kimj

A couple here:

http://victory.rusarchives.ru/index.php?p=32&sec_id=59

/Kim

I must have missed that one in the other thread Michael. It's a beauty. I have seen a couple of Jutlandia medals but groups are pretty much non-existent.

Brett, your reference is probably mixing awards and orders. Orders are supposed to be returned but medals are yours to keep.

/Kim

Thanks Michael. I just hope the When isn't too far away.

/Kim

I just wanted to show the updated bar of Clas Livijn. Progress has been slow since I got it. The reason for this is mainly because research show that lieutenant colonel Livijn's orders/medals aren't what I assumed them to be. He did have the Ethiopian Menelik II but it was probably never mounted on the bar. The awards that were missing were: Order of the Sword (knight), Nit och Redlighet medal (For Zealous and Devoted Service) and Central Union for Officers Training badge of merit. The problem is that the Zealous and Devoted Service medals are all engraved with names of the recipients. Which means that I need to find his specific medal. But who knows where that medal is hiding. It could have been melted down for the gold... The result of this was that the the bar went to the bottom of Swedish shoebox no.2 (according to my archive system )to wait for a future reunite with lost awards. Some day....

Anyway this is a pic of what the bar looks like today. I don't have any Order of the Sword yet so the first one is actually the second medal on the bar. I didn't have any gold Zealous and Devoted... medals either, so it's a silver-stand in for the real one. All Z and D after 1947 were gold. The suspension and ribbon are the same for old and current issue medals. Can you spot the other new one...

The medal part of this group is now resting/on stand by but the research is going strong. I haven't been to the central archives yet but plan to go soon. For the moment I keep busy with books connected to Livijns service, mainly UN. From one about the second Swedish UN battalion I got his pic.

/Kim

It would be interesting if there was some official record on immigrants to south Africa. But from my Swedish connection I was told that the records were searched and nothing came up. I need to ask him if it was only military records or everything available. I doubt that the Swedish embassy in SA would have any interest in this. If you're VOLVO or SAAB I'm sure you would get help. A question on a guy born more than 100 years ago, perhaps not so much.

Peter Brown is the only Swede to be awarded the VC. So think it's very interesting to get his story right.

Leigh: There are of course records, even a CD, of emigrants from Sweden. But there are about 900.000 Swedes to sort out. Most went to the USA but some elsewhere. But, like you point out, how can one be sure that he wrote "I'm going to South Africa" and was registered as such. If he just took a trip to England and decided to go to Africa from there, would he be on the list? Anyway the CD is on my to-do-list

/Kim

Thank for the help with this Mervyn.

Peter Brown was born, according to his death certificate, in November 1832. So he wasn't exactly a young boy when he got the VC.

Today when I checked 140 individuals had the last name BRUN in Sweden. But then again 434 were named BROWN. However I doubt that there were many Brown in 1832. So perhaps he changed his name when he came to South Africa. He might even have lied about being Swedish. On the other hand if he died of alcohol related illness, that sounds like a Swede on the 1800s.

Is it IMPOSSIBLE to come to the bottom of this? Are there any immigrant lists in South Africa? What ways are my options?

I have attached a small pic that I got from the museum that has Brown's VC in SA.

PS Today a total of 12 197 people have the name Lundström... :ninja:

Nice one Peter! It's the Swedish Navy Association medal of merit, awarded 1944-86 in this form.

Do you have her big sister too?

/Kim

Thanks for showing these on the forum Peter! Most generous.

/Kim

Sorry TS, the picture is from the museum's webpage and not mine. You can try writing them, they're pretty friendly and helpful.

/Kim

No doubt that the Banner der Arbeit is good. But here's a pic from the auction I mentioned.

For those who want to see it: eBay Nr 300346044296

/Kim

Isn't the stasi Banner der Arbeit document one of those being sold on German eBay? In that seller's listing he writes that the document is a "replica". He writes "replica", I have another word for it...

Nice collection by the way! Too few East German award collections around.

/Kim

No problem Claudio! Sorry, but I don't know what the last three are. My guess would be Swedish/Mexican/South American . That's as close as I would go. I don't have a full list of what he got with me.

James, the bar is Thord Gray's. Promise. All of the items are in the hands of the Armémuseum in Stockholm, the national military museum. So my guess is that this is how he wore them his last years.

More to see if you go to: http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/ownerInfo.do and type his name. If you type in "medalj" you will see most of the awards at our military museum in Stockholm. Great fun.

/Kim

Here's the minis to go with the big bar.

No need to speculate IF it's true. All of what Claudio has written is a case of reality being better than fiction. Thord Gray is well documented professional soldier and if you want hard evidence I recommend the Bojerud book (unfortunately only in Swedish). Or a trip to the archive i Stockholm, Krigsarkivet. I'm sure they will be more than happy to help.

Here's a pic of him as a White Russian General, from the Armémuseum collection.

/Kim

Rick, the honest answer is that I have no clue about Latvian regulations. But if the first awards are Latvian followed by Lithuanian (and Swedish?) that would make sense as the Baltic states are very particular about being separate countries. So first of the foreign awards an order followed by foreign and unofficial/scouting medals.

Also the texture of the yellow/blue ribbon looks like what you see with Swedish ribbons. But then again.... who knows for sure.

/Kim

#4 Could also be the Swedish order of the Sword. I have 48 Latvians listed as recipients, of all classes.

/Kim

It's nice to see a group to a Khasan figther!

Can't wait to see the rest of the research.

Kim

Nice bar Claudio!

I did a quick search for him to see if I could find a pic. No luck, but I did find a medal/order related text. It's about the lanyard on the musicians uniform.

[...] musikinspekt?ren Ille Gustafsson var noga med att dra den ?t sidan f?r att alla medaljer och utm?rkelser skulle synas.

Music inspector Ille Gustafsson was careful to pull it [ the lanyard /my comment] aside so that all the medals and decorations could bee seen. I guess he proud to show them of.

Also I saw that www.gamlachristianstad.nu is planing an article about him in the next yearbook.

/Kim

Post #2 and #8 are Swedish.

#2 was sold to raise money for Finland during the Winter War.

#8 is a pin for the 80th birthday of King Gustav V.

/Kim

I don't know Finnish but I DO own a reference book.

/Kim

Most of the medals you are looking for can be found in it, Alexandre. ISBN is 952-5026-20-5.

I would be nice to see the ausweis. Never gotten one, although I have been outbid on a couple complete sets.

/Kim

KImj, your document with a printed name has been given on another year than the classical one 1958?

No, it's dated 1958. One of the others have a 1962 date and the same style of hand printed text as the common 1958 have. Do you have any documents for the medal?

/Kim

ehrentitle: Of course one would expect some variation in the "production". But most documents I have seen were awarded on one occasion, 14 September 1958. So I would expect that they would be made in the same way. Although it could be diffrent batches at the document makers. Who knows...

Anyway it makes a nice addition to my other urkunden.

/Kim

Here the names. Gerhard Gr?nberg is my latest find. Fritz B?rner's group is already posted on this forum.

/Kim

Here they are. First a pic of the cover.