ehrentitle

I work as a volunteer at a US Army military museum where we see about a dozen queries about the history of Taps each year. The above story is an e-mail/internet urban myth that has been circulating for about 8 years. It is well documented that Civil War Union General Daniel Butterfield was instrumental in revising an earlier bugle call into Taps. See: http://www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.html

I purchased all of them when I was stationed in Berlin from 85-89. You just don't see the cloth bars at bottom all that often now. Even the paper ribbon bars are going for premium prices on US E-bay. Have to shop on German E-bay to get the best deals. Had I known that these would be so desirable I would have purchased many more back in the "good old days". Kevin

Here is my limited selection of loose ribbon bars. Note the two in the top row show service in the Border Guard. The one in the right shows service in the Border Guard, VOPO and Education. So it very well could be a put together bar as I don't seen how someone could have so much service in three organizations. Kevin

Dan - These ribbon bars could be used on all police uniforms (VOPO, TRAPO, BEPO, Justice, etc...) The Border Guards had their own medals that were simular to the NVA. The Kampfgruppen were also part of MdI, but they also had their unique set of medals. Kevin

Congrats - These would look good on a police uniform since they are almost all MdI ribbons. Kevin

PRAWEMA was an East German firm. On East German insignia the PRAWEMA mark is only seen on early items from the 50s thru early 70s. Kevin

Thanks much!

Yes, Border Guard thats it. Kevin

Here are most of mine. Kevin

Yea! You narrowed it down when you said he was not Airborne, plus there were only about 50 two time recipients of the DSC during WWII. Kevin

My vote would be BG William O. Darby founder of the Rangers. Kevin

It does not match awards for Patton, Bradley, Eisenhower or Clark. MacArthur is excluded because there is no Medal of Honor. Here are Clark's awards: General Clark has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal with three Oak leaf Clusters, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with "V" for valor, and Purple Heart. His foreign decorations include the British Honorary Knight of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath; the British Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; The French Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre with Palm (2 times); Russian Military Order of Suvarov, First Degree; Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross {Degree of Grand Officer), Order of Military Merit, Medal of War, and Campaignic Cross; Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion for Victory (First Class) and Military Cross of 1939; Polish Order of Virtuti Militari (Fifth Class); Italian Grand Cross of the Military Order of Savor, Military Order of Italy (Degree of Grand Officer), Knight of the Grand Cross, Grand Cordon of the Order Sts. Maurice and Lazarus, and Silver Medal for valor; Moroccan Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaoute Cherifien (First Class); Maltese Order of Malta (Cross of Merit First Class) ; Belgian Order of the Crown, Rank of Order of George I with Swords; Philippine Legion of Honor (Degree of Command er); Japanese Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun; and the Republic of Korea Order of Taeguk with Gold Star.

This is not an authentic combination of insignia. These are East German boards for Field Artillery (Red) and Engineer (Black) Privates with Soviet insignia applied. Kevin

Again, I recommend that you contact the Army Women's Museum at Ft Lee, VA. They used to be the Women's Army Corps (WAC) Museum and have a large body of records on WAC training in the US. With the year of basic training and the name of the person they may be able to track down a group photo of her class which would give you an idea of what she looked like. Kevin

From Ancestry.com: Name: Eileen Kroll Veteran's Rank: T/5 Branch: US Army Last known address: 950 South Sepulveda Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90049 Birth Date: 15 Sep 1919 Death Date: 18 Nov 1983 Veteran Service Start Date: 21 Oct 1943 Veteran Service End Date: 8 Feb 1946 Interment Date: 21 Dec 1983 Cemetery: Los Angeles National Cemetery Buried At: Section C-406 Site 224 Cemetery URL: http://www.cem.va.gov/nchp/losangeles.htm

Here is her enlistment file from the National Archives website, basically the same info that JBFloyd posted, just a different format: ARMY SERIAL NUMBER A-130249 A-130249 NAME KROLL#EILEEN#A########## KROLL#EILEEN#A########## RESIDENCE: STATE 11 CONNECTICUT RESIDENCE: COUNTY 009 NEW HAVEN PLACE OF ENLISTMENT 1163 NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 21 21 DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 10 10 DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 43 43 GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT# Private GRADE: CODE 8 Private BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION WAC Women's Army Corps BRANCH: CODE 18 Women's Army Corps FIELD USE AS DESIRED # # TERM OF ENLISTMENT 5 Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law LONGEVITY ### ### SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL 0 Civil Life NATIVITY 11 CONNECTICUT YEAR OF BIRTH 19 19 RACE AND CITIZENSHIP 1 White, citizen EDUCATION 3 3 years of high school CIVILIAN OCCUPATION 478 SHIP FITTER or BORING MILL OPERATOR or ENGINE LATHE OPERATOR* (Lathe operator, heavy.) MARITAL STATUS 6 Single, without dependents COMPONENT OF THE ARMY 9 Women's Army Corps CARD NUMBER # # BOX NUMBER 0002 0002 FILM REEL NUMBER 1.2## 1.2##

Try contacting the Women's Army Museum at Fort Lee, VA: http://www.awm.lee.army.mil/ If she was a WAC they might have something on her in their archives. I have my doubts that she was an Army Nurse since nurses were commissioned officers who wouldn't have warranted a GCM unless they had prior enlisted service. Kevin

And the reverse -

Dan - Per your request here is a scan of the front side that shows the full medal bar. Kevin

Dan - Thanks. I've been collecting East German on an off since 1986 when I was stationed in Berlin. There is a thread I started on restrikes in the DDR section of the WA form at: http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...ad.php?t=153256 that might be useful. I suspect that your Panzer badge was made in the 90s because of the type of post. The best and cheapest place to get East German awards and orignial certificates is Ebay.de of course. A few months back I bid on and won a set of over 25 medals and badges for KG (it contained all of the cased KG medals you have shown), VOPO, etc for just 6 Euro plus postage which was about twice that. it did take seven weeks to make it here, but well worth the wait. There are some references in English. The now defunct Society of East German Militaria Collectors (SEMC) had a great newsletter in English in the late 90s. They are a bit hard to find but you do see them on E-bay once in a blue moon. I have most of them, but they are a royal pain in the backside to photocopy. Wikipedia has a few articles on East German Medals and some great articles related to East Germany, most of which were translated from the German wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:East_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Awar...of_East_Germany I've been working on revising an article on the KG at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Groups...e_Working_Class Kevin

and the reverse. The 60s medals are marked .900 (Silver) on the bottom rim of the medal. Note the difference in the UND near the bottom of the medal. the one on the left has no dashes before and after the UND.

Verdienstmedaille der NVA in Silver. On the left is a late issue medal, on the right are a pair of early 1960s numbered medals. notice the difference in the size of the ring holding the medal to the ribbon, you can also see this on the KG medals I posted earlier.

And the reverse. Notice the way the screw post is mounted, it is pressed into the body of the badge. Newer badges have screw like post soldered to the badge. A number of these restrike badges (as well as medals) were made by the original manufacturer just before and a few years after the fall of the wall from the orignial dies. All of the restrikes have the screw like post.

Here is an example of a badge from the 1960-63 period (Klassifizierrungabzeichen dur Funkorter der Luftstreitkrafe).

Reverse - The main difference, besides signs of use and age, is the pinback. On the medal to the left there is a locking device for the pin which is not present on those on the left.