Dave Danner

I have for Dennerlein: • Prinzregent-Luitpold-Medaille and Bande der Jubiläumsmedaille für die Bayerische Armee • Militär-Verdienstorden 4. Klasse mit Schwertern • 1914 Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse • 1914 Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse • Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer • Wehrmacht (Heer) Dienstauszeichnung 4. bis 1. Klasse (2.10.1936) • 1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (8.6.1940) • 1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (18.6.1940) • 1939 Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2.Klasse mit Schwertern (31.1.1944) • Verwundetenabzeichen in schwarz If he had the Demjanskschild, it was not mentioned in his HPA Personalakte.

I would agree with Laurentius that the chain and the ribbons are to two separate people. The most likely candidate for the ribbon bars is Johannes Friedrich Albert Hugo Riemann, *14.6.1869 in Castell, Unterfranken. He was a Hauptmann in IR 138 in 1914 with the RAO4Kr. He was promoted to Major on 8.11.1914, was commanded to the Bavarian Kriegsministerium, and received the BMV4X on 6.7.1915, the BMV4XKr on 19.11.1915 and the EH3aX on 22.3.1916. He later commanded Reserve-Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 4 and retired as an Oberstleutnant. He died in 1927 in Partenkirchen. He is the only RAO4Kr/BMV4XKr/EH3aX recipient I know of who cannot be ruled out by other known decorations. Hugo entered the Army in IR 95 on 20.3.1890. The only question I have is that he was transferred from IR 95 to IR 167 on 22.3.1897 with effect from 1.4.1897, so he was not with the regiment in 1899. I am not certain what the exact criteria were for the Silberne Hochzeitsmedaille. Maybe being in the regiment for seven years, and being part of the battalion of IR 95 which was provided for the formation of IR 167 meant he was still connected to IR 95 as far as the Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha authorities were concerned.

I was just going by Chinese Wikipedia, which lists 1st, 2nd, 3rd and "Special" Classes: 服務獎章 特（任职满四十年） 公教人员服务成绩优良者，于退休（职）、资遣、辞职或死亡时 1（任职满三十年） 2（任职满二十年） 3（任职满十年）

Yes, that's the Hausorden von Hohenzollern. Rudolf Stark was a World War I ace and a Luftwaffe Oberstleutnant.

Number 3 is a long service medal (服務獎章). It comes in 4 classes, for 10, 20, 30 and 40 years' service. It i not listed on the English Wikipedia page and there is no illustration on the Chinese Wikipedia page.

It ranked before the Good Conduct Medal, after the MSM, Air Medal and the Commendation and Achievement Medals. It was moved up to after the Bronze Star in 1985. The Navy Cross is another interesting case. It was created in 1919 and made retroactive, so there are a large number of Marines and Navy personnel (mostly medical personnel and one chaplain) who received both the Army Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross for the same action. Also, until 1942, the Navy Cross ranked after the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and could be awarded for meritorious service as well as valor. In 1942, the Navy changed this and Navy practice now paralleled Army practice, with the Medal of Honor at the top, the service cross as the second highest award and for valor only, and the DSM as the third highest decoration and highest decoration for merit. The Navy and Marine Corps Medal was also established for acts of valor not involving enemy action, for which a number of Navy Crosses had been awarded in the interwar period. It bothered me all the way back in the 1980s when the movie first came out that Kevin Costner's character in No Way Out should not have received a Navy Cross for the actions shown in the movie.

One approach would be to pick specific units and look at their various campaigns. That way, you would be learning some more military history while deciding how your notional "Soldier A" or "Sailor B" fit into it. Some examples: 1. There are only a handful of US Army units which served in both the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and the European-African-Middle East Theater. These were units which served in the Aleutians campaign, and included the 87th Infantry Regiment, the 159th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Special Service Force (a joint US/Canadian unit). The 159th, after serving in the Aleutians, only arrived in Europe in 1945, so it saw limited action. The 87th Infantry, as part of the 10th Mountain Division, fought in the Northern Apennines and Po Valley campaigns in Italy. The 1SSF, the Devil's Brigade, received credit for the Anzio, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France and Rhineland campaigns, including an arrowhead for the assault landing in Southern France. 2. The US units which probably saw the most action in Europe in World War II were the regiments of the 3rd Infantry Division, who served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. Audie Murphy's regiment, the 15th Infantry Regiment, had 10 campaign credits in World War II - Algeria-French Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe. Four of these - Algeria-French Morocco, Sicily, Anzio and Southern France - were assault landings for which the arrowhead was authorized. The division received the Presidential Unit Citation for the Colmar Pocket, while several companies and battalions of the 15th Infantry received the PUC for other actions. The regiment also received the French Fourragere. The division and its regiments also served in the occupation of Germany and in the Korean War. 3. The 32nd Infantry Division was one of the first US Army formations to enter service under MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific. It joined the Australians in the Papua campaign in late 1942, and continued on in the New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon Campaigns. Its regiments received the US and Philippine Presidential Unit Citations. The division also served in the occupation of Japan. There's an infantry bias in my examples, mainly because I was an infantry officer, but you can also research the roles played by other units - armor, artillery, aviation, etc.

