Ed_Haynes

The award details, 30 August 1956.

. . . and a close-up of the cheerful lass who received it.

Documented . . .

A nice little set but, on the surface, nothing really exciting . . . . Type 1.1.2, #10328 It is cased, but I do not show it here.

I thought I was missing something too. If (as I think it is) it is OK with Igor, we need to get the images here to preserve them when the goodie flys back to the Motherland . . . .

Order of the Vajra, 3rd class, 5th grade. It does seem to be of gilt bronze (someone has scratched this one on the reverse to find out!).

. . . with what seems (to me at least) to be a Mongolian (rather than Soviet) stamp.

A 15 April 1948 award . . .

This second badge came with (beyond that I cannot be sure) a Cyrillic document (repaired).

And a very silvery (silver?) flat-back type 2 (weighing in at 15.8 g).

Just in, a mirror-back (type 1) Khalkin Gol, but in MUCH higher quality than usual. Friends in UB were very surprised to see this "high quality" variety. Very "bronzey". Make of that what you will.

My guess on rank would be the same, and Mongolian air force uniforms seem to have followed very closely (more closely than the army) on Soviet models (based on the few bits and pieces I saw). And given the size of teh air force, . . . !! Working on a second reading (= second opinion?) on the name, but this seems close enough for now. Thanks, Rick. While his SB and PS may not have been super-interesting (but how can a SB be boring), I'd bet his Baildaani Medal citation would make interesting reading should it ever surface.

And 83.

A couple of (new) nice and low-numbered RBLs. 198

Just the document though, no awards, but, still . . .

And not a shabby set of awards either, yielding some interesting data points for our collective edification?

Who is he . . . ???

No, your eyes don't play tricks . . .

What's so special . . . ???

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Here's a pretty little early document:

Precisely. Just for being in service (including police) on the appropriate dates.

Yes, literally within weeks of the first medals being sent out to Indian Army regiments, they were being sent back for repair with nasty notes from regimental adjutants about the stupid design. Eventually, the government refused to undertake such repairs, telling all who wrote in just to "do it themselves". The Calcutta Mint dodged it all by saying, "we didn't design them, we didn't make them" (it was one Victorian medal NOT made in Calcutta for distribution to the Indian Army).

The only enameled ribbon bar I have ever seen (or heard of). Obviously, some home-assembly was required, but . . . Honorary Medal of Combat, "We Won", 25 Years of MPR

Dirty, but "character-imbued". For those who like backsides (back sides?):