum members :)

I am certain they are Begian grenadiers @ 1914. The regiments suffered enormous casualties and were amalgamated in 1915 to basically a battalion sized unit and rebuilt. Odds are that all of the men in these photos were dead by 1916.

Oh. My. God. I LOVE this subject. I thought I had a comprehensive list of the various medals issued for battles- and now two new ones! OUTSTANDING thread. This war had it all- power mad dictators, Paraguayan casualties that were 80% of the male population, the beginning of the end of the Brazilian empire and slavery (and slave battalions)-Argentine perfidy, Uruguayan bravery. I have collected over 20 books-some of them insanely obscure since this subject first came up @ 10 years ago. Others also seem to have tuned in judging by the ebay insanity last year where CDVs of the Argentine and Brazilian navy officers who stopped in Glasgow in 1869 went for more than an EK1! Bravo! More! More.

I suspect he was an austrian army vet-note the war medal and the military merit cross.

very cool!

yes- but weren't the extras classes restricted to only two by the consolidation regs of 1934? Still, i have pics of SAs in wear with the swords and oaks well into the 1940s. I don't think ferreting out the cancelled classes was a priority.

Hmmmm... well, on the US Forum someone posted a thread titled: " A MOH will be stolen today". The facts as I know then are a 27th Main MOH (the chap was originally from my town no less) was put up for sale on eBay. It was pulled after about an hour. One helpful forum member called the seller , whom he described as "confused, not knowledgeable, just wanted cash, distant relative" and was told that one eBay seller "tonyboston" was en route from Ct. to "help" with the medal. The helpful member claimed to have been told that 'tonyboston' wanted to put the MOH in a museum and was coming to pick it up. This led to about 4 pages of responses by the US Forum membership. Things really took off when one member, apparently carrying an FBI agent's card he got at the OMSA convention, called the FBI. Also someone mentioned calling the local Boston t.v. station. 'tonyboston' turned out to be well known to a forum moderator and the thread was scrubbed. The forum mod also stated that tonyboston said he was going to help the family sell off an extensive civil war collection- for free. No mention of what happened to the MOH. That's it in a nutshell.

soooooo...did anyone see the 27th Maine MOH scandal that was scrubbed quickly over at the US Militeria forum? It was ob eBay for 1/2 an hour and then pulled.

really?? WOW!!! I thought I knew pretty much everything about this medal. It was one of the first i ever got and I love its design. Can we see the docs?

sweet! I know these have been copied/faked. I think yours is an original- these days they go for quite a chunk of change.

Doubtful-they enjoy Federal immunity unless Congress waives it- and they wouldn't do that for a bunch of "war lovin nuts" who don't even have a lobbyist.

there was a BBc series on this. Young Jack- "My boy Jack" was last seen walking down the road to the battalion medical station crying and holding what was left of his face together with his hands. As I recall his lower jaw had been sheered off by shrapnel.