hunyadi

Here are the several variations of the badge that I have Top Row: Bronze Class (hot enamel features, with the enameled wreath), Silver Class (zink base, hot enamel), Bronze Class (??? Perhaps Gold Class - but does not have the geen enamel wreath) (hot enamel) Middle Row: Silve Cless (zink base, cold enamel) Gold Class (cold enamel) Bottom Row: Silver Class (cold enamel, cut out wreath as compared to the two above)

Its impressive to see the bars with the Defense of Moscow combined with the Capture of Berlin...

Very sad to hear about that - my grandfather who was in the CBI who died last year knew Tex very well and they corresponded regularly. In storage I have an autographed book from him with a very special dedication. As I recal it was something alongthe lines of 'Your grandfather was telling me how interested you have beocme in what we did over there, here is my story' (I was about 12 at the time.) I wrote him a letter back and he sent a reply thanking me for my interest. It was sotries like his that got me into this stuff. You lived a full life Tex - thanks for everything!

Nice badge! I am not 100% sure what the events exactly were, but my understnanding is that this is a sport badge for 'placing' at the national military sports competition in the 1970's (??) Problem is - there are so many variants and so many differnetn ones, that I have just not spent the time to research them..

Very beautiful, very rare, and very expenisve... lets see thats about $850 per month on a 30 year loan...

Oh yes they are! According to my friend who serves in the 32nd IR - (which is sadly being disbanded after more that 200 years of service!) the rules of action state that the battle standard of the regiment is to be protected above the commanding officer. The honor guard is only to have death separate them from the battle standard. They take those standards very seriously now!

Here is a photo of the flags being paraded to Hero's Square by students of the Bolyai Janos Katonai Foiskola... photo is the property of Bolyai Akad?mia 1948

Here is a photo of the flags being delivered to the National Musuem Photo is the property of the Magyar Nemzeti M?zeum 1948

I think its similar to a Boy Scout patch for 'Health and Fitness' but I cant remember. From the title is the 'Pioneer Gurad for Wellness'. I Will check around...

Ulstermann - you have generaly hit it on the head. The timing could not have been better for the Hungarian Communist Party for it to have been 1948. True to the propoganda of the moment, books and pamphlets were published enmasse elevating at times Kossuth and Petofi Sandor to the fathers of Hungarian Communism. Granted in 1848, both figures were more liberal than their contemproaries, but the communists litteraly began to re-write history to their polical flavor. Another such boost was the Red Armies return of the captured 1848 Battle flags, which were retrned to none other than the Hungarian Communist Party...interstingly enough some of the flags had been returned in 1940 in exchenge for the release of the then political prisoner Matyas Rakosi...

Sadly - this is only the tip of the iceberg - Order of Labors, documents, photos, passports, etc...

and more.....

and more

more

Another

I started photographing this, but I had to get back to the USA for a month - since then sadly I have been sheepishly looking at the suitcase realising that it will take even more time to get it all photogrpahed... Here are the ones that I do have photos of right now - its only the surface....

Yes - the Order of the Hungarian Flag was primarily esigned as an award to foreigners, but there were also stipulations that allowed it to be bestowed to nationals as well, primarily in secotrs that crossed over easily with other Warsaw Pact members. (Military, Industriy, Propoganda, etc...) However the Order of the Red Banner was not common for foreigners - if you have more links - please post them!

Yep - its done....and sucessfuly too!

back strap

side shot

Here is my M45 / 46 helmet - its a wartime helmet, but as you can see from Gordons helmet the green is very different. I was with Gordon when he got that very nice WW2 era pained helmet. According to the seller he found it in the attic of the house he moved into (this is about the only way you find them!) he sold it to Gordon for waaaaayyyyy below the going price. Generally they run about $350-$400 now. In all my years in hunting for one I have seen four - Gordons being the only one I could afford - but alas - I had no money in my pocket that day! The M45 / 46 runs about $100 - $150 as they had a short career and not many were in the service during the time it was used. I got mine when they could be had for about $35 - four years ago...

Folks - I am all up for ideas! Send some PM's!

Here is the copy that I have of the regulations - in the second to last line it says: "the badge is to be made of tombac and gold [colored] on the rays and the star points" At this point I can only go off the regulations

To bring things up to speed - I just got a response from the national archives (the speed at which they work helps me to understand why research on Soviet ODMs takes so long!) - however my reasearch is not very promising. According to their records they have meeting minutes from May of 1945 and 1948 and a list of the original members from 1945 for the Partisan Associaition. However - the list of members is proteced under the 'Protection Act of 1990' and the names can not be released until 2010. On top of that - the names can not be relaesed to any Americans (!) but Canadians can gain acess to the names if they provide proof that an imediate family member is on the list - but still they cant do that until 2010. For Americans to get acess to it would litteraly require an "act of congress" (parliament!) Additionaly the letter from the archves also explained that membership number and additionaly the badge number issued were not within their records. Still - not going to give up - I will try and do more 'proding' at the current offices of the Partisan Assocaition to see if they may have some 'files stuffed in the back' which may have more information. Also still have more meetings planned with Agnes Godo who apparently has the same list as at the archives from 1945 - stay tuned, not giving up yet!

nope - parade dress - pre 1956 - some of these were carried on after the events of 1956, but not with the slip on shoulder boards