Paul R

While this medal bar is unnamed, it is a great representative of a pre 1990 Ice Breaker sailor. It was too awesome to pass up for the low price. . My reasons for dating the medal bar prior to 1990 are: 1. The Good Conduct Medal, with the "Zeal, Obedience, and Fidelity" reverse was replaced with the words, "Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty" in 1999. 2. The National Defense Service Medal was authorized from 1990-1995 and again from 2001 to present. The only time period where a person with at least 12 years of service would go through without on would be between the Vietnam War until Desert Storm(1975-1990)

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This is my first prewar (WW2) ribbon bar. It has a good conduct medal with three repeat awards, a pistol marksmanship ribbon and a rifle marksmanship ribbon.

I just found an original Iraqi Saddam era flag to replace the one I brought back, which my ex got rid of for me on one of my patrols. It is not the same, as it does not have any history for me, but it is a real deal and will make an excellent back drop to my display. It is fairly high quality and made from a silk like material. The stars and script are painted on. The flag is for indoor use. It has provisions for a flag staff to be inserted through it.

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This is a very early(pre war) Luftwaffe Sonderfuhrer collar tab for an Oberfeldwebel. Notice the early blue/silver piping. After 1940, the piping changed to green/silver.

Here is a Luftwaffe Weather Service(Meteorologist) shoulder board for a Wetterdeinstinspektor(Weather Service Oberleutnant equiv). It arrived in the mail today. I am very happy with it.

It is a cool booklet and I am sure that there will be someone who will love to have it in their collection. As for me, I would rather have the order with the booklet.

I wonder if any of these were actually made and stored, pending the unveiling? It would be cool to find an "official" contract made flag.

Awesome! When do you think you will be able to head back there? I am glad that you were able to save what you did.

How many people received the award with two swords?

Well, I know that the blue stripes at the bottom represent the Tigris and Eurphrates rivers and white stands for "purity". I read that the traditional colors for the crescent are either typically maroon or red... I do not know why they picked light blue color for that.

Holy crap! Lets see some of those wall frames!!

Very nice!! How were you able to remove the murals? How you have them displayed in your museum?

Is the War Cross with Sword among one of the higher awards? This is the highest one that "Max Manus" received, right?

You really do have some amazing stuff!!! I think that my favorite piece is that sweet single decaled LW helmet. Thank you for sharing your collection with us! Do you have more?

Those are some very haunting photos. They found men still sitting on benches and laying in beds...

Those are some amazing items. I especially like the Pioneer tunic and the helmets. Do you ever come across any items from the 236th IR? They were in Norway for a few years, during the war. Regards paul

So this is something fake?

Was it common practice for low ranking enlisted to use the warrant officer boards in this manner?

Here is the first post invasion flag for Iraq. It was seen as "Israeli" and immediately rejected by the population. I got this item in 2004. While it is not a government issue piece, it is still a cool contemporary flag.

Hi Komandir RKKA, It is great to see you here. Thank you for the added discription. :- ) Was the shoulder board modification seen by you during your time in the Coast Guard?

Awesome background Troy. Thank you for sharing this with us. Do you have any other items along this line?

The Maxim looks like it was taken out with a bomb or something that threw some heavy shrapnel.

That is one heck of a find. I dont know how I missed seeing this before now. What type of environment was it found it? Was it wadded up in a corner or on a shelf? It must have been a perfect balance of humidity. Just hard to believe that something would survive that well inside of an unmonitored and unkept area.