NavyFCO

A 100% possible group... my step-grandfather's was nearly identical. I wonder if this sailor was a USS WASP crewmember... They ferried RAF aircraft in the Med before going to the Pacific and being sunk in 1942. Dave

The single star on the PTO ribbon and the star on the Am Def make me think he was at Pearl Harbor.... So, I looked up his bio and what do you know? He was in Hawaii at the time! Here's his bio: Whisner, Emons Bertram (1895-1984) Born Kansas City, KS 24 AUG 1895 Graduate U of MO 1917 Commissioned 2nd LT Inf, 1917 Occupation duty in France & Germany, 1919-1924 Instructor, Infantry School, 1927-28 Aide to Governor General of Philippine Islands 1929-1932 ROTC Instructor Montana State U, U of Iowa and Punahou Academy, Hawaii 1936-42 Secretary to the General Staff at Fort Shafter 1942-44 Commander, Replacement Depot, Pacific Ocean Area and then 23rd Replacement Depot, Hawaii 1944-46 (sounds boring, but HUGE responsibility) Brig. Gen January 1945 Reverted to Colonel March 1946 Retired as Colonel July 1953. Decorations included 2x LOM and BSM. Died 27 September 1984 Source: The Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers

Here's a final photo of the entire group...

The final post for the evening is his foreign medals... I will try to get a shot of the entire group and post it up here as well.

And the backside...

And finally, his decorations... Front side...

The award listing...

Finally, the moment many of you have been waiting for... where are his awards??? First, his order book...

His next milestone took place in 1989, where he was awarded his badge for his 50 years of membership to the communist party...

Fast-forward 35 years later, and we have the documents for the Jubilee Patriotic Wars that belonged to both he and his wife. Interestingly, only one of the orders was with the group and it was his wife's. Did he lose his and wear her's after she passed away? We'll never know...

And what I assume to be the Russian translation of the document...

Here is a large Chinese diploma that was awarded to him upon his departure from China...

Here's his Russian transmittal card for the Chinese medal...

For his participation, he was awarded two Soviet-Chinese Friendship medals... Here are his documents...

Here's a photo of an excercise that he participated in, training up the Red Chinese forces...

In 1953, he headed to China for a tour that lasted into 1955. Here's a photo of Tolkachev with several friends at the Oriental Culture Museum in Port-Arthur.

Here's his document from Czechoslovakia for their war cross...

He was decorated by several nations, not the least of whom were the Poles and Czechs. Here is his Polish award document for the victory medal. Interestingly, it is signed by a SOVIET general. Even more interesting is that I have this general's personnel file scanned and posted on my website!

Here's his coupon book for transportation as an order recipient. It doesn't appear that he ever used them as he probably already had free transport as a military officer...

His next medals... I'll resist posting up all the rest of his award cards...

Here are his award cards for his earlier medals (slightly out of order, I know)...

Here's his graduation certificate from the tank officer course, also dated 1952...

Might as well drive cars too... Here's his third class drivers license, dated 1953...

Tanks don't drive themselves, so here's his license as tankist, dated 1952..

Interestingly, the photos are dated 1945, but some of his award documents (for his foreign awards and Prague) are dated 1946. Perhaps this was an example of a time where they handed out the medals and gave them temporary documents? Here's a formal photo of him, from late 1945. This is the exact same photo as the one from his service history.