IrishGunner

Nice research, Timo - matches exactly what I had surmised.

Pretty price for a beauty piece.

Ken - thanks! Great info.

Hmmm... muddies the water a bit. Thanks for the additional info.

Thanks Prussian - I just bought the book several weeks ago. :P

Nice looking pre-WW2 badge; thanks for sharing!

I'm just saying I wouldn't be so definitive that this is RA with no other possibilities. I have physical examples of both RA badges - and holding them here in my hand right now, I'm still not convinced this is without any question RA. But the fact I have no viable alternative, makes RA the leading candidate.

Of course, it could be just the angle and the graininess of the photo, but I truly don't think this is a Royal Artillery badge. The "scroll" appears too straight and I can't discern any straight angles to the top portion. It looks totally round instead of having a barrel to the left and the gun trail to the right. OTOH, I have no viable alternative; I've glanced through the two books I have on badges, but no real good candidates.

From my understanding, a Militarpass is like a personnel service record; while a Soldbuch is more of an accounting document - leave, pay, etc. The Militarpass would be maintained by the unit HQ (but would transfer with the soldier if he changed units) and the Soldbuch was held by the soldier himself. My reading of the last award is Karl Friedrich Verdienst Medal - another Baden award. The name is too faded for my old eyes...

Frankly, I doubt the Government regrets the decision. And with NATO now squabbling about the Libya operation, maybe it's time for some regret on the part of all European countries as they think about cutting defense budgets as they have since the end of the Cold War. I'm afraid we are entering a brave new world and many "first world" countries that have been living fat and happy the last decades are going to be woefully unprepared.

Wow, even cleaned up an painted those helmets look way too good to have been in the ground for almost 100 years. The gas masks on the other hand...

Nice pick-up - Irish regiment medals, especially casualties are very desired.

With the enlargement, I go with "bad hat day"

Life expectancy for his birth year was only 50-60 years. So, a couple years early, but not so "young". Probably an accident or sudden illness.

With the on-going Libya operation, only France, Italy, and Spain have aircraft carriers available. The Charles de Gaulle has been committed already. Of course, there's Malta. But I wonder if anyone in Whitehall or the Admiralty wish they hadn't scrapped the Ark Royal. Seems this operation in the Med is exactly what a smaller non-US type carrier is most useful. Or maybe I shouldn't wonder too much... http://blogs.reuters.com/uknews/2011/03/21/libya-crisis-could-scupper-british-aircraft-carriers-once-and-for-all/

Interesting piece; particularly the wings. And the eagle looking so much like the Bundesrepublik's. Wish you had the personal story behind the origins. Thanks for sharing.

A nice reference - great pictures. Thanks, Hardy.

i just looked at the history of the Iron Cross booklet that Naxos posted in the downloads. This picture is in that book as well. Along with a lot of other great EK photos.

I recently picked up a book produced by the NY Times which is a compilation of photographs that appeared in the newspaper. The book itself is from 1915 and has photographs from the first weeks of the war in 1914. This is Volume 1, Part 1; apparently there are more volumes. It has a lot of interesting pictures from all sides; French, British, Belgians, Germans, Serbians, Russians. The usual pictures; artillery pieces, bombed churches, soldiers marching, wounded etc etc etc. I thought this the most unusual photograph and perhaps of unique interest to many on the forum. A jeweler making new Iron Crosses. Also is the cover of the book...

A pretty bar... :catjava: