Taz

The Medalla "Por la Victoria Cuba-Etiopia" Was instituted on the 8th September 1989 by means of the Decree Law no. 116, of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.

Award Critaria

The critaria are the same as the Medalla "Por la Victoria Cuba R.P.A."

Awarded in recognition of the outstanding attitude maintained during the fulfillment of the International mission asked of them, in defense of the revoulutionary conquests in Ethiopia and in the interest of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Regards Eddie.

Very, very nice Rick!!

Eddie.

It looks like the first one was SILVER colored-- two classes?

Rick, I think that's down to the quality of the first pic.

And the reverse. At a starting price of over USD 200!!!!

How this price could be asked is above me. Of course only my opinion.

Eddie.

The following are a few images of the award currently on offer on E.

Just the one image at the moment.

Order "Blas Roca"

It has only 1 Class and it is granted to Cuban citizens in recognition acquired in the accomplishment of daily and heroic efforts, reflected extraordinary merits through numerous outstanding attitudes in creative work, the development of culture, of education, sciences or sport, and in the construction of socialism in our country.

This Order was created by proposal of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, whose representative in the Work groups, was in agreement with the use of this type of award.

In the 12 years since creation it has not yet been awarded. That is to say, nobody has been proposed to receive it.

It has not been recognised, until now, that one critaria needed to be proposed for its granting is that he has had to previously receive some other decoration.

Also the Order is not included in the nomenclature of any organ, organism of direction or superior leader of the Communist Party of Cuba.

"Although not an official requirement, generally it is demanded for their proposal, that they have previously received some other decoration of inferior hierarchy. From the political point of view, the proposals for their concession must be consulted previously to the Political Bureau of the CC of the PCC, when being including in their nomenclature, proceedings all these that must be run after their approval by the Central Commission of Pictures, and before their remission to the Secretariat of the Council of State, by the Secretary of this Commission by interval of the corresponding department of the auxiliary apparatus of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba ". Between both existing Honorary Titles, most advisable for his granting to the most outstanding pictures he is the one of: Honorary title of "Hero of the Work of the Republic of Cuba"

Eddie.

Snoopy,

Take a look at this link, might be able to help

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/bombs.html

Regards Eddie.

These have recently come to live with me

I am having difficulty pinning down what Corps or Branch

The crown is a Kings Crown

Any assistance is tremendously appreciated

Hi David,

One Corps springs to mind. The Q.A.R.N.C , Queen Alexandra Royal Nursing Corps have Purple and Red gorgets, could they be from that service?

Regards Eddie

While I read a lot of (printed) Fraktur, and also read the script, and in fact have translated Czech and Slovene written in the script for a German dealer, I understood that there are two hand-writing systems, Suetterlin, and Kurrent, which are similar, but not the same. I have not seen the handwriting referred to as Fraktur. Is the term used for the superset of the two handwriting systems? I have never studied German in a formal class setting, and quite possibly have missed something here.

Bob Lembke

Bob,

As you correctly state Sutterlin and Kurrent are handwriting styles, fraktur is a typeface. Kurrent is the older of the two styles.

Regards Eddie.

Just to add on what Andreas wrote, the left one was issued by the Soviet Institute of certification, technical regulation and metrology (Gosstandard) The Russian equivalent of ISO certification.

Regards Eddie.

A tragic accident happend Monday 8th October when a Leo 2 slipped from a ferry in Stendal/ Sachsen-Anhalt. The river Elbe has a very fast current and sadly the driver is still missing. The three other crew members managed to get free.

The crew are from Panzerbataillon 203, they are stationed in Augustdorf, Nordrhein-Westf?lia, which is just down the road from me.

At first it was thought that the driver might have been trapped in the tank but after the recovery which took three days this was found not to be the case.

There seems to be no hope that he is still alive.

Sincere condolence to familiy and friends.

Images CO Welt Online

Eddie.

Some of the specials are included in the second post the others found on this site in English.

Also with the keyboard entrys.

http://www.morscher.com/3r/fonts/fraktur.htm

Regards Eddie

Eddie,

Now that is very interesting!!!!!!!!!!!

But why isn`t the Canadian one medal out of the same gun metal?

I also heard that the Crimea gun metal is running out, and that guns from the Boxer War in China are also used, any trueth in that?

Gordon.

Well in actual fact there nearly wasn't a Canadian Victoria Cross at all. In 1972 The VC was totaly omitted from the Canadian Honours system. The Prime Minister of the time, Pierre Trudeau stated "that only Canadians should receive Canadian decorations."

After Brian Mulroney was elected Prime Minister it took till 1984 for an Honours commitee to be formed, and even then the VC was not recommended. Only after years of intense lobbying by Loyalist groups such as the Monarchist League of Canada and the Royal Canadian Legion were the plans amended.

It took until December 31st, 1992, for a formal request to be made by Mulroney. The request was approved by the issue of Letters Patent by Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada, on February 2nd, 1993.

It is not known from which source the metal comes from to make Canadian VC's other than it is not made from the Gunmetal used for the other Commonwealth awards. As to why this is, who knows?

Victoria Crosses were manufactured from bars of bronze, smelted from the parts of two Russian Bronze smooth bore guns captured during the Crimean War according to the Royal Mint, and popular myth. But these ingots were destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II. This meant that apparently a different metal was used for five crosses awarded between 1942 and 1945.

