Andwwils

But even a federal service record might not show any decorations.

The federal archives might have his service-record on file. That is odd, 34 8/12 years of age. I believe the VA has records from the spanish-american war on file. Perhaps not army since they had a fire back in 1973(?). How do you store stuff like this in your collection? I keep all my US documents, etc in shoeboxes-which I know isn't the ideal environment.

I should change my name on here, kind of awkward with that call-sign of mine. Yes, most of these provincial types might not have even known they were eligible for awards. The Spanish-War Medal didn't come out until the 1920's (?). From the photos it looks like he might have been around then, but then again it's hard to tell when the pictures were taken. I've come across a lot of civil war document lots like this and this is the first one I've seen for a war of 1898 veteran-especially from such a distinguished unit. But as far as medals go, I have a complete set of documents for a civil war veteran who lived until the late 1940's and he never applied for his decoration...although he received a pension check from Washington up until his death. Do you have the birth and death dates of this individual? -Andrew

He might not have gotten around to applying for any of the decorations he was entitled to. Always great to actually have photos along with these older lots. Great group.

Recently purchased a Wehrpass for Oberstleutnant Dr. Heinrich Moser. B. 29.7.1894 in Regensburg 24.4.1917 Leutnant d. R. 16.9.1922 Oberleutnant d.R. 31.1.1936 Hauptmann (E.) 1.8.1939 Major 1.2.1943 Oberstleutnant Awards: WWI (no award dates in book): EKII, EKI, Bav. Mil. Verd. K. with crown and swords 3KL, Bav. Mil. Verd. Ord. 4KL. with swords Third Reich: 4 year LS decoration (LW), SA Sport Badge in Bronze, Austrian Annex. Medal, Sudentenland Medal, KVKIIX, Rom. Crusade Against Communism medal and 2 other Romanian Decorations that I'm unfamiliar with. Survived the war. Wounded in 1941. Degree in Engineering. Served with Flak units throughtout his Third Reich service-time. Most of 1943 spent in Romania. Unusual in that he didn't get an automatic KVKIX later in the war. Here's a scan of his units page:

I think the WWI Occupation Ribbon being a substitute for the WWII version is the most likely answer given the presense of the CIB and only two knots on the GCM. The knots themselves didn't appear as a device until after WWII (I think).

Very uncommon for a 40+ year-old recalled NCO to have gotten a CIB during WWII. No WWI Victory Medal at all? I'm not sure how Good Conduct Medals worked for recalled enlisted types during WWII.

He might not have been a doctor per se, he may have been a Sanitar-Feldwebelleutnant aD, recalled in 1939/1940 at an even greater advanced age! One thing is almost for certain, the original owner of these boards wasn't under middle-age during WWII. There couldn't have been too many of these guys wearing passants this low in grade, so he might show up in a period photograph one day. No matter what, this is a rare set of boards (numerically speaking)! Side-note... I've always wondered about advanced promotions within the Wehrmacht's Medical Services. Given that most of these older doctors and or medical personel would have had 20 or so years of private practice to their names following WWI + wartime service would lead me to think that they'd receive a higher grade (Oberstabsarzt or so) to compensate them monetarily for re-joining (voluntarily or not) the military. I haven't seen too many re-called medical officer soldbuch/wehrpass, so I'm in the dark when it comes to their general promotion tracks. The ones I have seen were for officers who served as non-medical enlisted during WWI and both had delayed promotions compared to re-called combat-arms officers of the same age. An Infantry or Artillery Leutnant d. R recalled in 1939 would have generally made Hauptmann d. R. by the end of 1940. Both the medical officer books that I have seen for older individuals had delayed promotions, neither made Stabsarzt d.R. before 1943, although they had been called-up in Aug/Sept. 1939.

Only in photographs, Admiral Canaris is the first man to come to mind. I would think that any passanted boards (single, pair, etc) are rare.

Reserve field-grade officer boards are hard to find. I have a pair of Heer Oberst d. R. in Infantry Regiment 62 shoulder boards. I bought them mainly because I'd never seen a set of reserve boards that high in rank. The junior officer reserve boards are fairly common. Your boards might be for some-sort of WWI Leutnant d. R. in the medical corps who decided to wear a the Third Reich equivalent during the 1930's-1940's or for someone who was discharged from service during WWII for some reason. I've never seen a pair that low in rank with passants either.

I know that right now upon completion of Army BCT every newly trained soldier graduates with 3 ribbons. National Defense Service Medal WOTSM Army Service Ribbon Direct-commission officers automatically receive the Army Achievement Medal upon completion of their various OBC's. The Air Force Honor Graduate Ribbon is very hard to get, don't know about the other AF awards new recruits are eligible for upon completion of basic training.

The Austrian Annexation Medal is a little unusual for a Leutnant dR, he might have been called-back earlier than most. Impossible to tell, but I'd say 50ish year-old Hauptmann d.R. in WWII is a good bet as well, *maybe* a Major. Nice bar.

