NavyFCO

Thanks! Sent him a PM.

I have a look up...I know who it belonged to...I think...and would like confirmation. Thanks! Dave

Those are beautiful medals! If they could only talk!

It's quite odd...why would they go through all the effort to create it with the maker mark and serial number? The Germans had access to thousands of originals...

There are many, many, many photos..... I tried to make the book something people like me (who would rather look at photos than read) could enjoy...

Incidentally, this officer's medals are included in the book (they are BEAUTIFUL...)

Ahhh...let's get to the "it's now a real book!" stage first. There are a lot of steps in the publishing process before due dates can officially be set. Of course, I will post that all on the forum so that way people will know when to expect it. At this point, I don't even know if anyone at the publisher has been able to read through it...it's 140,000 words, so it's a pretty long-reading book.

Probably mid-2015 or so. I keep looking at my photos for the book and still get a rush out of how cool they are...

Forgot to mention...I was able to photograph 100 of the 217 awarded Soviet medals. I was pretty happy with the final results.

HA....not for a long, long time...someone else can spend all their time and money writing one. I'll try to hold onto mine for a while...

Just to announce...my book specifically on Soviet medals to the US Navy, Merchant Marine, and Coast Guard has been completed and turned over to the publisher. Hopefully it will be out sometime in 2015 or so...

My thoughts: 1. I'm not an expert on fakes (my caveat) 2. Before I dumped the amount of money these are worth, I would make sure they had authentications from a reputable source, or a money-back return policy 3. With that said, I don't like them...too crude in my opinion. But I'm not perfect (see #1). Dave

Just thinking...I may have had Moskalenko's award card when I owned part of his group as well. I'll have to check my archives.....

I think all of his award numbers and Ukaz dates are listed in the book "Marshals and Admirals of the USSR", if I remember correctly. Might save you a dollar (or euro) or two...

Looks like a mix of railroad personnel, conscripts, and regular army officers....interesting.

Yeah, I thought that was interesting too. It was a bit confusing trying to translate them at first!

As of this morning, I put together a list of recipients of Soviet medals awarded to the Royal Navy and the Merchant Marine. Has anyone ever seen one of these before? I spent several months trying to track down information regarding Soviet awards to British subjects in the RN/MM and kept getting told "no, it didn't happen..." Finally, this morning I gained information to the contrary. I'd love to see anything anyone might have regarding these medals (and no, I'm not talking about the 1985, 1995, or 2005 commemorative medals either...these are actual orders and medals...) Thanks! Dave

Part 2 of the same list...

Next list...this is one from August 1944.

Here's one list, this one dates from June 22, 1943...

I just ran across a list from August 1944 of 25 recipients of the DFC. These were all presented by Harriman to Molotov in Moscow on 22 August 1944. There's probably 300 names in the list...

The AFEM on the left is exactly like my father in law's AFEM that he received in the 1960s. Really poor quality, almost looks like it's made of some coated pot metal. However, I was the first one to take it out of it's blue box of issue, so I do know where it came from. The one I was issued in 2000 was much higher quality than the older one, though I still wear the older one for posterity sake...

Is this available only in the Czech Republic? I had an incredible collection of Czech Legion photos and memoribilia at one point...very fascinating group of fighters! It was too bad I couldn't read Czech though...

It was for a combined operation we did with the Royal Navy. We applied for the Armed Forces Service Medal, as the criteria was more fitting for what we did, but the final approval came back for the Navy Expeditionary Medal. Dave

Unfortunately, there are still others missing from the list...I earned mine in 2009, for example, and its not on there at all... I doubt a comprehensive list will ever exist, sadly...