Ed_Haynes

Is it possible that posts 4-7 are military academy chevrons, rotated 180 degrees?

Nice ones, David! See also:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=14264&st=30

and the following post.

Deceased -- November 1858 -- there IS a tale here!!!

The name is sufficiently common, but I'd agree with Jerome:

-- You have an interesting fellow here.

-- And three more medals to find (at least)

Or he's a Bulgarian who got lost (ran away from home?) and fought with the Germans for a bit, until he came to his senses?

Or, what seems more likely, he got his German medals much as Henry Hozier got his.

See: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17848

Or he's a Bulgarian who got lost (ran away from home?) and fought with the Germans for a bit, until he came to his senses?

And consider that the "book value" for a mundane BWM (whatever that is) is ?15-20!

Sad, but still very nice

WHY ROMANIAN ? BULGARIAN !!!

Of course. Sorry. Never type before maxmizing coffee intake!

To rephrase:

Novice question: Why are we thinking and talking of this as a "German" bar? It looks pretty Bulgarian to me. Not all medals are "German", after all?

Sorry.

Novice question: Why are we thinking and talking of this as a "German" bar? It looks pretty Romanian to me. Not all medals are "German", after all?

While the article I posted was far from the world's best journalism, it did raise some interesting points.

At the very least, it has had a hard life. All the mountings are improvised, so we must be flexible here. There has been some pretty aggressive faking of naming (as all were issued unnamed and naming was a very "free market" process). But most faked naming is not as bashed about. From what I see, condition is the major concern. Sorry, but I don't know about medal rolls to natives (of the British Isles), as I focus on those to Indians. Personally, I'd want to check this guy on the medal rolls.

The 9th (Queens Royal) Lancers were there (the only British cavalry), so at least this much seems OK.

Hope this is of some help.

[April 23 (2007)] Vox Populi: President Bush has to award a medal to Hero Liviu Librescu!

romanian-gymnastics.com

WASHINGTON / As the storm raised last week by the heroic gesture of the Romanian born Liviu Librescu has lowed a little, people has started asking, all over the Internet: What honor should Liviu Librescu receive? Why US didn't gave him (yet) a Medal? Vox Populi (People Voice) over the web says: US President Bush has to award a Medal to Romanian born Hero Liviu Librescu!

On the democraticunderground.com forum , "piedmond" wrote: "This man led an exemplary life, and gave it up in valorous defense of his students. We owe it to ourselves and our children to hold him up as an example of the ideals we believe in. Please write your congressional representatives and ask that they cosponsor legislation for bestowing this honor on him."

The only question remaining is: should the Medal be the Presidential medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal or...both? "I wonder if anyone has ever been honored with both" asked rhetorically "piedmond" on same forum; "That's reserved for colossal failures, until 2009 at least.", Answered ironically "BurtWorm".

The White House has confirmed for romanian-gymnastics.com last Saturday that our message for President Bush has arrived at the White House:" On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions. [...] Thank you again for taking the time to write."

The message was:

Dear Mr President,

We would like to recommend that Professor Liviu Librescu be considered for a Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his heroic efforts to protect his students while teaching at Virginia Tech.

He sacrificed his own life using his own body to barricade the entrance to his classroom from the gunman. This brave Romanian born Americano-Israeli, so cognizant of the value of life, chose to place himself in harm's way so that his young charges might have a chance to escape.

Despite the political turmoil going on right now in Romania, this country has already honored Liviu Librescu with their highest award he could be given, The Star of Romania!

You may consider that United States, for which he scarified his live, owes Him that little.

Thank you for your time. God Bless America!

Need (some) evidence for Professor Liviu Librescu's Heroic gesture? "A series of shots rang out from an adjoining classroom, followed by screams. Prof. Librescu rushed to the door and held it shut. His engineering students dived for cover behind their desks."

In a letter addressed to Prof. Librescu's wife Marlena, one student described how he climbed out the window, but paused on the ledge to look back. "I saw your husband still standing there. He was holding the door closed and looking over his shoulder to make sure everybody else was safe. It was the bravest thing I have ever seen and I will always remember his courage," the student wrote.

