Dave Danner

Signum Laudis, Bronze Medal with the Holy Crown (Koron?s Bronz ?rdem?rem, Signum Laudis katonai), on the military war ribbon with swords:

I guess I can add a few items. Bronze Medal of Merit (Bronz ?rdem?rem), on the war ribbon:

Really? So it's a Gebr. Hemmerle marked like a Weiss & Co. piece? Odd.

It appears to be: Bavaria: Military Merit Cross (pre-1912 ribbon) Bavaria: K?nig-Ludwig-Kreuz Prussia: Iron Cross 2nd Class on the white/black ribbon Austria-Hungary: Franz-Josef Orden, Grand Cross with War Decoration Austria-Hungary: Marianerkreuz Bulgaria: National Order for Civil Merit, Grand Cross Maybe there's another Bavarian decoration that uses the same ribbon as the older MVO ribbon?

It looks like a Weiss & Co. A Gebr. Hemmerle would be marked on the reverse edge of the lower cross arm, which would be a little thicker than on the other arms. The enamel is a deeper blue, as well. This is a Gebr. Hemmerle piece, but unfortunately I don't have a closer scan:

I can tell you that it does not say Carl Zeiss, nor Goerz. The top line of text, equivalent to Carl Zeiss on the Zeiss label, says something like "Bun Marşa". The lower line, assuming it follows the Zeiss pattern the place of manufacture, I can't make out. Stylized Ottoman script tends to move the diacritical marks so that they aren't always over or under the letter they modify. Modern Turkish still uses plenty of Persian and Arabic loan words, but not as many as Ottoman Turkish did. And Modern Turkish avoids using some features of Persian grammar common in Ottoman Turkish. Similarly, English still has lots of French loan words but very few examples of French grammar left. Examples are court martial, attorney general, sergeant major, where the noun comes first. Thus the plural forms are courts martial, attorneys general, sergeants major, etc. One exception is treasure trove, which comes from French for "found treasure". It would sound odd to say treasures trove.

My first thought was that the first ribbon might have been a badly stained St. Stephen, then, with the Croatian in last place, some sort of Croatian award. But then all the other inconsistencies added up.

The question is not likely the pride in the award. As hunyadi notes Hungarian soldiers can and will take pride in their valor. The question would seem to be the attitude in modern Hungary toward Horthy and whether they would be allowed to or feel comfortable wearing an award with his portrait on it. Hunyadi seems to indicate that veterans are wearing silver bravery medals, so apparently they don't feel a taboo. I don't know of an official restriction. Horthy's image may be salvaged somewhat by having opposed Hitler at various stages and having been overthrown by the Germans and ended the war under German arrest. The Soviets and the Western Allies both prevented him from being tried as a war criminal, as Tito's Yugoslavia wanted to, and he was the only Axis leader (not counting Doenitz) to survive the war. However, it would certainly seem that he did more than enough to tarnish his name and image. On German awards, it isn't surprising that de-Nazified versions aren't legal to wear but are still worn by veterans. I know of a few countries where the original versions with swastikas are still worn by veterans, even at official events. Finland and Estonia are the two most obvious, but for them the swastika was a national symbol before the Third Reich, so it doesn't have as strong a taboo. At least during the Franco era, German veterans living in Spain like Skorzeny wore their regular awards, but I don't know what the post-Franco practice would be, among Spaniards or non-Spaniards. Teasing us, you can just barely see the edge of the Iron Cross under the cloak of this Romanian Knight of the Order of Mihai Viteazul, at this year's Ziua Forţelor Aeriene Rom?ne (Day of the Romanian Air Force). So we can't see if he's wearing the original or a de-Nazified version. Romania, of course, like Italy managed to successfully change sides, though that didn't save either of their monarchies. The current Romanian republic's awards are modelled after many of the royal era ones, but the royal family itself isn't viewed especially positively.

Before anyone asks, the darker colored vertical stripe touches the horizontal stripes on Austro-Hungarian and Hungarian bravery and commemorative ribbons with the "ladder" effect. Here, the darker colored red stripe is the edge stripe and the white stripe is next to the ladder rungs, which appear blue, which match the 1943 Croatian award. Also, the third from last ribbon, by position, would seem to be an Austro-Hungarian Milit?r-Dienstzeichen f?r Offiziere, but the black stripe is a little thin, more like a W?rttemberg Milit?rverdienstorden. Neither of these would have had swords.

I would have some questions, although it's hard to tell with the scans. Isn't the last ribbon a Croatian World War Two commemorative decoration, or was that color and pattern used for something else?

