Ed_Haynes

It is interesting that the second officer wears mainly PDRA ("Soviet-era") awards, while Wardak wears pre-Soviet-invasion republican and royal awards.

Unidentified officer, Independence Day 27 April 2004.

Here are some photos of Afghan awards being worn.

Afghan Minister of Defence, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, Independence Day 27 April 2004.

That is lovely, Paul!

Answered over there to reduce duplicate and overlapping posts.

On the Tuvan order:

http://www.netdialogue.com/yy/Russia/Tuva/...ic/Republic.htm

http://users.skynet.be/hendrik/eng/39tuva.html

See:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9297

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5489...=tuva&st=33

Much of this already here.

Recover ... we anticipate ... and await ....

Considering the treatment meted out to the Cossaks and Russians who were handed over after the war, I would be supressed that there would be many left to wear it!

At least not in Russia, although, from what I hear, they and their ideology are alive and well in some of the other former-Soviet republics.

There are many semi-fantasy "Cossack" awards about, who knows how legitimate they are.

Thanks, I was busily digging through Hong Kong related material -- whew . . .

The source is unsurprising.

The Mahsood Medal

The current highest gallantry award.

List above corrected. I wonder if Lkhagvasuren's Suvorov (also 1st class?) was also of 8 September 1945?

The cosmonaut Gurragchaa Soviet hero star (and Lenin) was part of the usual space flight guest reciprocity, although Mongolia tended to shower hero stars on Soviet cosmonauts (five of them, plus Tereshkova's labor hero!). Presumably, Ganzorig got a routine Lenin as the back-up guest cosmonaut?

Taken outside, goofly reflections, but more fairly shows how the repaired area looks. Honest damage, for sure.

Thanks, Christophe!

Yes, with the changes in the former USSR, it seems a lot of things have crawled out from under rocks.

Since we have more pictures of "Big C" than almost anyone else, I have been playing around with a chronology for his awards. Maybe I'll start a thread if there's any interest?

Thanks Glenji, welcome over here (too)!

Ed

There must be a book out there, patterned on the various Soviet volumes, that recounts the tales of heroism of the various heroes of the MPR?

And, actually, the repair looks much better than than scan. Let me try a photo. Somerthing about the way the scanner light hits it.

Believed to have been damaged in wear by the (known) recipient.

I am constrained as to what else I can say, sorry.

Some repaired enamel damage (which looks much worse scanned than it does in person), but, still, . . .

So far as I know -- and I could be wrong -- research on the 1985 OPWs is not possible. Such research would cost rather more than the cost of the award anyway? I presume they were numbered and cocumneted because awards were supposed to be numbered and documented. And they were respected at the time. Coming back to the US from India (via Frankfurt) at about that time, I wound up sitting next to a veteran coming back to the US after going back to the USSR to get his OPW, which he was wearing -- he had literal tears in his eyes talking with pride about his new award!

Between "rules" and their application, there is always a great chasm. That is where it gets interesting, after all.

Other than biographical research on individuals, driven by having the document, I don't see where one could go.

Becaused they were given to GPW veterans merely for surviving?