Lukasz Gaszewski

Is the ribon blue with two white stripes or just plain blue?

Please also note the special ribbon to the RAO 3rd Class w. swords (with an additional white stripe - a very rare case) on the general's photo. For some reason the ribbon bar has the "standard" Kriegsband instead.

#3 is definitely the östterr MVK. Signum Laudis was generally not awarded to non-Austro-Hungarian military, also the wreath was used with MVK only. I suppose #5 could be the Bavarian Order of St. Michael. It is worn after the Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges, so it is most probably a civilian award. Perhaps this will help a little.

Looks Italian to me (Repubblica Italiana).

I only speak English, Canadian and Australian.

What about N. Zealand? :D

Hmmm... to me it looks like a cheap copy of the early (Polish-Soviet war era) type. The shiny and, sorry having to say this, quite poor finish makes it totally incredible.

Thank you for the information John. Finally I know what they look like. Do you also have any information about the Humanitarian Service Award, instituted in 2005? I have contradicting pieces of information whether it is a medal or a ribbon only award.

Nice to hear that Graco is alive and kicking. Do you know if the two are available for sale? It would be a great additon to my TX collection.

It seems that skeletal medals are kind of trendy in TX NG. Here are other two medals designed in the same manner. The first is the recently renewed Texas Cavalry Medal. I do not know exactly what the other one is. I spotted it some time ago at a Net auction. I think it is nothing official.

OK, I have found a reliable source of information on Gen. Karakoz honours and I am now able to ID all of his ribbons. They are as follows:

1. O. of Lenin, O. of the Red Banner (x3),

2. O. of Kutuzov 1st Class, O. of the Red Star, M. f. War Merit, M. 20 Years RKKA,

3. M. 100th Anniversary of Lenin's Birthday, M. Defence of the Caucasus, M. Victory Over Germany, M. 20th Anniversary of Victory,

4. M. f. Capture of Berlin, M. f. Liberation of Warsaw, M. 30th Anniversary of Soviet Army and Navy, M. 50th Anniversary of the Armed Services,

5. Gold Cross of Virtuti Militari (Poland), Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, Gold Cross of Merit (Poland),

6. Medal Victory & Freedom, Warsaw M., Oder Neisse & Baltic M.,

7. M. f. Participation in the Struggle for Berlin.

The medal below the ribbons is the Polish Guard of Peace Medal, intended exclusively for Soviet military.

Lt. Gen. Marek Karakoz (right), a rather unknown figure, in WWII he was a deputy commanding officer of the 1st Polish (People's) Army. He came back to the Soviet Union in 1946 and continued service in the Soviet Army. I have found a photo of his at a meeting with former Polish Armed Forces soldiers, said to be taken in 1979.

I have tried to identify Gen. Karakoz ribbons. I am not sure of all, maybe somebody has information about his honours:

1. O. of Lenin, O. of the Red Banner (x3),

2. O. of Suvorov 1st Class or O. of Kutuzov 1st Class (?), O. of the Patriotic War 1st Class or O. of the Red Star (?), M. f. War Merit (?), M. 20th Anniversary of the Red Army,

3. M. 100th Anniversary of Lenin's Birthday, M. Defence of the Caucasus (?), M. Victory Over Germany, M. 20th Anniversary of Victory,

4. M. f. Capture of Berlin, M. f. Liberation of Warsaw (?), M. 30th Anniversary of Soviet Army and Navy, M. 50th Anniversary of the Armed Services,

5. Gold Cross of Virtuti Militari, Silver Cross of Virtuti Militari, Order Polonia Restituta (class ?),

6. Medal Victory & Freedom, Warsaw M., Oder Neisse & Baltic M.,

7. M. f. Participation in the Struggle for Berlin.

Unfortunately the ribbons of many Soviet orders and medals were designed in such a way that it is not possible to identify them on b-w photos. Additionally, in the USSR ribbons of foreign awards were worn without devices to identify the class.

Can somebody recognize the other persons on the photo?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/06/06/queen-s-diamond-jubilee-medal-could-be-made-abroad-to-save-money-115875-23182452/

O tempora, o mores!

Made in PRC?

Beautiful, is it named?

A Latvian private in the pre-1930 uniform (the thread should be moved to the Northern European & Baltic States section).

It maybe of interest to know, that there is a Purple Heart, availalbe to Police Officers was well. If your interested, I`ll dig out the Criteria for it?

I think there are many types, for various state and local police forces across the US. I have myself seen several ones.

...if an officer previously received the Goldene Militär-Verdienstmedaille or the Friedrichs-Orden mit Schwertern, he would return the lower order for the MVO.

Still, some officers (Erwin Rommel is a good example) continued wearing both (MVO and Friedrichs-Orden) at the same time.

I don't think such a combination would be likely to find.

1. The cross of St. Michael's Order suggests an NCO (as it was awarded mostly to civilians, I would see the cross of the Order of Military Merit instead) - other German countries' awards include orders, which were not available to non-commissioned ranks.

2. Awards of other German countries were usually worn in the following arrangement: kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free towns. Although there were exceptions, I do not think a purely alphabetical arrangement was ever used.

3. There are certainly too many ribbons per row (even for a German bar). I can't remember I have ever seen more than 13 in a single row.

Tell me, if I recognize the countries correctly:

1,2,3 Bavaria

4 Anhalt

5 Brunswick

6 Hohenzollern

7 Lippe

8 Mecklenburg

9 Prussia

10 Saxony (Kingdom of)

11 Sachsen-Weimar

12 Sachsen-Ernestine Principalities

13 Schaumburg-Lippe

14 Schwarzburg

15 Belgium (?)

16 Luxembourg (?)

17 ???

18 ???

Hi Lukasz,

I have this interesting piece of information for you: In 2010 Spychalski's grandson sold most of his grandfather's original awards and corresponding documents.

This lot included also several foreign awards and documents. I personally held in my hand the diploma for the Order of Banner of Labor. However, I didnt pay attention to the foreign awards. The price for the lot was of course very $$$$$$.

Thank you! Do you have any information on the auction they were sold, or is there any information on the Nat regarding it?

Large gold and silver bravery medals could be conferred to an officer in WWI (they had a metal "K" on the ribbon), but they were sparingly awarded. Still, I agree that this gentleman is most likely to have been an officer all his military career. What regards his wound medal, there are probably no stripes on the ribbon, yet with a photo of the quality like this I would not venture to be hundred per cent sure. Do correct me if I am wrong, but could a no-stripe wound medal also be awarded for an entire or partial disability resulting from war operations?

Please notice that the tunic has a post-1952 ribbon display (EII Coronation Medal). The owner did not have to be a general while serving in Africa in WWII. The Order of the Bath and of British Empire could be awarded after the war as well.

I have never seen a wreath denoting a Signum Laudis (as it repeats the "war decoration" wreath used w. MVK but not w. Signum Laudis). Besides, as far as I know, the Signum Laudis was not awarded to foreign military.

Baden's Orden vom Zähringer Löwen + Mecklenburg-Schwerin's Militärverdienstkreuz (or Mecklenburg-Strelitz Kreuz für Auszeichnung im Kriege ???) + Austiran MVK + Tiroler Landesdenkmünze + Hungarian WW1 commemorative medal + Bulgarian WW1 commemorative medal together is an odd combination, indeed.

He also had both the Italy and France & Germany stars - another hint.

Sorry, no chance to tell the class from the ribbon bar alone, as the British do not use any devices to denote classes of orders (only metal rosettes for multiple awards), just like it is the case in most other countries The only thing that can be said for sure is that the Order of the British Empire must be either the same classs as Order of the Bath (GCB - GCBE, KCB - KCBE, CB - CBE) or lower.

The Transylvania Medal (Hung. Erdélyi Emlékérem) is beautifully designed, but being made in dull aluminium spoils the impression a little. The ribbon should be plain blue, folded in the Austrian manner.

The Swiss medal commemorates the 100th anniversary of Geneva's return to Switzerland. In 1789 revolutionary France incorporated the city, which became Swiss again only after the downfall of Napoleon. As far as I know, the medal was either issued by the Municipality of Geneva or unofficial (but beautiful too.)

Nice findings anyway!

Beautiful items Pinpon and Claudio, I like them very much. Notice that they are all the WWI type on war ribbon (the peacetime ribbon was plain crimson). By coincidence, the war ribbon of Reuß Ehrenkreuz was identical to the peacetime one of Waldeck-Pyrmont's Verdienstkreuz (the war ribbon was white with black-red-gold side stripes). By another coincidence black, red and gold are the national colours of Germany today.

Well, it looks strange indeed. It is certainly not Soviet and not Polish either. At the moment I see two possibilities:

1. (my initial thought) Austrian Military Service Medal (Wehrdienstmedaille) in gold.

The ribbon is wider than with Soviet ribbons and the arrangement of stripes roughly corresponds to that on the bar. Honorary conferment to a Soviet military, although unlikely, is not entirely excluded. Austrian authorities after WWII paid much attention to good relationships with the USSR and its armed forces (a monument to the Red Army is still standing in the centre of Vienna). The only problem is the date. The Military Service Medal in gold was instituted in 1989 and the ribbon bar comes most probably from before 1985 (no 40th Anniversary of Victory medal to which the owner would certainly be eligible). So this hypothesis must therefore be rejected. What remains is then

2. Syrian Order of Bravery

The colors and arrangement of stripes is correct, except the reversed white and red colors. This however was not infrequent in painted Soviet ribbon bars, particularly in foreign countries' decorations. I think some Soviet military advisors were present in Syria in 1960s, it is possible that the recipient was one of them.

(Images courtesy OMSA ribbon database)

Greg's ID is excellent! Let me add a bit.

The eagle in the top row was worn by all generals and by those officers who had graduated the General Staff Academy or another military academy. The collar tab is artillery green. It is the type for the open collar, used in the Polish Armed Forces during WWII vs. the embroidered one in the 3rd row, used prior to the war.

The yellow shield in the third row looks Romanian (there is a Romanian eagle on it).

The Cross of Valour, although inscribed '1920' is the WWII type (white ribbon w. claret stripes).

The single ribbon bar in the last row is faded, but it is most probably from the silver Cross of Military Bishop, a semi-official award of the Field Bishop of the Armed Forces, awarded in two classes.

The cannon badge on the right seems to be the standard British artillery cap badge, probably obtained by the owner of this collection in return for something else.

I hope it helped too. Now you can say "thank you" to Greg and me.

Gentlemen,

The Arab world is my focus and hence I request the more knowledgeable amongst you for any identification on this cased award on sale in the souk here in Riyadh. All in good condition includng the presentation case - breast stat, similar neck badge with embellished suspension and neck ribbon. The only anomaly appears to be the ribbon brooch which does not match the neck ribbon. Any ideas? The vendor had various other Egyptian awards some of which I purchased and I am led to believe he bought a job lot of awards in Cairo some 10 or 15 years ago. I am aware that the North Koreans were involved in the establishment of the Military Musuem in Cairo and thus may have had other involvement with the Egyptian military hence this award. No price given as yet but if I could get a good deal I may be tempted if only out of curiosity .

Kind regards and thanks,

Owain

This is the Order of the National Flag - 2nd Class, in the version (neck decoration) awarded to foreign nationals. Certainly worth buying if there is such an opportunity and the price is affordable.