Michael Johnson

This is one of my most treasured pieces. It belonged to my great uncle, Capitaine Marcel Verzieux 3e Regt de Génie. It is a little bit damaged - note the crack in the dial. So what's so special about it? Probably saved his life.

On British WWII Stars I've had good luck with tomato ketchup - leaves them nice and shiny. But for a mounted group and American medal bronze, I'm not sure that it's the route to go.

You could use it to display Mothers' Crosses/Medals.

Yes, but that one was incredibly rare, since the V.C. wasn't created until 1856. Wikipedia is reporting that the Shout V.C. was purchased by Kerry Stokes.

Because he pulled the trigger! (Unless you want to go into uber-conspiracy theories and say he was murdered). Did he or didn't he, was he or wasn't he? There wasn't any proof one way or the other. Could have been a frame-up. And he was married, if secretly.

Heavens, I don't need Google for that. Blew out his brains in a French hotel.

Capitaine Verzieux on the left, his nephew Adjt. Antonin Gautier of SPA80 on the right. [attachmentid=47457]

[attachmentid=47456] A side view.

[attachmentid=47428] This shows the metal spacer. Also, the paint under the liner is a lighter horizon blue. The exterior has received a couple of coats of paint and is darker. One source suggests that this darkening was caused when the lighter blue was lacquered.

Here are some shots of my Adrien. It belonged to my Great Uncle Capitaine Marcel Verzieux 3e Regt de G?nie. The liner appears to be horizon blue. [attachmentid=47426] [attachmentid=47425]

Thanks very much. The colour values in the listing photo aren't very clear.

The colours are the same, but the proportions of the inner white stripes don't seem quite on. As a combination, it would be posssible for a French serviceman to get the Bronze Star in the Second War, although I would suspect that it would be more common in the Italian campaign, and he doesn't have the Italy Medal up.

Can anyone identify the last ribbon in this ribbon bar? I'm assuming it's French, but I suppose it could be from another country.

"SPR." is Sapper, lowest rank in the Engineers. "G.E." is actually "C.E." and stands for Canadian Engineers. Here are his enlistment papers Front Back At 45 years old he was older than most, but his trade of railway construction would have been valuable. The wonder is that he wasn't transferred to the Canadian Railway Troops (still possible, but you would need his full file to find out.)

As was my uncle's (R.C.A.F. Gros Tenquin). He was killed in an accident in 1957. Over 30 years later I asked my aunt to apply for it (she had already given me Uncle Bill's medals). When it arrived, the covering letter congratulated WO W. Hamilton on receiving it.

Don't know about fakes, but there are replacement liner kits available on eBay.fr, as well as the helmet emblems, supposedly struck from original dies. Also Mdle26 (WWII) Adriens are sometimes tagged as being WWI. The colour is often the giveaway, although Colonial troops did use Khaki helmets 1914-18. Several other countries also used the Adrien.

I've been pretty much out of Indian since 1987 (although I did buy a Videsh Seva Medal for the Congo to the Gorkhas), but I feel myself being drawn back into it, especially with all those lovely groups that Ed keeps posting.

This extract gives a bit of history and a good feel for the confused nature of the fighting. An Imphal casualty is one to be treasured. Allah Dad was from Jhelum, in the north of Punjab province in Pakistan. As I recall, the 16th Punjab went to Pakistan on partition, so definitely his medals would not have been named. War medals are chronological, so the 1936 IGS would head the group.

The one and the same. Congratulations! This would have been the heavy fighting at Ben Nevis. So you can add a 1939-45 Star, Burma Star, War Medal, and probably and India Service Medal, since the 1/16th were on the Frontier until August 1942, the last regular Indian battalion to leave. Naik Allah Dad Peter knows! Try the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website The Debt of Honour For Indian names, enter the whole name as a surname (spaces between each name).

What's his regimental number? A Naik Allah Dad was a Second War casualty with the 1/16th Punjab.

It's definitely not Hindi, and it doesn't look like Urdu to me. It's definitely Thai Thai alphabet. This catalogue seems to have further information Siamese SMLE

My take is that he is probably William's brother or son. The impressed capitals are the mark of a late claim, and although he is not listed in the "late claims" section of Thyen's book, no one would believe that he got 100% of the scattered claims for this medal. I think a little genealogical sleuthing would probably tell you a lot. A quick check of the name King in the LDS database for the 1881 U.S. census shows several Kings living in Vermont who were born in Canada.

I've run him in Thyen's book. There is a William King shown for the M.G.A., but no J.E. Could be a mistake on the roll, or it could be a late claim. What is the style of lettering? The originals were upper and lower case, rather artistic letters. Later naming tended to be block caps. An engraved naming probably means it has bee renamed. No Kings from the M.G.A. served in the Riel rebellion in 1885, in which the M.G.A. were also active.

I'm notorious on The Aerodrome Forum for atrocious puns, but have mostly held back here out of respect for my brethren and sistern. But some straight lines can't be ignored.

You mean "If the Foo shits, wear it"?