NavyFCO

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The shadow as pointed out by my arrow in the below photo. I've personally never seen a good ORB with a shadow like this around the hammer and sickle... Dave

Not all that perfect a fake, and still has that "shadow" around the hammer and sickle. By itself, a critical collector could easily spot it as a fake. HOWEVER, if I had seen one of these in a group, I probably would have bought it as part of the group and never questioned it's originality. Scary!!!!! Dave

Unfortunately, the dear Ensign wasn't an Academy grad, so it's tough to find out anything about him. If he made it to O-6 or above, you could try the operational archives at the Navy Archives in Washington DC to see if they have his bio. As for ADM Harry Donald Felt, he was USNA 1923, earned the Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Cross (Army) Legion of Merit, and Distinguished Flying Cross during the course of his career that went to 1 July 1964 when he retired. He passed away in Virginia Beach, VA 25 February 1992. Dave

But at the same time, we haven't seen every kind of uniform that was made, either. If only 50 people bought these awards and used the award loops out of a possible... what... 75 million uniforms, what's the chance that one of the 20 or 30 of us have seen one? Not likely! Russian generals frequently sewed loops on their VP uniforms in order to slide the pin of their medal bar into, so why wouldn't others sew loops for their screwback awards? Loops are a lot easier than making a permanent gaping hole in the uniform, and are easier than making the wierd backing things that a lot of guys made for their awards (see Andrew's photo.) If someone was stationed in E. Germany, there were plenty of tailors that could put on loops in minutes for very little cost, since it was so common in the German army. Now I also like Andrew's idea of it being a foreign manufactured variant of the 1985 OGPW, since they look to date from about the same time period. I think that's a possibility, but I am personally a little surprised that the Mint would allow that to have happened. On another note... Andrew, do you have the name of the officer in your photo? He looks VERY familiar - has his group been offered for sale before??? Dave

I took another look at the one on eBay and it is clearly different than the one MONDVOR had. Which means that these were somewhat regularly made and more exist. Here's my theory: Place: Divided Germany, Soviet sector. Time: Approx 10 years immediate post-WW2. Situation: Number 1 - Unemployed German jewelers. Number 2 - Soviet soldiers and officers tired of sticking screws through their uniforms (as you can see from photos). Fast forward to now include enterprizing German jewelers... "Hmmm... Franz, if we make Soviet awards with pins on the reverse like we used to make awards for our army, the Soviets would buy them." So, the jewlers make up a batch of awards, and the Soviet officers/soldiers buy them. Final outcome: German jewelers that can put food on the table and Soviet soldiers without big holes in their uniform! I'd bet money that's where they came from. Dave

That's really odd... Maybe made for a theater or movie? The quality seems too good for that though... A while back on another forum a guy posted a Red Star that was made by the German intelligence to use as an award to be worn by a German in Soviet uniform... Perhaps this was something like that? Though if it was, I'd imagine they'd put a screwback on it, as it would seem like a big difference being a pinback. Just a few random thoughts... :-) Dave

I think I mentioned it somewhere in the thread, but he was a fighter pilot. (See my July 4th post.) As far as his awards, I figure that the later of the 2 Red Stars is a 30 December 1956 long service award, the earlier of the Red Stars is a 18 December 1956 award - perhaps for Hungary. The third Red Banner actually appears to have been awarded earlier in 1956 though, so I don't know that that one would be for, considering that it was issued before his long service Red Star! I have more scans of the group at home... I can post them up this weekend. Dave

And the reverse... Note that the two wartime ones were converted to screwback then unconverted later.

Sure thing!

Book update... I'm at 160 pages right now, and rapidly growing. I estimate that the book will be about 250 or so when complete. If I get it bound the same way I did my thesis (as a paperback) it should run around $30 a copy or so. I'm actually finding it to be quite interesting! Dave

That is, if they weren't sold already. Dave

Here's a photo of the whole group... What a beauty! Real fighter pilot groups are super tough to come by!

Here's a photo of the whole group....

And since we all like to see who were are talking about, here's a nice photo of our dashing gentleman...

But, he was given credit for the two campaigns by his unit in 1946. I assume he used these documents to show entitlement to the medals instead of the "official" ones.

Well, at least the Cyrillic side of this one is filled out with the recipient's name. Interestingly, the name of the Mayor (I think that's who it is) seems to be different in each one... Perhaps the Russian shortening of his name? Now, even more interesting is that he wasn't given "official" credit for fighting in Budapest (or in Vienna for that matter). No medal cards, but the medal did come with the group, and the group appears to be completely original. Here's the listing of what he earned from his ID book...

Here's the reverse of it, plus the outside of the document. The Document is actually made of a heavy pseudo-vellum, which has unfortunately been stored bent in half for 60 years. Quite impressive for a simple commemorative "znak"... The reverse of the medal isn't quite what it is in the document, but I can read that it's from the City of Budapest, and basically says how great the Red Army is for liberating them (my quick 10-second translation!) Dave

I just picked this group up today. What's interesting to note are the award numbers of his two Red Stars and Red Banner. According to "Echoes of War..." both Red Stars should be part of the Ukaz dated 18 December 1956. His Red Banner should be part of the 30 December 1956 long service awards... So, the question is... If his Red Banner is for long service, what are the two Red Stars for? And where is his long service Red Star??? I don't know when he joined the Red Army, but I do know that he was a Junior Lieutenant at the end of the War, a Senior Lieutenant in 1947 and a Major in 1953. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. The fellow I bought the group from personally bought it from the veteran about 15 years ago, and mentioned that the veteran was very bitter towards the Soviet government as he felt that he had earned an Order of Lenin instead of "another" Red Banner, especially since all his contemporaries had earned one, and he hadn't. Rather odd, eh? I have already requested research, so now it is a matter of waiting... Dave

Just picked up a nice little Budapest group and with it came this medal and these documents. Anyone ever seen one of these medals before? It's a pretty neat one, with the text of the document in Cyrillic written on the reverse - though it is obviously Hungarian made. Dave