Paul R

Oh... the stuff did get split. It was a HUGE lot. For sale were his entire jumper set from when he was a PhM1, his PhMC gray and tan service jackets, and a few other odds and ends(Field gear and etc). HoydenR- Thank you so much for tracking down all of the information on this man, as well as posting the photos! I really appreciate ya!

Thanks Igor! I am so excited to have this set. I am in contact his daughter. There are eight boxes of stuff yet to go through. She is going to hook me up with his original ribbon bars, photos, and documents....

Wow! You guys have some wonderful badges... all I have for a Fj is a zinker.

Are there any questions about USCG Rates? Also, E8 and E9 enlisted ranks did not exist until 1959, so any uniforms reported to be WW2 with those ranks is not true. Here is a really cool document a friend of mine wrote... it is a history of the US Coast Guard's rating evolution from 1915 until 2011. http://www.uscg.mil/history/docs/USCGRating_Warrant_Marks.pdf

This is a really nice grouping to one man. He was a Pharmacist Mate Chief who served from 1937 until 1948. He served in all three theaters of operation and was on a ship that was torpedo'ed during the Battle of the Philippines. This was sold to me by his daughter. She will look for his ribbon bars and make copies of any of photos and documents, which she is going through now. I look forward to posting more items as they come in.

So this bar may be traceable?

I would only buy one of these from either a HIGHLY experienced/trusted collector or dealer.

Ha. Some of those commemoratives are pretty close to the real thing!

Unfortunately, I do not see any stamps whatsoever on the chinstrap. It would have been cool if there was. Spasm, is this very helmet in that book? Ricky, the CG does not do the packing... they hire local contractor moving companies to do it... I have heard of guys showing up with ankle bracelets to pack up household goods. I will not again tolerate this BS. I will be taking photos of each of the folks packing and moving and sign over the tape and seal of each box.

I like the details, but the finish is really strange for me. These medals are very well reproduced, so be careful. What do others here say about this one?

Some say that one Sergeant Major/Master Sergeant is worth at least six colonels.

That is a sweet helmet! When was it made? Is it dated?

Great stuff Megan. I am certain that these medals are very very rare... I have done some work with their defense forces, and they do not have that many members.

It sucks that someone would have added the 39 clasp.

Were the cadets considered to be military then? Did they graduate as NCOs or did they still have to work their way up the military advancement system from the bottom?

Why did he make ViceFeldwebel twice?

Or I can just steal them from the ebay ad...

It looks a lot like its predecessor.

Noel, thank you for taking and processing these photos for me... school keeps me busy and you do what would normally take me about 45 minutes to do. Thanks Red! This award has a lot of pluses. It is early, to a medic, and a female. Also, because only the CSM is listed, it is a complete grouping- no missing awards. (I added the VoG for the image). Ricky- I dont know about that.

Can these awards be researched or are they so recent that privacy of the awardee is a concern?

I remember reading about 20 years ago from an older book(Maybe Vietnam era, 1970s) that the pay used to be 100 dollars a month for life. All other benefits were the same as listed above.

Here is a really cool CSM to a female medic. The translation has her listed as a male... mistake or a guy with a girls name? Award Card Certificate B732849 Last name: Kuzmina Name and patrionymic: Nina Ivanovna Rank: Private Gender: Male Birthyear: 1924 Birthplace: Grozny Party membership: n/a Education: elementary Nationality: Russian Time in Red Army: 10.1942-11.1944 Place of service at awarding: Communicator – 59 Independent Rifle Brigade Place of work at present: Volkovka, temporarily unemployed Home address: Grozny Oblast, Volkovka, Shoseeinaya St. #7 Awards: DesignationSerial NumberAwarding Organization Combat Service Medal226.00759 Indep. Rifle Bde dated 24.4.43 Verified by Volkovka Regional Military Commissariat Major Antonov on 10 January 1948 Unit Award Order 8. Regimental Medical Point Medic Nina Borisovna Kuzmin, who in combat on 22 January 1943 while under heavy enemy artillery fire, displayed bravery and self-sacrifice by carrying more than 30 wounded soldiers and commanders with their weapons. b.1923, Comsomol member, Russian, inducted into the RKKA by the Kuibyshev RMC (Leningrad). Home of record: [trans: intentionally obscured]

I remember reading about those benefits when I was a kid. The monthly stipend may have been less, but it was still present.

Did these men wear their Imperial awards after the 1918 change over?

Congrats Rick!! What will the next 20 year project consist of?