Another simply wrote: "I think he saved my life." Prof. Librescu was fatally shot, and died on his classroom floor. But by the time the gunman managed to get inside, most of his students had escaped to safety." (The Globe and Mail)

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award which may be bestowed by the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the United States government. The decoration is awarded to "any individual who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States."

As Jews worldwide honored on Monday the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust, a 76-year-old survivor sacrificed his life to save his students in Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech College that left 33 dead and over two dozen wounded.

Romanian born Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio. Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe. "My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

An online Petition was initiated "To Honor Professor Liviu Librescu with the President Medal of Freedom" because "He showed a love and caring for his students above and beyond that of a normal teacher. Professor Librescu is the example of the Bible verse "Greater love that no man that he lay down his life for another." His sacrifice was sacrifice "of a true hero, whom embodies the American and Israeli spirit." A second petition call for "Presidential Medal of Freedom for Professor Liviu Lebrescu" because "His selfless actions saved many lives. He is the true definition of a hero and the nation should remember that as his legacy."

Another idea, a letter to your US representative, this time for the Congressional Gold Medal, came from 'Behind the Aegis':

Dear Sir or Madam:

On April 16, 2007, amidst the great tragedy of Virginia Tech murders, a man emerged as a hero. His actions, according to his own students, saved their lives and cost him his own. This man was Dr. Liviu Librescu. A professor at VA Tech for several years, Dr. Librescu began his life in Romania and within a short few years of life became a survivor of one of the greatest genocide of the 20th Century, the Holocaust. Dr. Librescu survived to become an accomplished professor and, once again, survived under yet another bloodthirsty dictator. He then moved to Israel for several years, before coming to the United States some twenty years ago to educate young minds at Virginia Tech. The Yom Hashanah, a day set aside to remember the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, was also on April 16, 2007. It was that day, that a Holocaust survivor, Dr. Liviu Librescu, sacrificed his own life by using his body to barricade the door to his classroom, preventing a gunman from entering, and allowing his students to flee through the windows. The day a murder took the lives of thirty-two innocent individuals, including Dr. Liviu Librescu, he became a hero. This dedicated educator, accomplished author, award winner, Holocaust survivor, husband, and father died so that others may live. I ask that you and your colleagues introduce legislation to confer the Congressional Gold Medal upon Dr. Liviu Librescu. He was in life, as in death, an example of a true hero. I hope you will agree with me and bestow our country?s highest honors on a truly inspirational, deserving, and heroic man.

Romania was the first to award to Liviu Librescu's widow, last week, the Highest Romanian Honor: The Star of Romania medal which only a handful of people received by now.

This recognition gesture was made in just few hours from presenting the petition to the Romanian President Basescu. In three hours or so, the Decree was signed and a Presidential envoyee sent to Israel to deliver the Medal during the funerals. That's efficiency and highest respect...on time! (a World Record in a democracy? pretty close to one!) The presidential representative attended Liviu Librescu's funeral in Ra'anana on Friday. Romanian officials laid a wreath at the grave.

Other (yet ignored) US Heroes may come on the line for a medal, too. As revealed in NewsMax.com, that was proven in Pearl, Miss., in 1997, when 16-year-old Luke Woodham used a hunting rifle to kill his ex-girlfriend and her close friend, and wound seven other students after having killed his own mother. His murder spree was stopped only when Assistant Principal Joel Myrick got his handgun from his car and halted Woodham?s shooting spree. He kept Woodham at bay until the police arrived. While the shooting was widely reported, the fact that Myrick ? an armed citizen ? prevented a larger massacre with his gun was ignored by the media.

During 2004, the Presidential Medal of Honor was awarded to: Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, actress Doris Day, golfer Arnold Palmer, politician Edward Brooke, historian Vartan Gregorian, National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert Grosvenor, cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder, actress Rita Moreno, ophthalmology researcher Arnall Patz, journalist Norman Podhoretz economist and banker Walter Wriston. "He'd be in very poor company indeed..."says 'The ######'

"Oh, so Bush has run out of them?" says Deep13; let's hope not.

