GraemeR

Tony, thanks very much for that. I'll keep a look out for the books. Cheese on Toast i can take or leave but, as my stomach will testify, jammy donuts are my weakness. Cheers Graeme

Tony, what's the book about the prefixes. I would be interested in buying a copy of that. Although one of the things I could not buy would be the Queen Mary tin. Imagine returning home from the pub late on a Saturday night, gasping for a fag cos you forgot to buy any and they were the only one's in the house. Sorry, but the pack would be finished by morning. I couldn't stand having one in the house knowing I would eventually destroy it by smoking the fags. Graeme

I like to see pictures as well. Sounds like a cracking group. Cheers Graeme

It's a great idea but it may be difficult to come up with criteria for the medal. If you give it to a fireman who dealt with London do you also give it to a fireman who dealt with the aftermath of a nasty pile up on the motorway. Both equally traumatising and demanding on the people involved in their own right. Perhaps greater use should be made of the commendations and gallantry awards (and the scope widened) that are currently available to recognise their efforts. Graeme

I'll ask my mate about it when I see him for a pint on Friday. He was in Kabul with the RMP at that time. I think we can assume that it's a fake though. He has never mentioned anything like that before. Cheers Graeme

I'm sure that at the time the yeomanry units were raised they didn't have to serve abroad but were for purely Home Defence. So it may have been used as a way of showing you were serving but never having to leave the country. Cheers Graeme

Sorry, but from my understanding the only contingents of Dutch troops fighting in the Peninsular War were fighting for the French. Some time previous to the Peninsular War, Holland was invaded and taken over by the French and re-named the Batavian Republic (I think!) and the crown was given to Napoleon's brother Joseph. This was before he offered the Crown of Spain to him. The main foreign troops that Britain had with them in the Peninsular (outside of Portugal and Spain) were Germans who had been formed into the Kings German Legion. Cheers Graeme

The Duke of Wellington asked for a Provost force to be raised for service in the Peninsular. Basically to hang looters so that the local population could be kept 'on-side'. There were Provosts and Provosts Marshall's before then but I would think that Wellington's one would be the first 'real force' so to speak. Cheers Graeme

Unfortunately, I do think that the OSM will be sustainable. I think that the Govt. has looked about the world and seen the veritable Christmas Trees on the chests of some countries and come to the conclusion that our boys look naked. They may also have looked at the NATO and UN medal issues and decided to standardise our medal issues like them. Perhaps Lord Robertson (Is that his name - bit of a mental block) had a hand in that. It could also be a cost issue. It's going to be far easier & cheaper running off a large production of OSM's & new ribbons than to have to come up with small numbers of clasps and bars for a CSM every so often. Cheers Graeme

Hi, It's interesting to see the OSM for Afghanistan without the Afghanistan clasp. Any idea when the qualification period for the clasp was? Cheers Graeme

Hi, it's my understanding that all WWI MIC's are now available on-line at the National Archives website. This was completed when they added the womens section late last year. Any cards that are missing from the website have been lost or destroyed. Cheers Graeme