Mike Dwyer

I wonder if that first one is a mistranslation and it should actually say "Forwarding Agent"?

Plus three of the officers have the Bavarian colored tape around the edges of their collars. :D

I have a pair of cufflinks that I bought many years ago from a militaria dealer that I was told were Irish Guards cufflinks. They have a red enamel shield with the St. Patrick's star in the middle.

What a beautiful medal bar!!!! :jumping:

It always distresses me when armies do away with years, if not centuries, of tradition to cut costs or just to be more "modern". True swords serve no real purpose anymore, but they certainly improve the overall appearance on parade! I'm glad the US Army has been sloooowwwwllly getting back to swords for officers and NCO's, at least in certain ceremonial units.

I noticed on the web site the cap is described as being black and red. It's actually blue and red, a very dark blue.

My first guess would be it's from one of the copy-cat Order of Malta groups. There are several groups out there that claim to be legitimate Orders of Malta, and use the white Maltese cross. The recognized Order of Malta and it's affiliates all use black ribbons, and have something in between the arms of the cross (lions and unicorns, fleur-de-lis, eagles, etc.)

While that photo is extremely sharp, I have to admit while searching on line for it I saw some photos of a Carabinieri wearing some type of blue smock-like coat that was tremendously ugly (the fellow in the middle)!!!! Not like their normally sharp appearance at all! Also, as a former US law enforcement officer, I find the idea of having the pistol, and the sword, hanging together on the same side a bit of a tatical disadvantage!

Very, very nice, Mervyn! I have a friend here in the states who's a retired Royal Navy Reserve captain and has an MBE on his medal bar. :jumping:

Mervyn, I believe Paul is speaking of wishing to obtain a cap like the one in this photo, for an officer.

Sweet! One of my favorite police caps!!

All right! Thanks, Glenn. I'd never seen those before, it almost looked like he was wearing epaulettes from some other army!!!! :speechless1:

Am I confused, or are those some very non-German looking epaulettes he's wearing in the first photo? I don't think I've ever seen a German officer wearing epaulettes that have the bullion wire crescents instead of the metal crescents. :unsure:

Very nice, Kevin. Thanks for posting. :cheers:

Ooops! Sorry, I got so interested in the photos I didn't read all of the text and I missed where you mentioned the US buttons. :speechless:

Interesting. On photo #6 that's a USA button! :whistle:

Well, they certainly knew how to dress! That officer's uniform is one of the most elegant I think I've ever seen. :love:

Gordon, I want to stress I could be mistaken, I was only 14 at the time, but I was fascinated (and still am) by military and police uniforms and I always paid attention to Berlin Polizei whenever I saw them. As I said, all of the regular Polizei I ever saw standing around or riding in patrol cars wore either a gray cap the same color as their uniform or the white traffic cap. I believe I mentioned elsewhere on the forum some time ago, I attended the Berlin police show, which was a huge event. It was held in the old Olympic Stadium. The climax was when the lights were turned out, a huge fire burned in the Olympic flame bowl and at the other end of the stadium. Everyone lit up candles that vendors sold before the show began. The police band played great German march music, and a few thousand Bepos marched in wearing shakos and boots, carrying torches. It was extremely electrifying, and very 1930's like. I did have one personal encounter with the Berlin Polizei. A friend of mine and I went walking in the Grunewald and got lost. We found our way to the Autobahn and decided if we walked down the Autobahn we'd find our way home. We didn't get far when two motorcycle Polizei pulled up to us. They were sharply dressed in light gray leather jackets and riding breeches. I distincly remember they were riding BMW motorcycles. Needless to say, at 14, I was very nervous. The Polizei closest to us said, "Americans?" (The other fellow never spoke.) I said, "Yes," and my friend, in what I thought was a smart-assed thing to do, said, "Ja." The officer then explained, in very good English, it was forbidden to walk on the Autobahn and gave us general directions on how to get home through the woods. We, obviously, made it back safely. I don't mean to hijack your thread, but if I could share one more story. My brother was an infantry lieutenant then, and as I mentioned they had a Bepo sister company they trained with. I remember a story he told me concerning a social event he attended. The officers were invited to a formal dinner with the Bepo officers of their sister company. Afterwards they were in the Bepo company commander's office and my brother was admiring two photographs hanging on the commander's wall. Both showed shako-wearing Polizei marching in the Olympic Stadium. One had Third Reich flags flying, the other had Bundesrepublik flags flying. The commander noticed my brother looking at the photos and came over to him. He said to my brother, "You like my photos?" and when my brother replied, "Yes," the commander pointed to an individual in both photos and said, "That's me!"

Gordon, You probably know a lot more abou this than I do, but are you sure about the "cop on the beat" label? I lived in Berlin from August 1964 to August 1965 and the cop on the beat did not wear a shako, they wore a regular visored cap in the same grey color as their uniform, or in white for the traffic cops. The only polizei I ever saw wearning the shako were the Bereitschaftspolizei, who also still wore the breeches and riding boots. They looked like something out of the 1940's. As it was explained to me by my brother, who was stationed there at the time with the US Army, West Germany was forbidden to maintain any Bundeswehr troops or Federal Border Guards in Berlin, so the Bereitschaftspolizei performed these functions and were actually more of a military unit and had military type weapons and light armored vehicles. My brother was in a US Army infantry company and they had a "sister" Bereitschaftspolizei company that they partnered up with and often trained together.

Very, very nice, Gordon. First one of those I think I've ever seen. :beer:

If I may, as I understand it a la Suite means an officer who is granted the priviledge of wearing a uniform of a particular army or regiment, but has no real function. It's more of an honorary position, so to speak.

No, Chris, at my brother-in-law's home, not a donught shop........not that I haven't frequented one once or twice. :whistle:

Very, very nice! :cheers:

That exact shield (blue and red with white star in the middle) is part of the coat of arms of Chile.

Joe, Yes there is a medal, but I'm not familiar with availability or price.