Mike Dwyer

Unfortunately I don't recall all the details, but when I first moved to the county I live in here in Florida there was an 80-something year old deputy who worked as a court bailiff who was suppossedly the oldest deputy sheriff in Florida. I don't recall how long he had served.

There were many regiments that used yellow, I don't think there's any way to identify which particular one this belonged to without a number or cypher on the shoulderboard. I believe the 3. Garde-Regt. zu Fu? worn plain yellow shoulderboards with no number or cypher, but I could be mistaken.

No, I didn't get that e-mail, at least not yet. If I do, I'll let you know.

Some very beautiful medal bars there!

In post # 6, isn't that first painting on the left General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, later US president?

FireMedals, Thank you very much for your reply. It certainly makes sense to me.

According to the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry http://www.icocregister.org/list2004.htm the Order of Pedro I and the Order of the Rose are house orders of the imperial house of Brazil. This means the head of the house (which is currently in dispute between two claimants) can still award these orders if they so wish. Some royal families only award house orders to family members today, others still give them out to other people in certain circumstances. The royal house of Portugal still has two house orders, Saint Isabel and Immaculate Conception of Vila Vicosa, and one "chivalric institution" Saint Michael of the Wing.

I'm not sure if I can find any pics. I believe the grade was commander, but I'm not exactly sure. They wear the medal around their neck and have a beautiful breast star too.

Jacky, The Order of Villa Vicosa is considered a house order of the royal house of Portugal. The current head of the house, HRH Dom Duarte, Duque de Bragan?a still awards this order. I have three friends here in the USA who have received this order from Dom Duarte.

Alan, Excuse my ignorance, but do you mean some type of fraternal organization called Architects? I can't see a professional architects organization using the Holy Bible on their badge, which is why I'm asking.

Wow! Quite a lot of work, but it sounds to me like you've quite likely found your man.

This item is being offered for sale on eBay. Any idea what the FPA means? http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Yellow-Gold-En...1QQcmdZViewItem

Very nice, Chris. I always try to read the entire list, sometimes it's very enlightening. I read another article about Scottish-born retired milkman George Bell received an OBE for being a great milkman for 34 years! I saw another article that mentioned actor Robbie Coltrane receiving an award, but I couldn't seem to find his name on the list. http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=11...p;id=1930682006

Dave, I hadn't said anything since it's been over 16 years since I left the Army, but isn't his US and crossed rifles canted at the wrong angle? If I recall correctly the corner of the U should be lower than the corner of the S and the right rifle butt should be lower than the left rifle butt.

Beautiful! What a wonderful piece.

God bless them all and keep them safe!

Wow! Not only a photo of him with Johann Albrecht Herzog zu Mecklenburg, but the card is signed by him too! What a great "Christmas gift" for you, Otto!

Uh, Mike, that's not Hindenburg, that's Otto von Bismarck.

Very interesting!!! But, I'm still glad I have the cards. I bought them for the photos on the front, not the messages on the back.

Wow, Glenn, thanks a lot! I really appreciate all of the bits and pieces that have been located on von Frobel.

Thanks, Glenn! This is the color plate I believe my high school friend had, or at least one very much like it.

Thanks, Naxos, for your reply. Actually the ones I was thinking about are the ones Glenn J posted in post # 11 just after yours.

Rick, I'd love to see a photo of what those differences were. When I was in high school I had a friend who's father had "liberated" a rather extensive set of color sheets during WW2 that were about 8 x 13 inches. The first 15 or 20 had color drawings of officers in the new field grey parade dress uniforms (is that the friedensrock??), then there were pages and pages that showed all of the details of each regiment's particular colors trim, shoulder straps, etc. and on the officer's shoulder straps I seem to recall that aD officers had a rather broad black stripe going through their braid and zD had even more black in their shoulder straps. Again, I'm relying on memory from 39 years ago, but I seem to recall the generals aD had black stripes mixed in their silver middle stripe of their shoulder strap braid and zD had a solid black stripe that replaced the silver stripe in the braid.

I believe Char. means a character promotion, they hold they rank by a special appointment as a reward for service. a D. stands for au?er Dienst, which means retired. I'm a little bit fuzzy on z D., but I know it stands for zur Disposition, which I think means someone who is sort of retired, but is still eligible to be called up for military duty. As I said, I'm a bit fuzzy on all this, so I could be totally off!!!

Crowns are still used in the heraldry of both France and Germany, and they're republics. The crown is a sign of sovereignty, not always of royalty. In the case of a republic, it's a symbol of the people's sovereignty.