Ulsterman

I think he is suggesting that he started WW2 as enlisted and somewhere along the line received a commission since with the service reflected in this bar, he should have more than one GCM. Officers are authorized to wear the GCM they earned as prior enlisted.

Yup. That's what Im saying.

Not to my knowledge, but that guy - I'd wager, was an officer (Captain) by 1952. Two Purple Hearts and only one Good conduct medal...and no national defense medal yet.

Cool! So, what sorts of fakes are there? I know these were awarded to British navy men, but that's about it.

Most often I remember body armor over shirts in summer, but anoraks in winter. I have a few photos I can post.

John Franklin I believe has a complete roll. also, Paul Dawson may have a copy. try them on Facebook via Project Hougomont.

Hmmmm...no Grimsel in my Blood Order list.

Maybe an Austrian?

Hptmn Grinzel?

That colonial photo is outstanding! I love the colonial cap badge!

Wow!

Lots of good stuff there!

I can not tell because the photo is so small on my iPad, but I think the woman is Railways, maybe a tram conductor.

Heh heh.

I have found the Luftschutz medal surprisingly rare, at least in documents. While there were 500,000 Luftschutz 'officials' in 1938. (according to Littlejohn) out of a membership of @ 12 million. Littlejohn notes it was also passed out to Ordenspolezei and other officials.

I have never seen the LS award noted in any Militarpass, even Luftschutz ones.

I read just now that the first Luftschutz awards were made on April 30, 1938....a bare 6 weeks after the Anschluss.

I suspect that this medal was also suspended during wartime, but can not find the Fuehrebefehl that says this. There is a reference at the U. Michigan Library Index of. Fuehrebefehl banning various Service awards in war time, but it is a title only...no specifics.

I reckon the 'wrong' placement of the Austrian medal is a further indication of its 1939-1940 manufacture.

Very cool. I wish it was mine.

Ok. that argument makes sense to me. I have argued for a decade that the BB&. co. Pins were actually American made and exported to Germany and then affixed to TWMs made in Germany.

Congratulations!

May I suggest an article for the OMSA? I would love to read a write up, as I missed the OMRS convention.

well, the regs are definitive primary sources.

I have read a few articles in the Austrian Review and am auditing a class on Austrian Nazis at the moment. The Anschluss was completed with marked efficiency....smiling, with a clenched fist behind the back.

Potential opposition was nullified at every conceivable corner swiftly by a flood of German officials of all stripes. Austrian units had German officers and men transferred into them rapidly, as did police, trains, post services, schools, etc.. Even most Austrian Nazi party officials were given 'individual ' mentors' from Germany , putting a few Austrian noses out of joint, but ensuring a very smooth 'coordination' into the Reich.

As per Hitlers' rhetoric and decrees, Austria, or Ostmark, was declared a legal entity as a Land' in 1938, just like Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover etc. , given appropriate Gauleiters etc.. Given the political tenor of the time, my guess is that this meant Austrian decorations were given the same precedential order as other ' state' medals. Obviously there was a bit of confusion, so the regs clarified in 1940.

One can imagine the conversation in Herr Ecks' medal shop.

Customer: " I see you put the Ostmark war medal as a foreign medal at the end"

medal maker: " Yes, it is appropriate"

customer: "So you disagree with the Fuehrer and believe that Ostmark is not and should not have been part of the greater Reich?"

Medal maker:"oops"....."perhaps a 50 % discount? "

Given the rarity of the Luftchutz award and when those started to be handed out to Luftschutz officials, that is a very cool bar.

Awesome!

very,very German.......'your papers are not in order'

I remember seeing these fake IH medals on a reenactors' website @ 3-4 years ago.

Pretty cool. Very nice bar.

Hold on, I thought Austrian medals were made German' ones in 1939. Are you referencing the Chancellory Ordensamt decrees? Or was this a Wehrmacht regulation date that covered other organizations?

LOVELY portrait-- early )1939( Spange, ribbon bar still has the "old fashioned" Xs before they one piece stamped tab-splint Xs came in...

even if he WAS the world's oldest Oberleutnant, he was wa snappy dresser and had an impressive array of awards .

ack! never mind. Sorry.

Nice. Oh, if only they had named all of them.

I think these are undervalued given what people often did to get them.

My neighbor got one in Vietnam for taking out a VC MG nest with a pistol.

By the dRzV I assume he was an older retread?

Very nice!

Holy Smoke! That is awesome little bar. Isnt the Austrian WW1 medal misplaced, or does that date it to 1938-39.

A few years back I floated the idea of a Festshrift in honour of Seymour to Rick. He thought maybe one day, but wanted to see how things with the widow/family would settle out. The old Yankee families are incredibly private people.

But I have saved all the correspondence I got from him over the past decades. I hope you all have saved yours.

Edited together in a few years, it might make a great book.

Rick and I spoke a bit about what might happen in the event of his death over the past few years. Rick always put me off because he thought he had time. Indeed, when I was last down at his house, looking around his study at the latest bits of yellowed paper I said, 'what happens if you get hit by a meteorite? " And he said, "Oh, the guys in Europe will get all of it and carry on". I do not know who he meant, but I hope some of the others do.

The first real disaster for historical knowledge occurred when the Seymour group almost all died within 5 years of each other.

decades of experience, in-depth knowledge and artifacts/papers went into dumpsters. Some of it got rescued by men who actually climbed into the dumpsters to haul it out and it ended up with Rick. God alone knows what went into the rubbish incinerator/landfill.

Now several half finished projects are un-completed and my stay that way permanently.

Rick was always very careful about talking about others, ESP. Research projects in the works. I have no clue as to what other scholarship is presently going on elsewhere and with his death the hub of this work is gone. I hope Glenn can pick up the pieces.

Rick was the fulcrum point of this hobby in many ways, especially for me. His cheerful, humorous honesty and pure love of the history made my life a lot better and this hobby worthwhile. I am really, really going to miss him.

The German collecting field is a minefield of selfishness, greed, damaged egos, psycho-emotional issues, half lies and just plain nastiness. .....as Rick said, 'small people living very small lives'....Rick shone above it all. It is good to see that even elsewhere, his gifts, skills, character and contributions are recognized.

Whoa! Thanks Cousin!

I was hoping for, ' he is a postmaster, 2nd class....', I had no inkling you might be able to actually find him!

I took the photos with an iPad, sorry if they are too big.