By the way, two more questions: why Israel didn't (bothered to) organized State Funerals, as an Hero deserve? I bet His native country, Romania, would did this for Him! (they send him at once the Highest Honor, so...); and, of course, Israel...where is the Medal?

http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com/news/20...iu_librescu.htm

Ed is the second one a Kampfgruppen ID card ?

My very rusty and untrustworthy German suggests it is a graduation (?) certificate for a Kampfgruppen training course (Lehrgang), 19 February-1 March 1974.

A nice group, with some uncommon documents. The orders have separated?

P.S. I'm still looking for a Tamgha-i-Diffa with the Siachen Glacier clasp. Have you found one yet?

I'm starting to think there are only tailor's copies on the market!

I am trying to get an answer to that from friends in Pakistan. I fear both Pakistan and India are fast movng to an all-free-market (= all-tailors'-copies) world.

Only awarded once, to Leonid Brezhnev on 26 November 1974, only two badges were ever made. The story is that they were made up on very short notice at the mint and that the quality was very low. It is believed that both badges were awarded to Brezhnev and that no specimen was retained in Mongolia. It was never intended to be any more than a "one off" award. Brezhnev was in town for the 50th annoiversary celebtarions, he needed to be given something unusual and unique, and this was it.

Wherever Brezhnev's awards are (still with his family?), there also resides the only specimens ever made.

For completeness, the image from Battushig's book.

Only awarded once, to Brezhnev. Shall start a thread.

Not a lot for third class.

A TiK 2nd and 3rd class (don't know which varieties) plus a Pakistan Railways Centenary Medal went as a lot for ?40 at the recent M&E sale. $5 is a good price.

Real-real. 100%

Let me see if I have some ribbon. Running low and need to get friends in Rawalpindi to assist. Shall advise.

PS- I may have sent some to the OMSA ribbon bank, can't recall.

But it will take, officially, 18 inches, but you can make do with less.

Ed

Pakistan. Tamgha-i-Khidmat, 3rd class (1st variety). See: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=14691

Owain, who stops in here "often" can get this translated easily, being in Riyadh. My rudimentary Arabic is not up to the task. Afwan.

This seems not to be a "medal" we we use the term, not a coin, more likely some sort of commemorative "medal", as much beloved in pre-occupation Iraq as it was/is in UN military circles (where do you think they learned the practise?).

No, without doubt, we are the #1 site for Things Mongolian.

Ed,

That's a long list. I doubt that Mongolia would have been included at all if not for Alexei and me pushing for it. As for entering a group that was discussed and flat out dismissed by Art. Believe me we tried. The decision was that it would complicate things. Thanks for the feedback. But, now that the programmer has been paid it's too late to try to fix these things.

Doc

Even something that is broken (like the "We Won" Medal)? Hope you didn't pay too much.

Without Mongolia, it doesn't add much to what already exists. A shame there wasn't a more public discussion, but I'd not anticipate it from that froum.

Ed,

What needs to be fixed in the Mongolian Section of the SND? There was discussions about what to put in that section. A couple of my suggestions were rejected. I wanted to add the Deputy of the Stae Lower assembly badge.

All suggestions welcomed

Doc

Just to start:

1- Nomenclature not entirely accurate or clear.

2- The Medal "We Won" is completely broken.

3- Polar Star will be (as it is) a nightmare, as serial numbers overlap. Not sure there is a fix for this (until we know much more), but . . . .

4- Many other numbered things missing, but probably not worth the effort, political or otherwise.

5- Why the service to/of the type collector? Why not allow codes for awards that are documented or in groups? Does authentication from the MPS (Mongolian Phaleristic Society) count? Much as I respect Paul, I am not sure he'd know a Mongolian fake if it bit him.

Amazed you got Mongolia in, as I suspect the "weight" was against it.