Friedrich-Wilhelm Viktor *28.04.1890 in Blankenburg am Harz †29.01.1951 in Königstein am Taunus Lt. (Pat. 18.8.11), IR 25, 5.10.16 OLt., OLt.a.D., served with Freikorps Lützow. reactivated in the Wehrmacht as an E-Offizier. Hptm.(E) (RDA 1.10.33), 1.3.38 Maj.(E), ... Oberst a.D. I have not seen his personnel file, assuming it is at the archives, so I can't confirm the awards and that the pictured Wehrmacht officer is Friedrich-Wilhelm. Oldenburg and Braunschweig seem more likely for a X.Armeekorps officer rather than a VIII.Armeekorps officer like Friedrich-Wilhelm. Eitel-Leopold served with 3.GRzF and the 2.Garde-Reserve-Regiment. Oberleutnant on 27.1.15, Hauptmann on 18.4.17.

A few observations: 1. The Air Medal is not an Air Force-specific decoration. It is/was commonly awarded to all services. For example, in Vietnam, it was customary to award it to Army personnel like helicopter crews and aerial observers for each 25 hours of flying time over a combat zone. For the Air Force, it was usually awarded for a certain number of missions. 2. Remember that until 1947 the Air Force was part of the Army, so with regard to World War Two campaigns, the Army Air Force was usually wherever the Army was. Also, the Air Force-specific decorations like the Air Force Cross were created after the services were separated. So Army Air Force personnel in World War II received the same Army decorations as their fellow soldiers on the ground. 3. With regard to the Campaign in the Pacific, for various reasons, both political and strategic, the Allies had a two pronged-approach to Japan, which kept the Japanese from concentrating on one prong. Admiral Nimitz followed an island-hopping campaign through the Central Pacific, with Navy forces attacking the enemy and landing Marines and Army troops to seize various islands. Air bases were then set up on those islands, eventually close enough to allow bombing by Army Air Force bombers of Japan itself. Meanwhile, General MacArthur's forces moved across the land and islands around New Guinea in the direction of the Philippines. This involved mainly US and Australian Army ground troops, US Army Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force aircraft, and US Navy ships, as well as a large contribution by Philippine guerrilla forces. The Marines played a small role, as they were mostly involved in Nimitz's Central Pacific campaign. The last major land campaign in the Pacific, the attack on Okinawa, was a truly joint operation. The Tenth US Army combined an Army corps of four divisions and a USMC corps of 3 divisions, supported by a combined USAAF/USMC tactical air command and naval gunfire. When the commanding general of the Tenth Army was killed in action, a Marine general took temporary command. 4. Because the USMC was concentrated in the Pacific for operations there, there were few Marines in the European Theater. Amphibious operations by US forces, such as in North Africa, Sicily and Normandy, were conducted by Army troops.

The August 1916 rank list adds the plM (5.6.16), Star and Swords to the RAO2EKr (8.5.16), EK1&2, BMJ1 (6.6.16), SH3 (2.6.16), EH1X (HSH1X) (13.6.16) and WMV1 (7.6.16) to his prewar decorations. The other Prussian decorations in the 1918 rank list entry, as well as the Hanseatic Crosses and Mecklenburg and Oldenburg awards appear to have been awarded later, or were not updated in the rank list. So, by 31.5.1915, he might only have added the Iron Cross to his prewar decorations, and maybe Oldenburg (his OV1X was dated 3.6.16, but I don't know when his Friedrich August Crosses were awarded).

I don't think any other Imperial German decoration had as many different abbreviations in the official sources than the Herzoglich Sachsen-Ernestinischer Haus-Orden. To elaborate on what Daniel said: • HSH: Prussian Army and Imperial Navy / Reichsmarine rank lists, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Reuß j.L. court and state handbooks, Siekmann's Rangliste der Beamten der Militärverwaltung. • EH: Reichsheer ranklists. • SEH: Saxon and Bavarian rank lists, Bavarian, Saxon and Baden court and state handbooks. • HSäH: Handbuch für das deutsche Reich, Deutscher Ordens-Almanach. • HSEH: The Prussian, Württemberg , Hessen, Braunschweig and Schaumburg-Lippe court and state handbooks. • SEHO: Anhalt and Sachsen-Meiningen court and state handbook. • HSachsEH: Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach court and state handbook. • icons: Sachsen-Altenburg, Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha court and state handbooks. The Prussian Königlicher Haus-Orden von Hohenzollern also has many abbreviations. The main Prussian sources used icons, as did the Reichsheer and Reichsmarine rank lists in the Weimar era. Then you have HOH, PrHoh, PrHohenz, PH, PHoh, PHH, PKHOvH, PrHvHhz, etc.

If its an EK2 on the black-white ribbon and an AKw on the green-white ribbon, there are dozens of possibilities. As I mentioned above, Bezirksfeldwebel types and people at the stellv. Generalkommandos. NCOs at POW camps, as you mentioned, and at reserve Lazarette. Many of these got the EK2 rather than the EK2w if they had spent any time at the front or in the rear areas of the operational area, although in many of these cases, once they documented service at the front, they also got their AKw upgraded to an AK on the green-red ribbon. Most of the Vorschläge for the AKw are lost, and among the files that remain, there are few details, unlike the AK-Vorschläge from various front units and commands. Many non-Anhaltiners, especially among the IV.Korps personnel in Magdeburg. Many higher IV.AK personnel who received Anhalt decorations also received awards from Braunschweig and/or Sachsen-Altenburg, since parts of those states were also in the Korpsbezirk. Hamburg, though, points more toward someone with a navy connection or a native of the city-state.

Anhalt generally followed Prussian Army practice for award of the so-called "non-combatant" ribbon, so an Iron Cross on the white-black ribbon (EK2w) and a Friedrichkreuz on the green-red ribbon (AK), rather than the green-white ribbon (AKw), is quite unusual. If anything, Anhalt would err in the other direction, awarding an AKw to someone who did not serve at the front whom Prussia awarded an EK2 rather than EK2w for whatever reason (typically, soldiers in Bezirkkommandos and stellvertretende Korpskommandos). So, either an error on the bar or one of a very small group of exceptions. Possibly Kriegsmarine, since navy practice on awarding the EK differed from Army practice. The only EK2w/AK combination I know of is to a Marinebaumeister. He is not your guy since he had an Oldenburg Friedrich August Kreuz. A Hamburg Hanseatenkreuz to an Anhaltiner also hints at a navy connection, though not definitively so. A possibility is Marine-Konstruktionssekretär Wilhelm Hundt, about whom I have no awards information (construction officials are not in the 1918 rank list). However, Hundt got his AK while with the Hafenbau Marinekorps, which would put him in the combat theater, so I would expect any EK2 to be on the black-white ribbon.

KFAC uniforms are discussed in this thread and a few links therein:

Willy Tischbein was a member of the Kaiserliches Freiwilliges Automobilkorps. Their decorations often represented their social status, even though their rank was equivalent to a Leutnant. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Tischbein

