JBFloyd

Consider that Germany was not in the best of economic condition in 1934, when the Hindenburg Cross came along. A vet who wanted his new medal mounted may have had to choose between that and a meal or two. So, he took the path of least resistance and, typical of soldiers in other times and places, fixed the problem with materials at hand.

Many thanks for that, Dudeman. My eyes weren't getting anything close to "Egor".

My Russian reading skills being very low, can someone transliterate the name in the following award booklet? So far, all I know is that he got two consecutively numbered Red Stars, a Red Banner and a Lenin by 1945. Thanks.

Robert L. Muckel (Army serial number: 33876554) enlisted on 7 Aug 1944. He was born in 1926 and was from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Now I can fianlly see what I missed by being tied to my tables and auction room for the weekend!

There are still two MIAs -- one from Gulf War I and one from Gulf War II.

I, too, would call them trial strikes. I cannot imagine that any major mint would strike such medals and then trim the edges to make a completed medal. That would take more time and effort than simply striking them within a collar, which guarantees consistent size and symmetry. Coming from a coin collecting background, I find these interesting simply because you very rarely ever see them.

Marcus, Yes, these are state-issued awards. While New York WWI Service Medals are numbered, we haven't found the full rolls yet. A project started several years ago has been compiling rolls of a number of New York state awards.

Unfortunately, the WWI Service Medals are not named or numbered. However, Pennsylvania has done a great service by digitizing their Mexican Border Service and WWI cards (among other tings) and posting them on their web site: http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp The MBS cards often have the medal number; the WWI cards have enlistment, promotions, units, etc. Both are very handy to research Pennsylvania veterans. Jeff Floyd

There certainly is no visible overarching policy, but certain trends do appear over time. In the 1950s, the Air Force had the "plain blue suit" policy, which meant that there were no more patches, few badges (mostly wings), and ribbons came with medals. It was common to see a junior officer with no ribbons during his first four years. Once Vietnam cranked up, the policies changed dramatically. Awards were made liberally in-theater (in part to keep the troops happy), and when folks came home they had lots of ribbons. After Vietnam, junior officers and airmen had only one or two ribbons, while their bosses had several rows. The flood of junk ribbons started to fill that perceived need. It wasn't long before you could graduate from basic training with four ribbons (National Defense Service, Small Arms Expert Marksman, Honor Graduate, Training). Many folks expected that flow of ribbons to continue forever. After all, going home to see the folks after basic training and showing up with a row of ribbons was cool. Now you can toss in the GWOT medals, several unit awards, Outstanding Military Volunteer Medal, etc, and it's very likely that noone can turn off the spigot. It may be that the Uniform Board is trying to do that, but they aren't in a position to drive the entire awards system and that's the key. A single, coherent policy that is not based on quelling discontent would make sense. However, the power of inertia is great and the amount of moaning and groaning that would accompany a complete overhaul of the system would be deafening.

There's an article in the latest Air Force Times, where an AF spokesman says the decision was based on the rationale that "good conduct" is expected. That's the same rationale used to explain why officers do not receive Good Conduct Medals. It sends the wrong message and follows in the tradition of dopy decisions by the Uniform Board, which also decided that the folds of the mess dress cummerbund must face upward. Sleep well tonight, America, your Air Force Uniform Board is on guard. Jeff Floyd USAF 1969-1989

#4 is the Croatian Commemorative War Medal ribbon. #3 looks like a Japanese Order of the Rising Sun.

The absence of an awards system capable of distinguishing among varying levels of gallantry/service was certainly obvious in the case of Vera Cruz. When you have nothing to give between the Medal of Honor and a hearty handshake, the inertia of the system is toward the Medal of Honor. Of course, now that we can distinguish among every possible level of gallantry, we aren't much better off. Somewhere out there is the happy medium.

Tony, That's the crew of a Lancaster I of 626 Squadron. They took off from Wickenby at 1716 for an operation against Bochum. They crashed near Menin, in Belgium, near the French border (NNW of the town of Tourcoing). While this was the only loss from 626 Squadron, 31 other bombers were lost that night in the attack on Bochum, plus several others in raids on Berlin and Solingen. Flying Officer Jeffrey was pilot of a Lancaster I of 467 Squadron, which took off from Waddington on ops against Courtrai. While Jeffrey is buried in the St Jean Communal Cemetery, the rest of his crew are in the Wevelgum Communal Cemetery.

I tend to agree with Rick. I had four designs of Bulgarian ribbon made a few years ago (Military Merit, Civil Merit, St Alexander and Bravery). It was a costly and not particularly pleasant experience. At the end of the day, I used some to reribbon some medals, kept some for future use and gave the rest to the OMSA Ribbon bank. While the quality was excellent (silk ribbon, proper size, excellent color matching, etc.), they were still new-made ribbons. Had anything else been available, I would not have sunk the money into the project. I don't think there are that many Imperial German ribbons that are not found in one form or another.

The Secretary of the Army has the final say on Army Medal of Honor awards. This is usually based on the recommendation of a board (which has often included one or more Medal of Honor recipients). The medal is awarded in the name of Congress, but Congress is not involved in recommendations that come up-channel. Congress has directed some awards and directed that the services consider certain issues (e.g., whether left-handed Lower Slobovians have been left out of the mix). So, Congress may be guilty of many, many things, but it did not vote down an Army Medal of Honor for the sergeant.

TLCDR(E) William Topley, RNR, received the DSC in London Gazette of 11-6-46. He was aboard HMS Glengyle (a landing ship) and the award was among those for services in the Far East in the wind up of the war.

I've had Vietnam groups with 3 Purple Hearts for one wound. The first came out of the initial hospital that treated him (usually issued unnamed), the second out of the General Hospital that next handled him (named PH) and the third came at discharge because of wounds (named PH).

In general, students were rarely considered as part of a unit while in training. They were in the pipeline between units, but were not "permanent party". As such, they probably would not wear the host unit's insignia.

It is a WWII-vintage DFC. In this case, it was made for the Navy (distinguished by the suspension ring at the top arm being braised on rather than an integral part of the pendant). It looks like it might have been re-ribboned, which many US collectors avoid.

I believe the headquarters was located at Randolph Field (now Randolph AFB), San Antonio, Texas. However, the command covered several states and many small training fields and schools all along the Guld coast.

The DUI is for the Gulf Coast AAF Training Center, which handled advanced flight training.

Chilean. The breast badge is Ecuador's Order of Abdon Calderon. The large sash with the bullion national arms tends to be a symbol of office, so it's likely that he held some position in the goverment beyond his military position ("Presidente de la semana").

Sachsen-Weimar Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen in bronze, with sword bar Sachsen-Altenburg Bravery Medal 1914-1918

1. Turkish Crimea Medal 2. 3. Belgium. Veterans of Albert I 4. 5. Sweden. 6. Sweden. 90th Birthday of Gustav (?) 7. Belgium Croix de Guerre 8. Italy Order of the Crown 9. Spain Order of Military Merit 10. Swedish. Royal Patriotic Society Long Service I can't get at my Swedish sources right now, but someone will be able to fill in the blanks soon enough.