Ulsterman

I have seen a lot of pictures of these being worn at homecoming parades or at Memorial Day parades-esp. in the 1920s. I have never seen a photo of one like this in France/Germany.

You know -i would have thought this is something friends of mine would have known about - but this is a completely new subject area for me. I smell PHD. thesis to be honest. Have you asked over at USMiliteria?

In a word - yeah. The mini medal is kind of common. The American Red Cross stuff - not common at all, statistically. The ribbon on the Red Cross badge/ medal tended to come apart over time- being silk. The blue ribboned badge was awarded to women volunteers who completed 800 hours of service. The badge was worn on duty in uniform. Tens of thousands of women volunteered in WW1 for the Red Cross, but its estimated that only about 10,000 got the 800 hours medal.

It was a private purchase " Allied Victory ribbon" made in England ( and later France) and sold in the US PX by Jan. 1919. Subsequent Army HQ orders ( April, 1919?) of the day warned against wearing " unofficial ribbons" but by that time a lot of GIs had them and wore them anyway. The official Allied Victory ribbon was not finalized I think until later in 1919- around the Versailles Conference. We know this was English made because a complete 100 yard WW1 vintage roll came up on eBay a few years back -made in 1919. I think theres a photo of it here abouts somewhere. I believe it was made in Sheffield by some family firm. Studley also had this in his catalogue as a WW1 Victory medal variation and many towns and counties used it for their local medals. There is a massive thread on this subject in the US militeria forum.

I may have a slot broach lying around. As for the ribbon- can you use silk?

Cool. Got any paperwork to go with it?

That DSWA medal bar is fantastic!

wonderful little bar! Railways? Post office?

He should be easy to find as the Munich residency files from 100 years ago are still around. I flipped through a few when I was there last Fall. Try the City Museuem or the army museum, as their research halls are fantastic.

Great thread! Just finished Soenke Neitzels' book on this episode.

Great info! I walked into a mini. of one of these last week and thought ...what?!

Re: the Sta. Btlnfhr. I think has the German War Veterans Assiciation badge/medal that Kleitman write about and is/was so often seen in 1933-35. I am on my phone so can not access my photo files-but it has Germania putting a wreath on top of a soldier Victoria-ish. It's sort of teardrop shaped. That's when that photo dates to 1933-35-as the NSDAP insignia has been pinned on as a member of the SA Reserve. After the Roehm Putsch and the subsequent mopping up, the Stahlhelm insignia quickly disappeared and were soon replaced by SA/ NSDAP /NSKOV insignia. Several score of Stahlhelm senior officers were either shot or imprisoned after Roehm.

Not only that-he claimed to be the son of an SS Obergruppenfuehrer, was in the HJ/Volksturm in 1945 and then acted as a recruiting agent for Rhodesia-for which he was fined 3000 Marks ( see Der Spiegel) in 1976- and he also claimed to have served in the Legion! He is still alive and lives not far from Chris B. ( google him-he is not the Koblenz Notar who died in 2014 and also served in the Volksturm).

There were at least two and maybe three "official" versions of the Ethiopian campaign medal produced-the most common by Sporring of Sweden, a special pure silver version that may have either been unique or for selected high officers only ( made by Spink?) and lastly a version not marked -and assumed to be made in Ethiopia.

Is that a donors' variation of the Knigjts of Malta? Or an Austrian Malta Knights' members' badge ? Major Zulus?

Probably Freeman. As I recall the NDSM star was not authorized for Vietnam/Berlin until 1965/66. The Vietnamese campaign star I thought was blanket awarded by the ROV after the Marines landed in 1965 -or maybe the Tonkin incident. Its in the Stars and Stripes somewhere

Hi Owain! many thanks! Yup, as Ed said above-medal of courage-easy to spot because of the " bronze star' like ribbon. Here is an edited photo of the January medal award ceremony following the Iranian-US negotiations.

Very cool. That is the first time I have ever seen the parents' authorization form for the one year volunteer program. Very cool group.

No kidding! Note Dr. Israel's rare Jubilee oaks atop a NONCOMBATANT EK2/1870-how cool is that? The DRK chap who looks like Oliver Hardy is wearing a DRK medal 3rd class with a colonial clasp, is he not? These were awarded.

Bingo! My paper copy is smudged in the wrong spot! colonel Joe Rookery, look here!

Damn. That is cool. Very cool. The ring document undoubtedly...

Very rare to a Gefreiter... Note the date... A consolation prize/ disbandment award?

Very nice. I love the EK1 awarded for ' field service'.

Undoubtedly original. The ribbons are classically aged. Typical regular NCO's group. I really like stuff to the 191st/100th. They fought against the AEF as I recall.

Excellent! Nice typical bar.