Dave Danner

For that matter, how often do you see two?

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, but how often do you get to see one of these? The Star of the Order of the Black Eagle with the Garter of the Order of the Garter:

Rick is right about the Bulgarian: otlichen strelets = excellent rifleman. I'm not sure what the VPO is, probably one of those umbrella organizations, but Pazardzhik is a city in Bulgaria. The Hungarian badge says "for national defense".

It is the Nişan-ı İftihar, or Order of Glory/Order of Honor, from the Ottoman Empire.

The Verdienst- and Anerkennungsmedaillen were civil decorations. I have never seen one with a "1917" clasp and I don't remember seeing a file on such awards in the Rudolstadt archives, but I might have missed it. The Sondershausen archives refer to awards of the Verdienst- and Anerkennungsmedaillen between 1912 and 1918, but don't refer to any clasp.

Geschichte des 2. Garde-Dragoner-Regiments Kaiserin Alexandra von Russland 1860-1902: http://books.google.com/books?id=SVMRAAAAYAAJ If you can't access the full copy of the book, let me know. To avoid potential overseas copyright issues, Google sometimes limits non-U.S. access to the full text of the books it scans. It is 8.1 megabytes, so I should be able to download it and host it on my website for you to download.

"La noblesse fran?aise au champ d'honneur 1914-1915-1916" and "La noblesse fran?aise au champ d'honneur, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918": Does anyone by chance know if these books include citations, or just the date of award of various decorations?

The 2. GDR's World War I regimental history may be found here, in four PDFs: http://www.lwg.uni-hannover.de/wiki/2.Gard...agoner-Regiment

No 1914-15 1914-16 - 1 1914-17 - 1 1914-18 - 1

The Croix du Combattant wasn't created until 1930, so if it's there then there probably should be an Interallied Victory Medal. Maybe there was a third row with the Victory and something else like a UNC Medal or a Verdun Medal.

Turns out I don't have a silver in this style, but a gold. Here is a close-up.

It's not a designer name. It says "D'APRES RUDE" or "after Rude", meaning the design follows Fran?ois Rude's sculpture of La Marseillaise on the Arc de Triomphe:

The Olt d.R. Otto B?hler in the reserve of 23 bay. IR was in that regiment in 1905, so he probably was with it the whole time. Lt. Otto B?hler of 20. bay.IR was KIA in 1914. I don't know when he entered service or if he changed regiments. My Bavarian ranklists skip from 1897 to 1914 and my MVBs skip from 1908 to 1913. He is not in the 1905, 1906 or 1908 MVB Personalien-Beilagen, so he wasn't commissioned in those years.

From my alma mater (well, one of them), the University of Heidelberg: Feldzeitungen aus dem 1. Weltkrieg - online http://feldzeitungen.uni-hd.de/ or http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/dig...dzeitungen.html A wealth of different newspapers, some illustrated, at your fingertips.

Rick's surmise is correct. There was no rosette for the ribbon of the Military Order "For Bravery".

Is it marked? Many, but not all, Eastern Peoples' Medals are marked on the pin. Here is an example from the inside surface of the pin:

And thanks to rast, Bernd and CSF!!! Your help is most appreciated.

And the part in parentheses I should have gotten: "Saalf." for Saalfeld, the closest city to Rudolstadt and a mining center. Thanks!

Back to the original question: worth noting is that when the Navy Distinguished Service Medal was established, it outranked the Navy Cross. Also, both decorations could be given for heroism or meritorious service. The distinction between cross for heroism and medal for meritorious service did not come until later. Thus Navy practice initially differed from Army practice. The majority of World War I-era Navy DSMs to enlisted personnel were for heroism. Here are the names I have: Burger, Philip J. - Seaman 2nd Class Christ, William B. - Chief Gunner's Mate Fifer, Ursher L. - Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Fitzgerald, Patrick - Fireman 1st Class Gourlay, George - Chief Gunner Groh, Edmund P. - Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class Kyrkland, Karl V. - Boatswain Mallon, John V. - Seaman 2nd Class McCrisaken, Joseph B. - Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class (posthumous) O'Connor, Charles L. - Chief Water Tender Purdy, F.G. - Chief Carpenter Vail, William T. - Engineer 2nd Class Bogan, Henry S. - Sergeant, USMC Smiley, Dean F. - Private, USMC Wiman, Amil, Gunnery Sergeant, USMC Boyce, William L. - Acting Machinist, USCG (posthumous) As an example of the different criteria at the time, here is a Navy DSM citation for heroism: And a Navy Cross citation for meritorious service:

Can someone "sticky" this thread? There is a lot of good information here and I have a heck of a time searching for it whenever I need to refresh myself on the various versions of the long service crosses.

#8 Vet. d.R. Dr. Wilhelm N?ller: "b.d. Tier________________" ?

#7 Olt. d.R. Martin Morgenroth: I think it's "schw. Prov. Kol. 1, II. bayr. A.-K.", or schwere Proviant-Kolonne, II. bayerisches Armee-Korps

#6 Olt. Gerhard Mohr: "M.G.-Abt. 1, 12. ___ Brigade" ? Maybe Kav.Brigade?

#5 Hptm. d.L. Ernst Luthardt: "Kdeur. d. ___________ ____ [s?d?] (________.)" ?

#4 Olt. d.R. Heinrich Knoch: "Train-Abt. 18, Eisenb.___.Komp. 22" ?