Mike Dwyer

I agree, the poor guy has luckily just avoided breaking his.......um, rear!

It almost looks Masonic!

Wild Card, Breathtaking! I don't know what else to say. I too have a love of Henry the Lion above all others. I seriously doubt I will ever own a piece of any level of the order, but I love to look.

Yeah, I'd already identified it as Hannover when it was posted on WAF. At first I thought it might be because of the shape of the crown (Hannover used a different looking crown than the other German kingdoms) but I wasn't positive; once he posted the close-up of the button that removed all doubt!

Johnsy, I guess it's a bit silly since I have no connection to this or know anyone on board, but it made me feel rather sad!

Very nice, Vitalik, welcome aboard!

Very nice, Christophe! I wish my wife would be me things like this!!!!!

I'm with Chris and Rick, the government's position is the correct one.

Yeah, we've often had neighbors and friends ask, "Why is it January and you still have your Christmas decorations up?" Most seem confused or lost when we say, "Because Christmas isn't over until the Feast of the Epiphany!" We ususally get, "Huh, Feast of what???"

I too wish all of our Orthodox Christian members a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! Some other great friends of Orthodox peoples in ex-Yugoslavia, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia/Yugoslavia, Crown Princess Katherine and Prince Filipe with HE Mr. Milan Radulovic, Minister of Religions and Mister Acovic, member of the Privy Council at the Christmas Liturgy last year, served by His Grace the Bishop Atanasije of Zahumlje - Hercegovina.

I too wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our members who are Orthodox Christians!

I'm probably wrong (I usually am), but I thought the General Staff and War Ministry wear the exact same litzen only in gold and Pioneers wore them in silver. A Pioneer officer would have black waffenfarbe and this appears to be a lighter color, indicating one of the staff positions.

Very nice, Johnsy! I wish I knew all of the medals my father received for WW2 and Korea. My brother has all of his stuff and he's hard to get any information from.

There is also a very good pictoral chart of headgear with the various colors on Kaiser's Bunker at http://www.kaisersbunker.com/ht/farben/farben1.htm

A very beautiful order!

Thanks, Claudio. The reason I didn't see the MVO in the 1914 rank list is it is kind of indented under the Order of St. Michael and it didn't catch my eye like the rest, I though it was just another variation of the St. Michael Order. I didn't catch the W?rttemberg'scher Milit?rverdienstorden because it's listed as the WMV not as the WM.

Charles, Well, I was going to try and answer your question, but my meager references are very inadequate. All I have to look up the symbols and abbreviations is the 1914 Rank List and a list of common abbrevaitions that Rick Research posted a few years ago. Unfortunately, I can't find the BM4XmKr or the WM3 listed on any of those documents, so I don't know what they are. The ones I think I got figuered out are: 1. Prussia: Pour le Merite 2. Prussia: Knights Cross with Swords, Royal Hohenzollern House Order 3. Prussia: Iron Cross 1st Class 4. Prussia: Wound Badge (not sure which type) 5. BM4XmKr (no idea) 6. WM3 (no idea) 7. W?rttemberg: Honor Cross with Swords, Order of the W?rttemberg Crown 8. W?rttemberg: Knights Cross 3rd Class, Friedrichs Order 9. W?rttemberg: Dienstauszeichnung 1st Class (service medal?) 10. Austria: Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class 11. Austria: Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration I could be off a bit on some of those and again I apologize for not being able to find 5 or 6.

Peter, In the display of your grandfather's medals I noticed the badge of a knight of the Order of Vit?z in the case. Was your grandfather a Vit?z?

Maybe it's just me, but does his EK2 look awfully "fat" to you? It seems to have much wider arms and middle than I'm used to seeing, but perhaps it's just the camera angle.

Yes, I'm with Web55, that's the F?rstlich Reussisches Ehrenkreuz. I suspected that one at first, but after looking at some pictures on line, I just didn't think it looked right to be the Reuss cross, but now seeing this other photo, I believe that's it. That might lead me to believe that the pin-back cross on his chest is the Offizierkreuz of the F?rstlich Reussisches Ehrenkreuz.

Wow, I've always liked the Order of St. Olav, but I really like that Order of Merit!!

Unbelievable! What a fantastic photo!!!!!

The middle cross on the fellow on the right, could it be the Offizierkreuz of the Haus- und Verdienstorden von Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig? It has those thick white enamel arms.

It may be, but to my eyes there seems to be more going on between the arms of the cross than just swords and I can't seem to find a picture that matches it. It may just be shadows, but it looks like there is something else between the arms.

number 2. Does that look like it might be a version of one of the Lippe honor crosses, or the merit cross of Waldeck?