Below are some examples of Prussian officers for whom I know the award dates, to give everyone a picture of the progression through the classes of the two orders, as well as the Dienstauszeichnungskreuz for 25 years' service. While the RAO4 was generally awarded after at least 20 years' service, the actual dates range from 20-26 years of service. I noted that several generals skipped the KO2, probably because their rank at the time they were considered for the "bump" from the RAO3S justified an RAO2E. Bansi, Karl Diensteintritt am 25.3.1879 RAO4 (22.7.00) DA (7.6.04) KO3 (19.1.08) RAO3S (22.1.11) RAO2E (1.9.13) Note: skipped the KO2 Bechen, Karl Martin Diensteintritt am 1.10.1881 RAO4 (18.1.01) DA (6.6.07) KO3 (17.1.09) RAO3S (22.4.14) Beck, Karl v. Diensteintritt am 15.4.1878 RAO4 (18.1.00) DA (2.6.03) KO3 (11.9.07) RAO3S (22.1.11) KO2 (12.1.13) Beckmann, Karl Max Gottlob Diensteintritt am 11.12.1872 RAO4Kr (27.5.95) DA (9.6.98) KO3 (20.8.07) RAO3S (16.8.00) KO2 (16.1.13) Bock, Paul Diensteintritt am 15.4.1878, 21.1.1913 z.D. gestellt RAO4 (18.1.01) DA (1903) KO3 (12.1.13) Bodman, Wilhelm Frhr.v.u.zu Diensteintritt am 26.5.1868, 14.4.1907 Offz.v.d.A., 2.5.1907 z.D. gestellt DA (18.6.92) RAO4 (21.1.94) KO3 (18.1.01) RAO3S (18.1.03) KO2 (18.1.04) RAO2E (20.1.07) Bodungen, Richard v. Diensteintritt am 23.4.1874 RAO4 (18.1.98) DA (9.6.99) KO3 (20.1.07) RAO3S (16.1.10) RAO2E (16.6.13) Note: skipped the KO2 Böckmann, Friedrich v. Diensteintritt am 18.10.1871, 22.3.1912 z.D. gestellt RAO4 (18.1.95) DA (15.6.97) KO3 (22.1.05) RAO3S (19.1.08) KO2 (16.1.10) RAO2E (8.5.11) Boedicker, Edgar Diensteintritt am 31.3.1875, 22.3.13 d. Abschied bewilligt RAO4 (13.9.99) DA (9.6.00) KO3 (22.1.11) RAO3S (22.3.13) Boehl, Hermann v. Diensteintritt am 1.10.1880, 4.7.1910 d. Abschied bewilligt RAO4 (18.1.02) KO3 (15.9.05) DA (8.6.06) Some examples of more junior officers: Maj. George Runge of UR 11 entered service in 1888. He received his RAO4 on 22.1.11 and DA on 11.6.13. Maj. Siegfried Ruppricht from IR 112 entered service in 1887. He received the RAO4 on 16.1.10 and the DA on 18.6.12. Rick and Eric were right that the KO4 became more commonly awarded in the years before the war, but it was not standardized as part of the progression. It appears to have been more of a merit award for specific acts, rather than a general award for a period of meritorious service. A quick overview from the 1914 rank list: • In the 1.GRzF, all but 3 captains (and one junior major) have a Crown Order (Prinz Oskar had a KO1, two others had a KO4X, the rest a KO4). Of 16 Oberleutnants, 6 have the KO4. • In the 2.GRzF, 12 of 16 captains have a KO4 (one with swords). None of the Oberleutnants have one. • In GGR 1, only 5 of 16 captains have a KO4 (two with swords). Again, none of the Oberleutnants have one. • In GGR 2, only 2 of 18 captains and 3 of 13 Oberleutnants have a KO4. • In the GFR, 8 of 16 captains and 2 of 11 Oberleutnants have a KO4 (two with swords). • In the 3.GRzF, 5 of 17 captains and 1 of 6 Oberleutnants have a KO4 (one with swords). • In the 4.GRzF, 12 of 17 captains (and one junior major) have a KO4. None of the Oberleutnants have one. • In GGR 3, 4 of 16 captains have a KO4 (one with swords). None of the Oberleutnants have one. • In GGR 4, 6 of 16 captains have a KO4 (one with swords). None of the Oberleutnants have one. • In the 5.GRzF, only 2 of 16 captains and 2 of 8 Oberleutnants have a KO4. • In GGR 5, 8 of 18 captains and 1 of 10 Oberleutnants have a KO4 (two with swords). That is just among the premier Garde infantry regiments. The pattern is similar in the Garde cavalry (in some regiments a lot of KO4s, in others a few). In the Garde field artillery regiments, 17 junior officers had the KO4 and 9 the KO4X, and the 3.GFAR had none of them. Also, many of these awards were for service in the May 1913 marriage ceremony of Ernst August of Braunschweig and Princess Viktoria Luise. Outside of the Garde, the KO4 is much less common. To pick a few random regiments: in FR 34 just one captain has a KO4. Same for IR 43 and IR 45. In FR 37, none. Same for IR 44 (although 2 Leutnants have one). One Rittmeister and one Oberleutnant in KR 2. If I remember correctly, Daniel Krause told me once that many KO4 awards were for winning gunnery competitions and the like. They were also common in the Flieger-Bataillone for performance in aerial flight. Many engineer and technical officers also received their KO4 for specific accomplishments. Add in the Garde officers who received it for various ceremonial duties, and these together might account for much of the increase in awards in the prewar years.

