Paul R

I love that photograph! A crew of heavily decorated men!

I would like to see some originals too!

I am surprised that I do not see more Vietnamese militaria around.

Doh! Sorry about the misunderstanding on my behalf!

5000 is a lot of money to pay without some decent photographs. Also, you will need to post a photograph of the back. Thank you.

Can you please post some closeups of this bar?

I do not like the entries in that book.

I love that order. I think that it is a Type 2 Var 3 Sub. Var 2, just like mine(Awarded at Stalingrad in 1943. These screwback orders all have interesting stories, when researched.

I like them a lot!! Congrats!

Wow!! This will be a first! I look forward to seeing it. Thanks for the info!

Hi Joe, It is great to see you! Welcome to the forum. I am sorry for the much delayed response, but I have been deployed for the past few months. Anyway, I look forward to seeing your collection!

I like it a lot!! I am not a M43 specialist, but it looks right to me!

Those are some great straps, William. Nice Officer Candidates!

Great stuff Shane!! I love the trumpet banner!

That is a really cool grouping. Thank you for sharing it with us!

That is an awesome Red Star. You should have it researched. It should be an insteresting story. What is the rank of the soldier in the orders booklet? I hope that you are able to find the Bravery Medal.

My first medals were purchased in 1993. 1. 60th Anniversary of the Red Army- 5 dollars 2. Order of Honor- 10 dollars 3. Order of Red Banner of Labor- 10 dollars 4. Order of the Red Star- 5 dollars I was so happy to get so many high quality medals for under 30 dollars. I went to that gun show looking for German stuff, but it was way too expensive for me at the time. I was able to eventally get some really nice stuff over time, before moving focuses: 1. Order of Lenin with Orders Book- 475 dollars 2. XX Anniversary of the Red Army with photo/award booklet- 200 dollars 3. Screwback ORB- 190 dollars and many more. I stopped collecting Soviet Orders and medals in 1995 and ended up with a lot of great groupings and etc. I am so glad that I kept them all. Ironically, even though I make much more money now, I would never be able to afford many of the items I have in my collection. I do have regrets in not getting certain orders and etc, when I could, but I am very happy to have what I do now. Paul

Perhaps he was assigned to a stint of liason/instructor duty with some police organization(or border guard)?

Now that is a beautiful bar, Beau!

You always come up with some of the best and rare KM items.

Well written Tim. I agree with you on all points made in your posting. There should be hefty penalties for people who are robbing the system for their own gain. These crimes are far from victimless, as they take away from those who truly qualify and NEED them to live. The double-standard is utterly impossible to correct. There is nothing that can be done about these medals being made/sold/worn overseas. However... the same standard is being broken by those of us who collect Soviet Orders and Medals. I think that there are still severe penalties (huge monetary fines as well as prison time) for those of us who take items like the Order of Lenin out of Russia(I know that there USED to be).

Backs.

That is such an awesome bar. I love the old 1866/70 non combat bars. Does anyone know how many of these Non Com 1866s were awarded?

In my opinion... It is not about people wearing costumes ridiculously festooned with ribbons and badges. It is for those who lie about their false exploits for some sort of financial or prestige/position gain. It is about fraud. Sure, there are already fraud laws on the books, but as in with other crimes, there are extenuating circumstances which could be used to mitigate or exacerbate the base allegation. I feel that people stealing the sacrifices given by others for their own fraudulent gains should be publicly recognized and dealt with, on top of the base crime.

The Medal of Honor was illegal for sale, wear, manufactor(other than authorized sources), and reproduce well prior to this law being passed.