bigjarofwasps

Many thanks Guys, for your assistance, the above picture was supposed to have been taken during the 1941 campaign in Iraq, however, wiki has the below which suggests that perhaps my photo wasn't taken in '41 at all? Crusader III Crusader Mk III Due to delays with the Cruiser Mark VII Cavalier and the need for cruiser tanks, the Crusader was up-gunned with the 6-pounder, the first British tank to mount this gun. Design work for a new turret started in March 1941 but Nuffield was not involved until late in the year when they adapted the existing turret with a new mantlet and hatch. The turret also received an extractor fan to clear fumes from the firing of the gun. The larger gun restricted turret space so the crew was reduced to three, with the commander acting also as gun loader—the loader was already the wireless operator. The auxiliary turret space was given over to ammunition stowage. The Crusader III first saw action, with about 100 participating at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.[12]

No. 3711502 Private John McDermott, The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) (Blackpool). London Gazette 14th August 1941.

Many thanks Jerry!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_tank

To anyone who might be interested, I contacted the Regimental Museum. They had the following to say.... "Sadly there is no nominal roll for all those who deployed to Iraq. The entire battalion, which was smaller than it's required strength, did not deploy for various reasons, such as health reasons. Someone somewhere would have had a list of all of those deploying, but that's probably long gone. There were gallantry medals awarded to the King's Own for the action in Iraq, and the DCM and MM awards are recorded in another of our pubilcations Heroric deeds. Company Sergeant Major Alfred Walker was awarded the DCM Private John McDermott was awarded the Military Medal Captain Patrick John Henry Weir was awarded the Military Cross. There was no campaign medal/Star for the action in Iraq which was viewed as a civil action, rather than campaign fighting".

Thought this might be of interest............... "There was no campaign medal/Star for the action in Iraq which was viewed as a civil action, rather than campaign fighting."

Ladies/Gents, Can anyone tell me what type of tank this is?

That's certainly a very interesting (and well polished) group. Thank you for sharing it with me. Sad that so little information is known about this campaign.

Thanks Jonas, that's very interesting.

Hi Guys, Can anyone shine any light on this for me? How three troopers from the RHG & LG are buried in Habbaniya war cemetery, Iraq. All three appear to have died during the Anglo-Iraqi campaign of May 1941, although I can find no evidence of either of these units deploying to this campaign?

Southern Desert Iraq Awarded to the RAF for its services against the Akhwan in the Southern Desert, under the command Air Commodore T.C.R. Higgins between 8 and 22 January 1928, or under the command of Wing Commander E.R.C. Nanson between 22 January and 3 June 1928. Guys, does anyone know anything more about this campaign other than what's above? I've surfed the net but have drawn a blank?

Hi Guys, Can anyone tell me what if any gallantry awards this battalion got during their time in Iraq in 1941. Many thanks in advance.

In March Iraq bought $1.56 billion dollars worth of gold, their largest purchase in three years. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/iraq-buys-1-56-bln-of-gold-biggest-purchase-in-3-years.html

I fear you may well be right. The most recent thing I can find on the net is for last year were the US D.O.D were still considering the idea. The main stumbling block appears to be who`ll produce them, Iraq isn`t really in a position to do so and other countries appear reluctant to fork out for it. Time will tell I suppose................

I would assume (and don`t quote me) that the Iraq Levies would only be qualified for a War Medal as the campaign in Iraq only last 29 days (2nd May to the 31st May 1941). Having said that I believe troops who were at Dunkirk got a 1939/45 Star & War medal?

Since I posted the above threads, I`ve done a little more digging and it appears that this medal runs the risk of fading into obscurity. It does appear that very few people know about it. To that end I have created a Facebook page for it, if only to spread the word and educate people about it`s pending existence. I`d be grateful to anyone with a FB profile to pay it a visit and `like` my page. I think it would be a real shame if this medal was to be just simply forgotten about.

Just found this......Appears we can have one, to. But that any country wishing to bestow it on it`s troops have to produce it themselves? What`s all that about?

Hi Gents, Just stumbled across this...... has anyone got any opinions on why it`s only appears to be for US personal? The full criteria is on wiki, but for some reason this site won`t allow me to add a link? Check it out and let me know what you think. Gordon.

Paul, During the period when silver was flowing to China, the Mexican peso became the standard coin throughout much of the world. The Chinese merchants would put their chop marks on the coins, so they knew that the coin had passed through there hands before and was the correct weight (hand`t been skimmed of chopped). Gordon.

Hi Guys, Haven`t bought a new coin or posted a thread for ages. So I thought I`d treat, myself and bought this Mexico silver 8 Reales, with Chinese chop marks. If only it could talk, what tales would it have to tell? Gordon.

I`m by no means an authority on this, but could it be that the guy in the trousers is a replacement from another none kilt regiment, and has simpley been issued with a Tam oshanter and handed his soft cap back into the stores? The only reason why I`m coming to this conclusion is that I recently read the book `Cannon Fodder` about the London Scottish, and I remember the author making mention of them receiving a couple of batches of replacements from none kilted regiments towards the end of the war. I`m sure he said one lot was from the Durham Light Infantry, but I`d have to dig the book out in order to check. Now whether these men where issued with kilts later I couldn`t say, but this might account for why the chap in the photo hasn`t got a kilt on?

Here we go.... This is the first time that climbing has been considered for inclusion in the Olympics, although mountaineering has been awarded medals in the past: the fourteen members of the 1922 Everest Expedition were awarded medals from the first Winter Olympic Games for ‘Alpine & Mixed Alpinism’, at the 1932 Los Angeles Games Franz and Schmidt gained medals for the 1st ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn, Gunther & Hettie Dyhrenfurth were awarded gold for Karakorum mountaineering in 1936 and Messner and Kukcuzka silver medals at the Calgary winter games in 1988. So it appears that the very thought that they gave it a crack, and got higher than anyone else, qualified them for gold. Everest wasn`t offically considered as having been conquered until 1953. I wonder what you`d have to do to get gold in 2020, perhaps go up and down it as many times as you can during the 2 weeks, or perhaps do it the fastest? All of which is surely pushing the chance of death, above and beyond other sports, perhaps they`ll introduce a platinum medal for such events, a kind of Olympic VC...?

Found this........ On February 12, the full session of the International Olympic Committee formally recognized the International Federation of Sport Climbing, two years after the ISCF was granted provisional recognition. This means climbing now can compete with other sports for entry to the Olympic Games — the first test will come in 2013, when the sports for the 2020 games will be decided.

I don’t fully understand this myself, so may well be winging it here, but I think I’m right in saying that in 1924 Lt Col Strutt made a pledge that he would take one of the 1922 gold medals, issued to climbers for the 1922 Olympics. I assume that this is because they failed in the 22 attempt, so quite why they were issued golds I don’t know. Perhaps someone else can shine some light on that for us. I wonder whether the whole point of taking a medal up there has something to do with the idea of taking the torch up there would be totally crazy, and at least this way Olympics have crossed the entire globe? Or maybe so that in some small way the 22 climbers did get to the summit, if not in person?

Just out of interest, as the ribbons are different, but the medal is not. What would happen say if you`d qualified for the old ACSM, but not enough for a bar under the old rules, but you do under the new rules, what happens then? Would you have the old ribbon but with bar, which would appear to be misleading, with regards time served. The same being true if you had to exchange the old ribbon for the new one? Or do you in fact qualify for a second medal?

Britain's. Cheers guys, I thought it might have been Matchbox or Airfix. I`ll check ebay out!!!