Brett Hendey

A friend has asked me to post these pictures here for your assessments.

Brett

Paul

Another great medal and great research.  I am very impressed.  It is posts like this that inspire me to continue collecting medals!

Regards

Brett

A German militaria collector in Durban and one-time patron of Mervyn's shop has asked me to post his best buy from Mervyn - a Schinkel EK1.

Paul

A great and well researched medal. Thank you for showing it.  If I could have my life over, I would collect KGL medals, and those of the Hanoverian army. I recently discovered that my mother's family were from Hanover, hence my current interest in this region..

Regards

Brett 

A great medal and a great story to go with it!  Thank you for sharing with us.

Regards

Brett

I knew Mervyn as an occasional customer in his shop.  He had quality militaria items for sale, many of which were beyond my means.  On two occasions that involved 'must have' medals for my collection, he accepted the cash I could afford plus items such as Zulu artefacts in exchange.  The 'must haves' are shown below. They are a Zulu War medal to a Trooper in the Buffalo Border Guard, a small local regiment in which a distant relative of mine served, and a six-medal group to a Natal Police officer.  Whenever I look at, or think them, I remember Mervyn, and I am grateful for his kindness and consideration.

Brett

Good to get a positive identification for the cap!  Thanks also for the border photos.  They must bring back lots of memories for those who were there.

Regards

Brett

A very impressive collection!  Thank you for sharing it with us.

Regards

Brett

The regiments of the South African Mounted Rifles were formed in 1913 from the paramilitary elements of the police forces in the four provinces of the Union of South Africa, which came into being in 1910.  They were part of the Union Defence Force. The 'conventional' policemen were accommodated in the newly-created South African Police, and were assigned to either mounted police or foot police duties.  There was also a section of Water Police.  The gaolers of the old police forces were assigned to the new SA Prisons Department.

Brett

Audrey at Rhino Research has a new address:  rhinoresearch32@gmail.com

Brett

Rodney

A wonderful assemblage and a great story to go with it!  Thank you for sharing,

Regards

Brett

Paul

The new address I have is rhinoresearch32@gmail.com.

Brett

There was recently a slight change in Audrey's e-mail address, but presumably this is reflected on her address here (under 'aud', as I remember).

Brett

Further to my comment about shooting medals being melted down, there is a photo below of the medallic record of another Border Mounted Rifles marksman, who served with the regiment during the Boer War and was awarded the Queen's Medal with clasps that include 'Defence of Ladysmith'.  In 1902 he was a member of Natal's contingent in London to celebrate the Coronation of King Edward VII.   These celebrations included shooting competitions  held at Bisley, during which he won several prizes. He was also awarded the relevant Coronation Medal.  The latter medal and prize medallions are now missing.  While it has been possible to find a replacement for the Coronation Medal, which was issued unnamed, the Bisley prizes, and any others awarded locally, would have carried the man's name and so are irreplaceable.  Since the man fell on hard times after 1902, it is likely that they were sold for their gold and silver content..

Brett

mark

I would collect marksmanship prizes if I could find them, but they are certainly not common where I live.  I suspect that these 'medals' are not as highly prized as war service and other military medals, so they end up in the melting pot.  The few that I have for the Border Mounted Rifles are hallmarked gold and silver, so they do have a commercial metal value, if not a collectable one.  Below are the other shooting prizes in my BMR collection.  They were awarded to a Major and a Sergeant.

Brett

Marksmanship competitions were evidently very common in the Imperial and Colonial military of the old British Empire.  Shown below is a "Marksman's Badge" and dated clasps awarded to an officer in the Colony of Natal's Border Mounted Rifles.  The ribbon of this example was suspended from a broach pin, and there is a second pin on the disc.  They would  have kept the ribbon and badge firmly attached to the wearer's chest when he lay in a prone position to fire his rifle.  The one you have shown may also have been attached to a ribbon.

