Tiger-pie

His other gong, he disgarded it in an old shed in the backyard.

Engraving.

Obverse.

ASM, note with the modern restrike there is no initials below the bust.

My Grandad's medals. He served in the RAAF during WW2 and served his time out in Australia. The Australian Service Medal 19-39-45 is a recent issue.

I'm not sure if this is an "officer grade" badge (it is an officer wearing it) or if it is general issue. They don't wear matching uniforms as yet, so I'm not sure how many have been issued with this badge. I think they have greater things to worry about than the defence budget at the moment. Regards; Johnsy

Well in 1993 that wasn't the case, though don't get me wrong, the crew was a cohesive unit and I did work for a really good engineering section. The Charge (Senior Technical Officer= Chief Petty Officer) was one of the best I worked for in the six years that I served on patrolies. Regards; Johnsy

That a nice shot of Schnaufer (middle) with his peers. You can see his tail fin in the link below. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=14625 Regards; Johnsy

US forces find 2000 gold bars May 25 2003 The Sun-Herald (subsidery of whatever news agency first supplied story break) Regards; Johnsy

Well his colleague did say that he wasn't very bright... You could probably get away with it here in Oz, but you couldn't just dispose of a whole brick! You would have to break it up, make smaller ingots, and while you were going through that process, go and file a claim or two (read ten at least !!) in a known gold producing area to prospect and gradually sell it off. The other alternative would be to sell it criminals, which leaves you open to, at least, being ripped off, at worst, finding that it is very difficult to swim against the downward pull of an engine block* when your hands are tied... Regards; Johnsy *A favouite of the underworld element in Sydney as it leaves no mess, the water off Sydney is very deep and there is lots of water-traffic to cover your movements and limited policing.

The anti-war mob should vet whomever claims to be an ex-serviceman claiming such things too, they look foolish as a result, and this lessens their credibility within the public arena. They rush to embrace these sort of morons in a bid to justify their agenda and yet again it has backfired. Regards; Johnsy

Just the name and number BJoW, which has historical precedence as I know that they engraved medals in WW1. I'm not sure if that applies to pre-WW1 medals, as I don't own any Aussie groups from that time. See this link: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18524 Regards; Johnsy

The "Gong" was my first PB I served on, good bunch of blokes, the command element were a bunch of clowns though. I think she is the one they are keeping for posterity. I would have thought that Fremantle was the obvious chose as it was the first of class and it has the thickest hull plates. Regards; Johnsy

Box of issue. I have kept all the boxes etc. so some lucky collector will have a complete collection one day. A small detail, this box smelt old when I got it, like it had been in storage for many years prior to issue. Probably was, as prior to East Timor there hadn't been a great deal going on since Vietnam, and our deployment to the first Gulf War was limited and was predominately naval patrols.

RAS Badge rear. Note the makers name "AMOR", they have been making these badges since WW2.

RAS Badge (Returned from Active Service)

1. Ahhh yes, three squares a day and all the AC you can handle... 2. We call it the Hat Wearing Medal (everyone has one of them too) or the Defence Short Service Medal... 3. Go wash your fecking mouth out!! Radios my a##e, I'm am an Electronics Technician, but my core trade is Weapons, all the big stuff mind, not those piddling small arms... No offence really taken mate, my trade specialisation is Hydraulics, and I'm trade trained as an Electrical Fitter Mechanic, then I had to change to the ET branch. But it all boils down to me being a weapons technician first and foremost, and these days you need to be able to work high power, low power, electronics, mechanics and hydraulics as they are all used in a modern Weapons System. Thanks gents for the complements and encouragement, you sometimes ask yourself if it is worth it when a majority of the population can't even recognise what your uniform is... Regards; Johnsy

I think it is a part of a sub Bob, but I'm not sure if it was Japanese or not. I will take a look next time I go for a walk down that way, I only live a couple of km's away. I still have to take a few more photos of the exterior area and a couple more interior shots. Regards; Johnsy

Yes, I agree Ed. They cop quite a bagging. But as you can see in the pictures they are good strong strikes and the 15 year medal seems to be the best, as it should be. It stands to reason that the ADM would be the poor cousin to the rest as they will have to hand out over a million of them just clear the backlog and will continue issuing them forever more as personnel qualify for the initial enlistment. I think I would be safe in saying that this is the most prolific award given to the Australian military to date. I am miffed that they put that bloody new serial number on my DLSM instead of my original service number; they still stamp it onto my ID tags, why not on what is arguably the most significant medal on my rack? Regards; Johnsy

Ahh, patience my fine feathered Garuda. They are mounted, and I did it myself too, I just haven't got round to posting that photo yet. Regards; Johnsy

In hindsight I should have put this under the RN history section... Well Rick all I can say is this... When I was serving in the patrol boat squadron on HMAS Cessnock we pulled into Broome after a tough patrol, with mutiple boardings and arrests. Having deposited our quarry "around the corner" at Willy Creek we tied up alongside and I had just finished securing the lines and was running out a fire hose to pipe freshwater to our tanks and wash the decks down to get rid of the salt encrustation. I was tired, irritable and in dire need of a "tubs" (shower). A woman, with a obviously henpecked husband in tow, approached me. She asked brusquely; "Why can't you stop illegal immigrants getting through, don't you look for them?" I looked out toward the ocean, looked at her, looked at the husband then looked back out to sea, and replied; "There is a f##king lot of water out there lady." So just to reiterate Rick as to where HMAS Sydney is, there is a lot of f##cking water out there mate. Regards; Johnsy

No problem, I will post some more bits and pieces here soon. I don't have anymore gongs to post, but I have a few badges that may be of interest to those who like modern groups. Regards; Johnsy

The Burma Star in Carr's group appears to be a replacement.

LCDR P.E. "Paddy" Carr was one of the RAN's first aviators.

RADM Oldham RN, minatures. Was awarded the DSC during for gallantry during the Battle for Leyte Gulf onboard HMAS Shropshire.