hunyadi

Thanks Chris - one of the best things that he left me when I was a kid about 14 years old was a book he wrote and privately published about his experiences in WW2 so I have the many many sotries behind the artifacts. Not photographed (yet?) is the pages of his diary that he kept describing every mission as well...

This is a photo taken the day he arrived home to his wife - it looks like they are being a bit playful. He loved her to the day he left this earth....

His wedding day - September of 1942. Just days before he shipped out for the CBI

A montage of a few of his items....

The 'flash gordon pose' (?) Grandpa is far left - without cap - he was a tall and lanky individual. To pass his weight reqirement he ate several bannanas and drank lots of water at the physical.

Shot of the crew. Grandpa is kneeling, second from the right

Interesting artifacts

Here is his ship 'Old 20' - this is a shot taken of his craft as it returned from a mission in Sept of 1943. There is no nose art - in his squadron all of the aircraft that adoped nose art were all part of the 110% losses - his was the only crew that never had a KIA. So being superstitious - they declined the use of some gal on the nose - so she simply became known as 'Old 20'...

Here is a shot of him during pilot training at the Tex Rankin Areo School (in flight). These photos are reprints from the 1960's - but I have the original negatives...also a shot of another trainer at the school

Last year my grandfather left this earth for a better place. He was my hero during my growing up and even more so for many other reasons as I grew older. Not all heros come from the battlefield. Joining the Army Air Corps on a whim and with the prospects of making good pay during the depression, he recieved his orders to report for duty on December 7th 1941. (He was on winter vacation from Texas Tech and as a farm boy from Missouri the farmers would all come into town on Sunday to get their mail and attend church) He was never a brash man - nor a real daring one. He excelled in the airplane and when everyone in his school longed to be in a fighter, he liked the prospects of a bomber as he would not be alone in the air. He trained on B-17s but when he recieved orders to the CBI theatre they were only flying B-24s. He was with the 10th Air Force bombing Japanese targets and acting as a slowly retreating shield for the British empire in India. His war was a forgotten war. Medals and promotions came slow. No Purple Hearts for the bombadier whose Norton Bombsight exploded when a 20mm shell hit it sending shrapnel into his face. No Silver Star for the waist gunner who put out a burning oxygen tank with his bare hands while standing on the cat walk with the bomb bay doors wedged open from the falk burst that caused the fire in the first place. (B-24s had a bad reputation for quickly becoming a buring ball of fire) There was little to cheer about as operationaly they sustained 110% losses from late 1942 to late 1943. They were not the Mighty 8th - they were the forgotten 10th. Credited to him was 42 combat missions, though in reviewing his log book there were 45. For his actions, for his valor he was only awarded the Distingusihed Flying Cross and one Air Medal. He returned from combat in early 1944 for an aircraft ferrying post in Michigan, but he was with his wife who had given birth to their first daughter while he was away. When reveiwing his personel file (I have the whole thing!) he was rated as an excelent pilot, but his commanding officer suggested both flying and ground duties as he was war wearied. By 1948 he left the military - discharged with severe arthritus of the spine. He left flying behind as well for the next 20 years. Too many friends had been killed and maimed - the lustre of flying had dimmed as he focused on caring for his wife, daughter and my father who came around shortly after his return. He lived the rest of his life in peace as an insurance agent. He made friends in the community - enoguh so that my father was afraid to do anything too stupid as he knew that his fahter would find out about it. He was a faithful man to his wife of over 60 years. Luckily I am now the caretaker of his wartime artifacts. He kept everything that he could keep - expcet his uniform and cap which was dutifully eaten by moths in the 1950's but he didnt throw it out until he had removed every patch and every device. Here is just a little to show you of my grandfather... First his wings that he wore through the war -

That - is a thing of beauty!

very nice - very informative - I think that I have seen about three types now. 1) plain front (probably made for the collector / tourist market) 2) red cover with title 3) white cover with title

I am convinced more and more that this is a Munkasor medal bar as they qualified for both the civilian labor awards as well as the military awards. As there is a 30 year medal I would rate that the silver labor medal was probably awarded in 1987-88 as a reward for the 30 years in the Munkasor in concurrence with the individuals retirement.

I would assume so - the book that published this table was from the 1920's on Hungarian 'Knights' so it was of a political nature to mention the Hungarians. As Rick pointed out these were still being awarded well after the war, so the data was not fully complete by the 1920's. But it still gives some interestign information.

Yep - Sometimes if you try and break up the words, they begin to make more sense - or all to often even less....

very nice! Does the award document have a red facing - or is it blank?

Kisdobos is literaly 'little drummer'. This was the first step in the Communist Youth (Kisdobos = Cub Scouts, while the Uttoro "Pioneer" = Boy Socuts). It is my assumption that this is a badge for those who were the leaders in the Kisdobos, and not an award for the young kids themselves. But I am not sure In my experience, this is not one that is found on every street corner, but I have found a couple in the past few years. Nice find!

Dont know how much this helps, but here is a breakdown of the Bravery Medals for the Hungairan units up to 1914. arany = gold ezust = silver I oszt. = first class II oszt. = second class osszesen = total

Because there could never be a national conspiracy - no government on earth could be so organised. - you cant EXPORT Nuclear Waste - but you can DISPOSE of it...

I recently found one of these in Hungary #184 for about $200. I passed as the seller deals in the low to mid range fakes of Soviet ODMs. It could have been an original - but there is no way to be sure that he didnt buy a 35 euro medal and hammer the serial number in himslef...

When I was there in 1999, I had a few of the illegal buggers in my carry-on. Though the thing they were interested in was the leaded glass egg with the FR crest etched in it as a gift for mum. I had of course bought the thing at the git shop in the Moscow airport. But as it was leaded and did not 'reveal' what was inside and it was the shape of a grendae...well I looked the part of the terrorist with our church group. Never mind the manual for the MiG-17 marked Top Secret... Poland - now there was a place that I was lucky to get out of. Thankfuly I drove there, went to the market and bought unbeleivable ammounts of militaria - only holding back on the MG-42 as I was a bit worried that the border guards might search the car to find a hardly deactivated weapon... And now - as I have started on the Soviet ODM - I await my INTERPOL report....

Canadian reverse

To round it off - a Canadian pin!

reverse

Hungarian commemorative medal - only 174 awarded