Prussian Army and German navy officers normally worked their way up the Red Eagle / Crown Order ladder during their careers. Typically, the first award was the RAO4. The KO4 was a less common award for junior officers usually for specific actions while the RAO4 came after a period of long and meritorious service. The next step was receipt of the KO3. An officer could wear both the RAO4 and the KO3. Next was the award of the RAO3. The RAO3 was awarded with the Schleife if one already had the RAO4, which was almost always the case with Prussian and naval officers, and the RAO4 was returned. The officer would then wear both the RAO3S and KO3. The next step would be award of the KO2. In this case, the KO3 would be returned. So when you see a medal bar with only the RAO3S (without the crown or swords) and no Crown Order, you can surmise that it belonged to an Oberst/Kapitän zur See or Generalmajor/Konteradmiral who wore the KO2 around the neck. If you look at the 1914 rank list, you will see the RAO3S/KO2 combination from Konteradmiral Wurmbach through Kapitän z.S. Höpfner. The next step was award of the RAO2. As with the Schleife for the RAO3, an officer who previously had the RAO3 would receive the RAO2 with oakleaves (RAO2E), and the RAO3S would be returned. Again if you look at the 1914 rank list, you will see the RAO2E/KO2 combination from Konteradmiral Hipper to Konteradmiral Schrader. In these cases, the officer wore both his Red Eagle and Crown around the neck, and no Red Eagle or Crown order on the medal bar, except for awards with the crown or swords. The next step was award of the Star to the KO2. Again going to the rank list, you will see the RAO2E/KO2mSt combination from Vizeadmiral Gerdes through Konteradmiral Trummler. The next step was award of the Star to the RAO2E. You will see the RAO2EmSt/KO2mSt combination with VIzeadmirale Grapow, Bachmann, v. Krosigk and v. Dambrowski. Nothing had to be returned at these steps because they just added a breast star to the existing awards. The next step normally was award of the KO1, in which case the KO2mSt was returned. And then normally would come the RAO1, in which case the RAO2EmSt was returned. And then the Grand Cross of the RAO. As I mentioned above, the exception to the return policy for the lower grades was if they were awarded with special devices. An award of any class of the Red Eagle with the royal crown usually indicated an award for specific merit rather than just long service, and the officer continued to wear it even when he received a higher class. An award of any class of the Red Eagle or Crown Order with swords was worn even when a higher class was awarded, with the provision for "Swords on Ring" as well. As one example, look at Admiral v. Pohl in the 1914 rank list. He had the RAO3SXKr, which he continued to wear after receiving the 2nd class because of the crown and swords. His RAO2E was with swords on ring, but he also had the royal crown to it. So when he received the RAO1E with swords on ring, he kept the RAO2EKrXaR as well. Pohl's Crown Order 2nd Class was also with swords, so he kept that even when he got the Star to the KO2 and later the KO1 with swords on ring. There might be some exceptions I am missing. I can't remember what the regulations were if you had the KO4X and KO3X, for example. But these are the general guidelines for senior officers working their way up the Read Eagle/Crown Order ladder. And, yes, I assume the Olympia-Ehrenzeichen was posthumous. There were over 500 awards of the 2nd class that day, so it probably had taken a while to process them.

Some additional details to what Roman stated: The Kriegsverdienstkreuz (LK) was created on 8 December 1914, and the first awards were made a few days later. Before then, the Ehrenkreuz was the main award to officers and the Militärverdienstmedaille (LMVM) to NCOs and enlisted men. So for several months, the Ehrenkreuz/LMVM were the Iron Cross "equivalent" for Lippe-Detmold. As Roman notes, with exceptions, if an LMVM recipient later received the LK, he was supposed to return the LMVM, but this often did not happen. As for officers, it does not appear that those 1914 recipients of the Ehrenkreuz mit Schwertern were required to return their order when they received the LK. Also, further awards of the Ehrenkreuz mit Schwertern were made throughout the war (and retroactively after the war) as a higher award, separate from the Kriegsehrenkreuz für heldenmütige Tat, which had its own award criteria. As noted above, the LK was first awarded in December 1914, and the first awards of the LK to officers in IR 55 were on 13 December 1914. But the first awards to NCOs and men of IR 55 did not happen until May 1915. At this time, just over 800 LK awards had been made, including over 500 to NCOs and enlisted men in other regiments. Roman, do you know if they simply continued to award the LMVM to IR 55 NCOs and enlisted men between December 1914 and May 1915, even while awarding the LK to NCOs and enlisted men in other units? And from 1915 on, do we know for certain if the LMVM was awarded only to those rendered dienstuntauglich and without the EK (based on the 1917 letter from the Mil.Kabinett to Natzmer) or was it also awarded like the Ehrenkreuz as a higher award to those already in possession of the LK? Regarding the awards to wounded men, I do not know what the practice was in Lippe-Detmold, but I do know from my review of award recommendations in the archives in Dessau that early in the war, Anhalt mainly awarded the Friedrichkreuz to soldiers who had received the Iron Cross or who had been wounded in action (especially if the wound was serious enough to invalid them out of the army). Otherwise, if they did not have the Iron Cross, the award recommendation had to list a reason for the award (including whether he had been nominated for the Iron Cross). As the war went on, being wounded by itself was not sufficient grounds for an award, but it was a factor.