Brett

Stephen

Thank you for sharing your collection with us, and good for you for keeping all the items together for so many years.  Your neighbour Jack must have seen something in you that led him to put his wartime treasures in your safe hands.  You have done him a great  service by keeping the memory of him alive.

Regards

Brett

The bars are looking good!

Regards

Brett

Pieter

Many thanks for your comments.  It is always good to have extra information on the medals, even if there is no record of the man who actually wore them as a group.

I hope that you will post more from your collection.

Regards

Brett

Pieter

Below is a photo of my made-up Dutch group.  The Cross for Justice and Freedom turned up in South Africa, I bought the Dutch UN medal from a dealer in Canada, while the Korean medal came from England.  I would much prefer to have a trio awarded to a known Dutch Korean War veteran, but that is not likely to happen!

Regards

Brett

John

I do not remember having previously seen a medal issued by the International Federation of Korean War Veterans.  Do you have other examples?   I suppose that this Federation must be close to closing down, if it has not already done so.

Regards

Brett

Pieter

Thank you for showing the certificates.  In the absence of named medals, having them would be a perfect solution.

I forgot to mention that I do have a South Korean medal to go with the two Dutch medals.  The Dutch UN medal is on its way to South Africa at the moment and I hope to have it later today.  I will post a picture of the made- up group soon.

Regards

Brett

Paul

Below is a picture of a British Korea group.  Unfortunately, the family member who sold this group to a dealer would not part with the accompanying service record, so I know little about the man, except that at one time he was serving at the Kinaruru Military Correctional Establishment in Malaya.

Regards

Brett

Pieter

Thank you for two interesting posts.  Although I have British and New Zealand pairs in my Commonwealth Korean War collection, I have yet to add medals to Australians and Canadians.  Yee's group is particularly interesting because of his long deployment in Korea, so perhaps he was an interpreter rather than a frontline soldier.

The US group that I posted earlier includes the first Purple Heart in my collection.  It is a beautiful medal and all the more special because it is named, and it identified the man to whom the group belonged.

I see that you are from the Netherlands.  I recently purchased a Netherlands Cross for Freedom and Justice for service in Korea on an auction in South Africa, and, later, a Dutch UN Korea Medal that my son is bringing from the UK tomorrow.  Since I have been unable to purchase Korea War groups to identified non-Commonwealth troops, I have made up groups to represent the medals that they would have been awarded.  In addition to the Dutch pair, I also have made-up groups representing France, Belgium and Ethiopia.  Also a single Turkish UN Korea, which was the only medal for the war awarded to Turkish troops.

Regards

Brett

Thank you for responding, John.  The Greek and Australian groups are great.  

I think it has already been recorded elsewhere on this forum, but it is worth repeating that the Korean War was the only war ever fought by the United Nations.  The UN has since been present on numerous peace-keeping missions, but not on one side of an armed conflict.  This was because the USSR was absent from the UN meeting that voted on the Korean crisis, so was not there to veto the intervention vote.  At least, that is what I understand.  It was a hard and cruel war, but a very interesting one in part because of the countries that took up arms against North Korea and China (and the USSR in the background).

Regards

Brett

Paul

Although only one SA Air Force squadron was deployed in Korea, rotations over the course of the war resulted in a total of 818 men serving there.  A total of 35 pilots were killed in action or died in accidents.  The SAAF Squadron was integrated with a US Fighter-Bomber Group and flew Mustangs and Sabres.  The men received US rather than British Commonwealth awards.  They were:

Legion of Merit - 3;  Silver Star - 2; Distinguished Flying Cross - 55;  Cluster to DFC - 1;  Soldiers Medal - 1;  Bronze Star- 46;  Air Medal - 180;  Cluster to Air Medal - 104.

Republic of Korea awards - 23.

In addition, the squadron was awarded both the US Distinguished Unit Citation and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.

Most of the men in the early drafts were World War II veterans. The medal group shown below was that of a ground crewman who served in the RAF during World War II and the SAAF during the Korean War.

Regards

Brett