Mike Dwyer

The letters look to me like they end with AA, which made me think of the uniformed officer corps of the NOAA, but back then it was known as the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey so the AA wouldn't work out. I just fiddled with the brightness and contrast of the cap only and it looks like it says M M ? A, I can't make out the third letter. I thought possibly the Merchant Marine Academy, but it wasn't formed until 1943 prior to that there were state academies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and some other states.

I agree, they got in the game very, very late, and what they got wasn't much, but I stand by my statement that the countries I named did everything they could to frustrate any efforts by Germany to become a world power.....no, I'll change the wording and say they did everything they could to make sure Germany never became their equal. So I'll go along with you in part, and disagree with you in part. :unsure:

Dan, I'm with you. As I said elsewhere, I was raised with the blood thirsty, baby eating, war loving, tryant image of Wilhelm II. Through my studies of history I've found out that was just propaganda. Yes, Willy loved uniforms, pomp, parades, and the military (as do I), but he didn't love war. He was personally very horrified at the outbreak of WW1 and had hoped it could be avoided. But, just like Kaiser Franz Josef, he was honor bound to stand by his treaties. As I also mentioned in another thread, in some of the readings I was shocked at the high level of anti-German feelings and the official actions taken to thwart Germany from any chance of becoming a world power. It was fine and dandy for Britain, France, Russia, and yes, even the good old USA, to have navies, colonies and to subjugate entire populations, but it was totally not to be allowed for Germany to become a member of that exclusive club. My opinion of Kaiser Wilhelm II has changed dramatically. I don't say that he wasn't without faults, he had many, but he was very much the victim of allied propaganda. :Cat-Scratch:

Actually, I hate to argue, Chris! I just couldn't help myself, sometimes I need to shut up. On your previous comment, I'm sure you are correct that the number of monarchists in modern Germany is very small, a great pity. My point though was I'm sure there were more people who supported Kaiser Wilhelm in 1916 or 1917 than in November 1918, things had gotten very, very bad by then. The downfall of the monarchies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were the beginings of the decline of Europe, in my opinion. There are many who would disagree, I'm sure, but that's how I, and others, feel. Sorry I got this thread off track! :off topic:

One of the other things I learned from my reading, and I realize this plays off of the German nationalism mentioned earlier, is the massive anti-German feelings and political actions against Germany prior to 1914. The British, French, Russians, and Americans were bound and determined that they were going to be in charge of the world and there was absolutely no place, anywhere on the planet, for the Germans. The allies were allowed to have colonies and subjugate entire populations, but nooooo, Germany couldn't be allowed to join that club! They could have navies that sailed the world, but not Germany! I don't expect to change anyone's opinion, but you won't change mine either; Germany wasn't given a whole lot of choices in trying to become a member of the "World Power Club".

Yes, there were Germans who wanted the Kaiser back, and there still are. My father told me a story a long time ago that when he was in Germany right after WW2 as part of the army of occupation, there was a rule that ALL German political parties had to register with the local US Army commander prior to being allowed to function. In the area where my father was stationed, the very first party to sign up was a Monarchist Party intent on restoring the German monarchy. There is a functioning Monarchist Society in Germany and Austria right now. They may have absolutely no political power, but they do have members and there is a following.

Chris, I haven't based my opinion on just one author, but McDonogh was the last one I read and I think he did a very even-handed job. He doesn't portray Kaiser Wilhelm as excessively bad, or excessively good, he shows both his bad side and his good side. To be honest, I don't recall the details of the peace offering of earlier times, but I'm pretty sure I read that there were some overtures made in early 1917. The problem was the allies main condition for acceptance was Kaiser Wilhelm had to go, it wasn't open to any negotiation, and at that particular point in time the German government would not accept that as a condition. I had been taught just about all of my life that WW1 was the personal fault of Wilhelm II, but that just isn't factual, yes he had a part, but so did other powers on both sides of the trench line. I guess I was raised on allied propaganda that I accepted as fact, and now I've seen another side of the picture. It's kind of like hearing for many, many years about the bloodthirsty Germans torpedoing the ship Lusitania. How it was a cowardly, cold-blooded, act of murder. Yet facts have now shown that the Germans posted warnings in the press, the ship's owners chose to ignore the warning and intentionally put everyone aboard in jeopardy, the Germans said the ship was hauling munitions in violation of their blockade making it a valid target, which the US and Britain strongly denied. Then a few years ago someone got down there and finally examined the wreck.........and guess what, the hold was full of muntions just like the Germans said way back then. Say it isn't so, our government lied to us???? :whistle:

I swore I wasn't going to get involved in this, but here I go................... I agree the allies didn't create German nationalism, but I think they did a lot of things that helped pave the way for Adolf and his gang to come to power. If the allies hadn't been so hell-bent on overthrowing Kaiser Wilhelm II and had agreed to a earlier solution to WW1 as the Kaiser wanted (he never wanted the war to begin with), then perhaps, just perhaps, the monarchy would have never fallen and there would have been no place for Adolf and his followers in the German government. I was taught all my life about the evil Germans and the bloodthirsty Kaiser, and after maturing a bit, and reading a lot, I've learned that was all a load of crap. If you haven't read "The Last Kaiser: The Life of Wilhelm II" by Giles MacDonogh, you should. I found some things in there about allied behavior towards Germany prior to WW1 that shocked me. I'm not saying Willy was a saint, but he wasn't nearly as bad and I was taught he was. :unsure:

Fantastic photos and mementos! I've been in the main stadium on several occasions when I lived in Berlin 1964-65.

Hi, Jens, Thank you for the clarification, I don't have any real information on the shoulder straps. I wish they'd left well enough alone and didn't change things areound! It's confusing enough without changes! :whistle:

My German is almost non-existant, but with the help of the Internet I think I have a fair translation: The interim attila is for the daily wear of the officers, similar to the Uberrock. The interim attila is provided with simplified lacing and a stand and fall collar. It does not have the lacing on the collar and sleeves for the different grades of officers. The lacing is always silver, even for regiments with gold lacing. Only the toggles and rosettes are in gold. The only exception is the Braunschweigische 17.Husaren-Regiment with black cords and black buttons and toggles. The interim attilas of the Leib-Garde-Husaren and regiments Nr. 3 and 5 were blue, otherwise the interim attila was in the color of the parade attila.

I agree, the saber doesn't seem to fit, plus it looks like he might have spurs on too. Looking through the field artillery regiments, it looks like all the numbered regiments have an exploding bomb on their shoulder straps, which I don't see here. I thought about the 1. Ober-Elsässisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr.15 also, but my reference says they had green shoulder straps and there should be an exploding bomb on there. Of course, the artist could have painted anything they wanted to, so there's no guarantee how accurate the painting is.

I believe, but I could be mistaken, that the Interim Atilla has a bit less gold or silver braid on it, so it was not quite as fancy as the parade or gala Atilla and was for more everyday use.

I may be wrong, but I don't think they're available online. I bought the 1914 Rangliste from Paul Chepurko on a CD. I don't know if he's still selling them or not, but the contact info for him used to be RANGLISTEONCD@OPTONLINE.NET

The only Driessen in the 1914 Rangliste is a doctor. The only Driesen listed is a Leutnant d. Reserve in Infanterie-Regiment Vogel von Falkenstein (7. Westfälisches) Nr.56.

There probably is some way to find out who he is, but I wouldn't know where to begin! :speechless1:

Unfortunately I can't read anything on the site, but I found it fascinating that the very first photo I viewed, in the 1900-1910 section has a US Army officer right in the middle!!

...and how did that one poor Ulan get in there??? :whistle:

Everything is absolutely beautiful, but that officer's full dress uniform from the 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers takes my breath away! :speechless1:

Mervyn, I sometimes wonder about our younger generations myself. Although I work for a college, I also teach a college credit criminal justice class at a local high school. I've been doing this for 7 years. Besides general militaria, I'm also very much into heraldry, chivalry, and orders of knighthood. One time in class I was trying to explain the early history of law enforcement in England. Our textbook talks about the feudal system, the tithing or frankpledge system, and the shire reeve, or sheriff. During this discussion I mentioned something about Queen Elizabeth and someone famous getting knighted (it might have been Mick Jagger) and one of my students exclaimed, "They still have knights???" These kids, who are mostly honor students in my class, have no clue!

I read an interesting thing about him posted by a friend on FaceBook. In 1995 he attended the Diamond Jublilee at Millfield Leah, the school he attended in England. He wanted to wear his KCIE insignia at Millfield, but it had been stolen a year earlier in Delhi, so his secretary wrote to the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St. James's Palace asking if he could borrow one of their insignia and they agreed. So this schools Diamond Jubliee is probably the last time in the world that a knight commander of the Order of the Indian Empire wore their insignia.

I apologize, I've fixed the link. It was supposed to be the same one Kevin has supplied, but somehow when copying through my work email site it messed up the link.

For those interested in orders of chivalry, His Highness the Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad, KCIE, passed away August 1 at the age of 87. He was the last of the Indian princes who ruled their own states prior to India becoming independent in 1947. He was also the last living knight commander of The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire. I found his obituary to be very interesting reading: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/7978328/The-Maharaja-of-Dhrangadhra-Halvad.html

It's a Masonic Knights Templar medal.

Great, Laurence! I think that's exactly what's needed. :cheers: