Ed_Haynes

Could the moderator please merge this into the preexisting topic.

The naming on his OBI:

Been around for a while, but only recently "dressed" and ready for public viewing: Resaldar-Major Malik Singh, Bahadur, 3rd Bengal Cavalry 1- Order of British India, 2nd class - named as shown below. 2- Second Afghan Wr, "KANDAHAR", "Ressr. Mullock Singh 3rd Bengal Cavy" 3- Kabul to Kandahar Star - missing - anyone????

An interesting -- if somewhat disturbing -- discuission. I agree with Rick that the prevailing pro-military bias serves to obscure the full dimensions of any system of honors. If sports "heroes" are seen and rewarded as heroes, why can this not be understood? This is especially at issue when the Hero of Socialist Labor is now off the menu in new capitalism Russia?

In many cases, the original "recipient" of such eBay-offered (?) miniature "groups" was the person who is selling it, who had the "group" made up to order and with the intent of resale after adding in a "story". Absent some very solid and reliable provenance, miniature groups, being both unnamed and easy to assemble "off the rack", seem to me to be very dubious collectables, especially when they include high-end items like a VC. It is bad enough when some research goes into these assembled miniature groups, when some effort is made to represent a "famous chest", but such an invented group "representing" X's medals is usually passed off as "X's medals". Often, however, scant knowledge goes into the assembly, and the fakers just add pretty medals that strike their fancy.

Most bizarre. Indian Police would normally be a cursive "IPS" = Indian Police Service or a provincial designation if below "national" level. Looks Prussian to me, but who knows. Interesting . . . . .

With:

And, of course, "political" awards exist in all nations, in all periods. The HSU was never intended to be a "military-only" award and neither was the Russian successor. The interest comes in seeing how the award was actually given, under what circumstances. Doc is absolutely right in focusing our attention on teh "Hero City" awards. May I add the various "cosmonaut awards"? Compare:

Jeff . . . yoo hoo, Jeff . . . help us PLEASE?!??!

That may be true, but that isn't the way it has (Soviet => Russian) been awarded. Why the military bias?

While I don't have Munschke's full group (alas), I have bits. I have some Soviet "bits" too, see http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1245&st=23 and folowinng posts.

Page 3, part 2.

Page 3, part 1. For legibility, I shall scan it in two pieces.

Page 2.

Page 1.

And this also came with an attractively red hard-bound certificate. (Too large for the scanner, so I have had to do some "cropping".)

And Munschke's ausweis for this medal.

And certificate to Generalmajor Ewald Munschke (1901-1981), 18 July 1956.

Hans-Beimler-Medaille Interesting that it is on the full suspension, as worn by military personnel. The original "900" marked variety. See also http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1245...imler&st=15 and following posts.

45th and 50th anniversaries.

30th and 40th anniversaries.

25th anniversary.

Some DDR Spanish Civil War veteran's badges, see also http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1245&st=11 and following posts.

The document for the above.

While the previous point stands, the issue is not one of "political correctness" (whatever THAT means?!).