Rich

You mean of the finalised Award Card (I have the extant p/copies from archives in my possession, just not at my present location)? I think I omitted to have that done during the preliminary research. Would that include all his medals (including campaign awards)? I was also interested to note that he was commissioned between the act and the investiture of the Bravery Medal. I assume that was related to the award?

Thanks - forgot to pick up the p/copies and bring them back with me, though; just jotted down the details. It was only a small bit of info. on the back of the section detailing his personal details: a couple of lines for awards, then a blank space and a handwritten date (1944? maybe '47 - quite scruffy) and official stamp.

Managed to get hold of the p/copied side I forgot to scan at the time. The medal # is on there and (pretty certain, because the cyrillic script corresponds to other papers I have for a recipient of the MMM), he was also awarded MMM #157709 on 11.10.42. No other awards listed - no campaign stuff or anything.

Looks like it - thanks Andreas!

Thanks. It makes a change to have an award like this for saving lives, as opposed to taking them. I also wonder what the kid was doing there, as well. I assume the place is in/around Leningrad. Couldn't find anything cos it seems to be Russian for 'market' (or similar) and came up with lots of random(ish) google hits. Interested if anyone has info. on what was going on on the day in question, and the unit itself.

I believe I may have it, but the p/copies are not with me at present and I forgot to scan all of them. Typical! Should be able to get them fairly soon. You don't think an element of hyperbole involed in the citation? E.g. him doing something very similar, but his CO wanted to give him best chance to get a gong? PS: Should have copy of other side of registration card - do recall there was some writing with an official stamp on the reverse, with the medal information(?). Must be there, otherwise medal couldn't have been found, I suppose.

The Research. Sorry about the wait. Been horrendously busy this year! None too shabby. Opinions re. the citation?

1) First one is written in French: "Knights of Duty" (literally, but probably more along the lines of Dutiful Knights). Would assume it's French and with the Flag of Orleans?? (Possibly even Quebec). Perhaps from some royalist organisation for people of noble lineage. 2) Looks Portuguese; can't read the top writing, but with the Latin "All/Everything For The Nation". Assume this is some form of national/organisational order.

Thanks chaps. I'm also awaiting research on a fairly early Bravery Medal (seems to be for Leningrad), so should also prove interesting.

Thank you very much for the offer, Sergey. I have been away for the week, so apologise for my late reply to your offer. I have just received a translation and will post the information here: Corporal Zabashtanskaya, Ekaterina Ivanovna, Chief of traffic/road control post, Road and Commandant's Office No. 74, Military Automobile Road No. 18 A Ukranian born in 1919 and a member of the Komsomol party; resided at Agdash, Komsomol'skaya street, House (Building) No. 3, Azerbaijan SSR Joined the Army 17 November 1942 after having been mobilised by Agdash Military registration and enlistment office, Azerbaijan SSR. Participated in the Civil War and since 1943 in the protection of the USSR (GPW). No previous awards. ========================================================= Brief, concrete statement of a personal fighting feat or merits. ========================================================= Corporal Zabashtanskaya, excellent/remarkable Chief of traffic/road control post, she has well organized work on the part of the road, that she was responsible for, she has achieved no crashes or idle time in traffic, despite of intensive car traffic. She has lead preparation for winter 1945 perfectly. She has carried out mobilization of inhabitants for work at the road, up to 300 persons and to 100 cartages per a day at an average. She has provided the road clearning of a snow and has organized moving rubbish away from the road. Without doubts she is worthy of high government award - Medal for Military Merit. Chief of Military Automobile Road No. 18 Colonel Danielyan February 1945

There are quite a number of "---" Star Associations aside from Burma: the F&G Star and Italy Star Associations spring to mind. Of course, there are also other WW2-specific associations pertaining to particular trades or campaigns, or even individual units/ships: the (now defunct) Dunkirk Veterans' Association, Normandy Veterans' Association, Arctic Convoys etc. Not unusual to find British WW2 medals in unworn condition per se, but strange if the guy was a member of such an association, since they usually wore medals at commemorative events - unless he didn't bother or wore miniatures (less of a problem to look after a few hours in the bar).

Hi Rick I was using a scanner - a Cannon one. I'll try to enhance some of the writing as you suggest and repost some of the pieces asap. Thanks also for the information you managed to glean from the documents as they presently are. Interesting that it was to a woman - presumably in the logistics corps? (Already placed an order for the early Bravery Medal (Leningrad Front) to be researched; getting the works with that one, as it should be interesting.)

Thanks for all you help, Christian, much appreciated.

Thanks Ed. Christian has already very kindly offered to translate the pics, but if anyone wants enlarged pics of sections I'd be more than happy to provide them. Btw: The letter was postmarked as sent 30 June and only arrived today - 14 July - quite some time for essentially European mail (except when sending postcards, obviously, they always take forever).

Hello Christian, Unfortunately, the forum picture size limit means these are the largest possible size to be posted. If someone would PM me their email address, I could send larger versions. I'd be quite happy with just the individual's details and mention of for what the award was made; not expecting anyone to translate it verbatim. Rich

Once again, thanks if anyone can offer any help with this.

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Just received the following papers regarding a MMM. Be grateful if anyone could offer information as to what it means. (Afraid my foreign language skill is limited to French.) Thanks.

Thanks Rick, I've emailed the guy to look for those.

Cheers for that; narrows it down massively. I'll have to read-up on Leningrad - not too familiar with the Eastern Front. I take it Leningrad is a 'good' action, much like the Somme is with British WW1 items? Do you think this would mean a more comprehensive citation than a later issue? Thanks again (and I think the time it takes to get the research done will seem a lot, lot longer than it actually is!) Rich

Thanks again. That should point to there being an interesting citation out there.

Thanks; not too hot on the Eastern Front. Excellent, thanks for that. Small world if they did come from the same batch, perhaps for the same action. It was an ebay purchase and only cost a shade above ?20 ($40), so thought I'd ask opinions before I ordered the research (if you know what I mean ). I've read they were rather prized medals among the soldiery. Did these bravery medals hold their value, or become more commonly issued as the War progressed, as was the case with the Iron Cross?