The first part may be an acronym. The rest appears to be "Army Volleyball Ulaan Baatar". The flags represent, starting from the 12 o'clock position and going clockwise, Mongolia, the PRC, ? [Albania(?)], Bulgaria, Hungary, North Vietnam, East Germany, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and the USSR. Some trace the Sino-Soviet and intra-Communist split to the November 1960 International Congress of Communist Parties, the 22nd Congress of the CPSU in October 1961, and the severing of Soviet-Albanian relations in December 1961, which led to more open splits after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Maybe it really started with this volleyball match.

apropos of this - http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1178...pid=113592& - thread, which Daniel took the fun out of by giving the name already, but added another layer of "it's a small world" fun by bringing to light this thread: Besides the 205. Infanterie-Division, Genlt. v. Besser also commanded the 47. Reserve-Division.

Small world, huh?

I don't think they really had much of a military history in that period. Here is a site with some information on the 1848/49 revolutions in Hamburg, but the military involvement there is mostly Prussian. The Hamburg citizen militia played only a minor role. http://fhh1.hamburg.de/fhh/internetausstel...ad/download.htm

It certainly looks like a miniature star device, but... it's in first place and by the EK1 we know he has an EK2. Also, he's an 1870 vet. So I think his EKs are the 1870 variety, and he ought to have 25-year oakleaves somewhere, and a 1914 EK Wiederholungsspange. He isn't in the 1914 ranklist because he was already retired. He was recalled to active service, but the Ehrenrangliste, of course, doesn't show awards. I don't have any earlier ranklists except 1913, which doesn't help.

There's not much I can do to focus on the ribbons, given the quality of the scan.

Who am I? What am I wearing? What are those thingies on my ribbon bar? Just a pic, found in the ether...

"CAROLVS D.G. IMP. AVST. REX BOH. ETC. ET REX APOST. HUNG." means "Charles by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc. and Apostolic King of Hungary." Kaiser Karl authorized the new series of Bravery Medals on 4 April 1917. On 15 September 1917 (with effect from 5 October 1917), the gold Bravery Medal and the large silver Bravery Medal were authorized for officers. In these cases, a "K" device was authorized for the ribbon. My sources say 17 grams for the small silver.

I suppose a somewhat close analogy would be to Weimar and Third Reich, and even post-1957, awards of Imperial German states. The states that had made the awards no longer existed, but there was still a demand for replacement awards among a large number of recipients, as well as a demand among collectors. The twist is that demand in that case was at least still in the same physical region, albeit a series of successor states. Not sure of other apt analogies. Maybe French manufacture of colonial orders for states no longer in existence post-independence? British manufacture of Polish awards on behalf of the Polish government in exile after 1945? France still makes Zairean awards for French veterans of the operations in the late 1970s, but there weren't nearly as many involved in those operations and not nearly as many Zairean awards to French soldiers as RVN awards to Americans. I have some RVN made ones, but I don't have any scans.

Just to be technical/anal, it doesn't say "Suez"; it says "Qanal". Also, I'm weak on the actual history, but I don't think more than a platoon or so managed to actually cross the Canal. Most of the fighting was in the Sinai. I can't make out the other bar; it might be a stretched out variant of "Qanal".

The order behind the Albert is probably a Danilo. The one behind that, which can barely be made out, appears to be a 1st type Order of the White Elephant.

A rather uncommon one: Top row, 1st ribbon: Independence War Ribbon (1948) Top row, 2nd ribbon: Sinai Campaign Ribbon (1956) Bottom row, 2nd ribbon: Six Day War Ribbon (1967) It's the bottom row, 1st ribbon that makes it rare: the Ot ha-Mishmar, or Guards Ribbon. For service in certain guard and police forces during the Arab uprising of 1936-1939, including the Jewish Settlement Police, the Special Night Squads, the Notrut guard units, the Palestine Police and the Supernumery Palestine Police.

Someone was being naughty. That certificate says A Magyar ?rdemrend Lovagkereszt, or Knight's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit. He appears to be wearing, however, a Tisztikereszt, or Officer's Cross. Or he cut off the ring suspension and converted his knight's cross into a pinback.

It's upside down.

I would doubt it. He was too young (born 1911) and not a direct member of the Lippe house to have been given any Lippe awards as a child before the war). His father-in-law, however, did. Prince Hendrik of the Netherlands, husband of Queen Wilhelmina, was born Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst, Herzog zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He was ? la suite to the 1. Gro?herzoglich Mecklenburgisches F?silier-Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm Nr. 90 and to the Garde-J?ger-Bataillon. He held the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle with Chain, the Johanniter Order (Military Order of St. John) and the long service cross.