The RAO4 and the KO3 were replaced and returned when he was awarded higher grades of those orders. He continued to wear ther RAO3SmKr because it was with the Crown. The Südwestafrika-Denkmünze should be steel, since I do not believe that he served there and based on its appearance in the photos. It should indeed be the Centenary after it. I have no idea about the Turkish award. Could be either, but likely a 1st class based on his rank. Other known awards: • According to the Austro-Hungarian Court and State Handbook, Behncke received the Orden der Eisernen Krone 2. Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration in 1916. • According to the Swedish State Calendar, Behncke received the Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Sword (Kommendör med stora korset) in 1924. • He received the Olympia-Ehrenzeichen 2. Klasse on 15.1.1937 as an Admiral a.D. and Präsident der Deutsch-Japanischen Gesellschaft in Berlin.

Gustav Schöne, born 29.6.1874 in Calbe (Saale), received the Friedrichkreuz on 5.5.1915 as a Zahlmeister in Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66. I have three other Zahlmeister-types with the Friedrichkreuz and the Prussian Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen and old enough for a Centenary, but I don't have anything further on them after World War I. Maybe Daniel has more information. • Henzgen, Karl, *8.8.1868 in Mehringen, Bernburg; Zahlm., von d. Train-Abt. Nr. 8, Sanitäts-Komp., Armee-Abteilung v. Strantz. • Kolbe, Fritz, *10.12.1870 in Harzgerode; Zahlm., vom Inf.-Regt. Nr. 165, I./Landw.-Inf.-Regt. Nr. 36. • Rößler, Max, *26.12.1872 in Bernburg; Zahlm., 4.Garde-Regt. zu Fuß.

Hans Richard Ferdinand Josupeit was born on 25 July 1883 in Königsberg i.Pr. and died on 27 October 1953 in Köln-Lindenthal. He was commissioned a Leutnant in Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 1 on 14.8.1902 with a Patent of 19.8.1901. He served in IR 30 from 1905-1914 and then on the General Staff. He is in the 1919 Berlin address book as a Hauptmann i.G. on the Großer Generalstab, while the 1920 IR 30 Mitgliederverzeichnis lists him as reportedly in Argentina. In the 1936 Mitgliederverzeichnis, he is listed as a Direktor of the Straßenbahn A.-G. living in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. The 1943 Berlin address book (the last on published under the Third Reich) lists him as a Direktor in Berlin-Zehlendorf. He is also in several post-World War II Berlin telephone books. If he entered service in 1901 and left in 1919/1920, he would have had 18-19 years of service. It does not appear that double-counting of the war years 1914-18 would have gotten him to 25 years of service, so I would agree with Daniel.

Awards of the top two valor decorations (Medal of Honor and the service crosses) and recent (Since Sept. 11 2001) awards of the Silver Star: https://valor.defense.gov US Army historical award statistics: https://www.hrc.army.mil/content/Awards and Decorations Statistics by Conflict The Army used to have year-by-year statistics for peacetime awards in recent decades, but I can't find that resource anymore. I can't find similar numbers for the other services.

The person in the Huesken document is Hofmaurermeister, later Baumeister, Adolf Krauß. I do not know how many other possible matches there are. I have been cross-checking the SLKw list against the rolls for the Ehrenkreuz and Verdienstkreuz, as well as the 1918 Schaumburg-Lippe Court & State Handbook, but I am not finished.

Google tells me it was manufactured in Lithuania for Chechnya, but whatever badges were made were seized by Russian officials while being sent to Chechnya and disposed of, so never actually issued by the Chechens.

Farhang means culture or education in Farsi. Tulips are a symbol associated with Iran. So a medal/order for culture or the like from the Islamic Republic is my guess.