IrishGunner

Recently located this 14/15 Star along with about 40 of it's missing brethren (I knew they were in the house, just couldn't locate them after the move two years ago)... I am hoping one of our MIC experts can help decode the "Remarks" box. I presume "Com. RFC 25/9/16" suggest he was commissioned from Flying Officer to an officer rank; I think I found a Gazette entry for a Joseph Toulmin being appointed 2nd Lieutenant, but it's dated 16 October. The remainder of the comments in the Remarks box are a bit of a mystery to me... Any clues or other information about F.O. Toulmin appreciated. (Sorry for the poor scans of the medal; working with new scanner software since the conversion to Win10.)

Nice photo with the Order of the Iron Crown with swords...along with the Military Merit Cross with war decoration and swords.

Chris, thanks for that... I only remember seeing references to a Transvaal Horse Artillery that I think was in GSWA. I also don't think I've seen anything about a South African horse arty unit in France as you note. Abbreviation references are often guesses themselves. If I ever motivate myself to get back to writing articles on WWI artillery, a South African piece would be a good one.

Brett, I too thought S.A.H.A. was for South African Heavy Artillery. However, the source from the National Archives posted by Bill in Post #30 seems authoritative. I went back to my notes on the lone S.A.H.A. medal in my collection (a BWM) to a Gunner, but I did not record the source I found then for the abbreviation. Of course, if you look at medals for sale on the internet with the S.A.H.A. abbreviation, they usually state Heavy Artillery. So, there still is some doubt on my part. But even with that, I would have to go with the source provided by Bill that it's Horse Artillery vice Heavy Artillery. Other thoughts?

Bill, out of curiosity, what is the regiment/corps of the recipient?

I think the fact that you chose to share this with us says more about you...

Nice. I would think these veteran badges could be a good collecting theme...(thinking of another thread)

I think that Mitglieds-Ausweis for the Tapferkeitsmedaille has to be a fairly scarce item. Thanks for sharing.

Have a medal or ribbon bar that includes a Victory Medal? Let's use this topic to cover those full or miniature bars of interest. Nothing says you can't show/discuss it under the appropriate country heading as well, just a place for those looking at bars specifically. Enjoy! TimB ------ Above is Tim's post starting this new topic, edited to specify that the bar can be from any country but has to include/feature a Victory Medal or ribbon. Thanks!

Tim, the issue was brought "public" by another member in the British thread in response to your initial suggestion. Therefore, I decided to open the discussion to the entire membership and not just a selected few in private messaging. As moderator, I should take into account all views. I see your view. And as a member I have my own view, which is a "nay" vote for the reasons stated. We do not need a poll, but rather an open discussion, which is what we now have...

Stefan, thanks! I wish I knew all this stuff when I lived in Europe - I could have logged another few thousand kilometers on my car!

Posted 5 hours ago (edited) · Report post Tim, I would agree that a separate sub-thread for miniatures would be a good enhancement to the forum. There are some specialist miniature collectors that only collect mini's as they appear to be more easily accessible and cheaper than their full-size counterparts. There has already been a substantial number of miniature items posted here as well as much discussion that could simply be moved into a new sub-thread. We'll see what the moderator has to say. Regards, Rob Edited 5 hours ago by RobW (Copied and Moved by Moderator; 10/6/15) By "substantial" do you mean the approximately 6 posts of 231 that show mini's - less than 3% of the total - in this British Vic tread? Even the few posts in response don't qualify as "much discussion" in my opinion. Maybe semantics, but I don't see that as substantial. For me, minis are an integral part of the overall discussion on British Vics and should not be separated into a new thread. It's valuable context and breaks up the sometimes long discussion on Types in the thread (don't misunderstand - it's valuable discussion to the specialists, but not all of us are type specialists). Do we break those discussions out for the specialists as well? Full size bars and ribbon bars are reflected throughout the British country-focused thread also. Do full size bars and ribbon bars deserve their own thread too? It seems to me that would take the Victory Medal forum back to where it was before the structure/organization we have now... Is this new thread to be just for British minis or minis in general - mixing minis from other countries into the same thread as well? Doesn't that go against the structure of the forum as requested some time ago by the collected body to organize all threads about a country's Vics into one topic? The unique combination of types, minis, bars, and ribbons shows a complete story. I believe that is the value of having everything from one country in a topic. It's like having a very thorough and detailed book. Rather than a bunch of separate pamphlets. So, while a new thread on minis would serve the "specialist miniature collectors that only collect mini's", I don't believe it serves the interest of the broader Victory Medal collecting community. That's what I have to say... What do others have to say? Should we start breaking apart the country threads into specialized threads?

I think the world is sensitive to a Bavarian Gefreiter with an EK1. Maybe that's why one doesn't see as many photos.

I've seen that 1er somewhere before... With that Karbine, maybe a Fussartillerie kanonier.

Eh, a 21 cm Mörser M1916. Nothing special. Bertha was 42cm. Interestingly, this standard WWI Fussartillerie piece is similar in caliber to the NATO M110 203mm Self-Propelled Howitzer. But very different in its appearance.

He's smiling. Imagine how much tougher he must have been compared to those tall guys.

Nice, I've not seen that photo before. It seems some of the more unusual photos are showing up lately...

Nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

The closest I've seen is this... Medal of Merit of the Primate's of Poland Emmigrational Representative A veteran's organization? No idea...

Gunner, I thought maybe Polish based upon all the red ribbons, but didn't look up the exact ribbons. The Wound Ribbon is certain and the others match up for the most part. But I think this is a made up bar though... To my knowledge, no XXX year LSMs were awarded. And it clearly is a XX and X device on the wrong ribbon as you state.

I don't believe the ribbon bar itself is Italian. I was only saying that Italy uses star devices too; so, the star is not necessarily US.

Looks Warsaw Pact to me...

The star does look a bit like the 5/16 inch size gold star for US Navy ribbons. But I know that Italian ribbon bars also have star devices. So, it doesn't necessarily have to be a US device. What nationality is the ribbon bar?

Very nice...

Andy, I climbed Mt. Krn on 11 Nov for a Remembrance Day ceremony and yes it was white! But the drink was a Hungarian pepper palinka.