Does anyone know of a song from the Stalinist era entitled "NKVD Song?" It has a light-melody to it and I'd like to find out what the lyrics to the song are in English. I have no knowledge of Russian. Are there any websites that deal with Soviet songs and translations?

You have to diferentiate between "collectors" and "investors." From a collector's point of view, most don't collect this type of coin. But the Saint Gaudens Double-Eagle has been a favorite of numismatic investors for a long, long time. I, personally have only owned one.

The 1933 Double-Eagle is a one-of-a-kind coin though in that it's the only one of that year and denomination legally issued by the Treasury Department of the United States. You can a common-date Saint Gaudens 20$ in a decent grade for under 1,000.00 probably. I haven't checked prices on gold-coins for a while.

Like most of the field-grade officer soldbuches that I have seen, from all branches, Pampe didn't record any of his WWI decorations, nor any of his long-service awards. I know he had to have had at least a LW 4yr. His photo is from the shoulders-up, so nothing can be derived from that. BUT... here's what I can add! Place of Birth: Giessen Wife's Name: Agnes Pueck Residence during the war: Potsdam-Golm, Potsdamerstr.4. Residence when released from British capivity: Muenplatz 11, Hamburg Awards entered in Soldbuch: KVKIIX 7.11.40, KVKIX 1.9.43, Spange zum EKII 1.5.45 He was released from 2233 PW Camp, Munster Lager by the British Review Board on 10.12.1946 He spent most of the war (1941-1944) assigned to the II Luftwaffe Gas Protection School, stammrole Nr. 57 and was assigned to Gen.Kdo. II Fallschrimjaeger Korps on 10.11.44 when the Luftwaffe was reorganized late in the war. I have a document with the soldbuch notating that he qualifited for the Luftwaffen Flugzeugfuhrershein and that he had accumulated 200 flying hours between 1936 and 2.6.1940. It is from a unit simply stated as "Flugzeugfuhterschule A/B Werder" and is dated "2.6.1940." He may have been an aviator in WWI, that sounds pretty exotic, but given that he was flying planes 20- years later (what type is not specified), it would make sense. But the document only lists hours accumulated since 1936, so... I appreciate the help I get! The photos that I've taken of the soldbuch are too dull to make out any details on the script but I can post them if they would be of aid, but outside of aesthetic purposes to the discussion, they show nothing. This book isn't leaving my collection, so any further information I get on Pampe is going straight to a piece of paper and getting locked in the safe with the book. I know where his KVKIX document is and I'm trying to work a deal to get it, but the rest of his stuff is scattered.

Yes, that's him. I misspelled his last name.

Hi Rick, Does Oberst Hans Pampfe (geb.1.9.1892) show up in the Feb. 1945 list? He would have been assigned to the staff of II/FJ Korps at that time. If by flyers you mean that the list only contains "active-aviators," then he won't be in there, but he would have worn yellow piped insignia. I have his soldbuch and am in the dark about his promotion dates. He made Oberst very early in the war (1.2.1940), which leads me to believe that he wasn't an (E) call-up during the mid-1930's. I tried loading some images of his soldbuch, but they are terrible. My digital camera is not the right tool for taking close-ups of these things.

Is there a 1944-1945 Luftwaffe Officer Rank-List? Does anyone have it?

There are only three official US government issued medals in that last group. As an aside, the original issue-boxes for those medals are harder to find than the medals themselves! Well, except the Victory Medal box...but you' ll go a long, long time before you see a blue-boxed 1930's or 1940's issued Mexican Border Service Medal or Purple Heart. My experience with WWI groupings has been limited to what has generally been said above. The most you can hope for when going to some of the older estate auctions around here is to turn up a lone Victory Medal with MAYBE some dog-tags, buttons, etc. from the same man.

How many Luftwaffe Gas Protection Schools were there? I have a soldbuch for a man who spent most of the war at Gasschutzschule II, but according to this website: http://ww2.dk/ground/schule/gas.htm there were only two. It would be neat to find out what the curriculum was at these places.

I know it had to be one of the backwater commands of the Third Reich, but what exactly did the Luftwaffe Gas Protection Schools teach? Given that lethal gas was generally not used as a battlefield weapon during WWII, I am led to assume that the LW Gasschutzschule was oriented more towards air-defense reaction, ie: the gasses produced by Allied bombardment of large cities and industrial works. I'd like to know more about this, but can't find anything too detailed online. Help and input is appreciated.

One thing that's odd here is that most of these men aren't wearing military decorations of any kind. Most SA men, especially in these earlier photos are decked out with Imperial decorations of one-kind or another.

I know that the only Division as a whole that received more than 5 clasps was the 3rd ID. I'm not sure how many the 42nd had, or which ones.

The above is a coin that I purchased off of ebay about a year-ago, haven't gotten a new one since. These are substantially rarer than the Morgan, Peace and even Trade Dollars that you'll come accross regularly. I've always liked the profile of liberty "resting attentively."