Part of the myth is that every cross has been cast from the two cannons at Woolwich. The cannon in Woolwich however, are Chinese-made, although they have often previously been cited as Russian, their origin is a mystery, there is no evidence that they had been captured at Sebastopol.

The original gunmetal is kept under guard by the Royal Logistic Corps in Donnington. Although rarely seen, it is said to weigh just 358 ounces, enough for a further 85 crosses

So speculation surrounds suggestions that bronze from Chinese cannons was used for a short period.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...12/28/nvc28.xml

Regards Eddie.

Risking one of the many debates of "which is the best modern tank" I will just say the Leclerc is a good tank, a tank to rank with the others in it's league, "Abrams", Chally, Leo, Merkava, etc.

Teething problems with the powerplant have been resolved in updates, thermal imaging etc all been added on later models.

It has excellent fire on the move capabilty at high speed that is for sure. But the auto-loader is for me a no-no I'm afraid. That and the dubious design of the front armour would say to me no thank you.

In my opinion there can only be three MBT's to consider when asking that and they are the M1, Chally II and the Merkava. Battle proven in harsh climates and crews with combat experience make up for any technical disadvantages.

Until the Leclerc has been into combat it will have to wait to be added to my list.

Regards Eddie.

As I understand it the Commonweath VC's are on par with the British VC and will remain on the Honour list.

All apart from the Canadian Issue VC are even made from the gunmetal captured during the Crimean War.

British, Australian and New Zealand VC's are identical in appearance. The Candian VC scroll is the only difference between the awards.

Regards Eddie

I sure hope that if the AMX-56 Leclerc is ever used in combat that they up-armour that very dodgy looking glacis plate. If not it's RPG target practice

Regards Eddie

Hi Kev,

It's a Swiss Shooting match badge. From the Federal festival of veteran Shooting in Biel/Bienne 1958

So a Federal level contest for Shooting club veterans, with Swiss nationality.

An interesting point to notice is that Eidg. (Eidgenosse) is an name for a Swiss National.

Regards Eddie.

Taz, thats very interesting, am I right in thinking then that this is the first New Zealand VC to be awarded?

That's right NZVC #001 goes to Corporal Bill Henry "Willie" Apiata

Regards Eddie.

Brave guy!

The NZSAS also recived the Presidential Unit Citation Award from the U.S.

The last time a presidential unit citation was awarded to any country other than an American military unit was in 1966.

That also went to a New Zealand Army unit - 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery - for its work in Vietnam in 1965 and 1966.

The Victoria Cross for New Zealand was instituted in 1999 to replace the British Victoria Cross for future awards to New Zealand military personnel.

The Victoria Cross for New Zealand is the premier New Zealand award for gallantry. It is awarded for most conspicuous gallantry, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour, self sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy or of belligerents'. There are three other awards for gallantry in the New Zealand honours system: the New Zealand Gallantry Star, the New Zealand Gallantry Decoration, and the New Zealand Gallantry Medal.

The Victoria Cross for New Zealand is a bronze cross paty or formy (with straight edges). In the centre of the cross is the Royal Crest above a scroll inscribed with the words "For Valour". The cross is attached by the letter "V" to a straight bronze suspender bar bearing laurel leaves. The medal and ribbon for the Victoria Cross for New Zealand is identical to the British Victoria Cross instituted in 1856.

The Canadian Victoria Cross was insituted earlier than it's NZ counterpart, on February 3rd 1993. It remains un-awarded or nominated to date.

The Canadian VC is based on the British version. The original insignia was created by Prince Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria. The Canadian modifications to the VC were done by Bruce Beatty. The obverse is the same, except for the scroll. The British version has the words For Valour in English only while the Canadian version uses the Latin translation in order that it might be equally appropriate for Anglophones and Francophones.

Regards Eddie.

while it is a nice alphabet

it does not include the special letters

which anyone wanting to work with fractur

will need to know

redcross,

If it's just the accents you mean, two dots added over the ?, ? & ? nothing special to remember, all that means is AE OE & UE.

? - ? - ? ------ end s ----- ch- ck- sz- tz ------ mm - nn

Regards Eddie.

Maybe this can help to recognise the letters on old German docs if you are having problems.

Regards Eddie

IED destroys USMC MRAP.

This USMC FPI Cougar had a rather short army career

It was totaly destroyed by an IED in Iraq. The engine block was ripped out of the vehicle and hurled 100 yards away by the blast The amazing thing is, the crew escaped with only minor injuries and no one was killed.

This FPI Cougar operated by an USMC EOD team suffered mine damage in Iraq, April 2006. The crew survived the blast with minor injury.

Part of a letter written by Sgt Chris Clair, USMC

EOD Team

"Right after the explosion, the Cougar was driven for two miles on the three remaining tires at speeds in excess of 20 mph so that we could make it to a safe area.

Once we got to the safe area we were able to survey the damage and everyone was amazed how far the vehicle had driven. The three of us inside were all okay other than slight concussions and a headache that lasted a few days. We know that if we had been in another type of vehicle that the outcome would have been much worse. We were also able to get a replacement Cougar within 24 hours. Thank you for everything and keep up the good work."