Bob

Thanks to our forum friend Tsend (who like me wishes that the forum would be more alive! ) some additional information: 1) The document matches (e.g. references the serial nr 516) the Order of the Red Banner of Military Valor but does not mention the other two Red Banners (probably they'd have received seperate books anyway) 2) 516 was awarded on 18 April 1943 with the decree of the Small Khural of number 21 3) The handwritten brief text on the second page states "the order is awarded for the feat in defending the nation" (hmmm combat award? ) 4) The page number 3 bears the stamp of the Presidium of the Small Khural and the signatures of President Bumtsend and Secretary Bayar. On the remaining pages is the 1941 Regulation of the awards of the MPR. 5) The booklet has two full names on the page number 1. One name (unclear though) was crossed out and another added. The added full name stands for Sorkin Naum Sahanovich. This is perfectly in line with the faded inside cover writing in Cyrillic which appears to state Sorkin N.S. (or Copkin H.C. in cyrillic) although the last 2 letters are difficult to read. Indication is that a plausible scenario could for instance be that an error was made for instance when drafting multiple of such documents at the embassy in Moscow (e.g. name copied in two booklets from a list of award recipients, so had to be crossed out). I have asked Nota Bene to try to get some research based on the name alone. Fingers crossed! Thanks a lot for your help Tsend - very much appreciated :cheers:

Hi Artan - thanks (although disappointing news) - would love to see the correct certiicate for the badge and the correct medal for my document :)

job isn't on the base, but i think you answered my question sufficiently :unsure:

Not an expert on soviet belts but i'd expect them to be genuine. Just too many of them produced to make faking it worthwhile. 25 USD seems a bit expensive to me though, but still it's a good story to tell: soviet belt bought in Afhanistan. If you buy a handful rather than spending loads of money on it, downside risk really isn't that high. By the way, how safe is it in Kabul nowadays for foreigners? I've been approached for a job there. A few years ago I was also approached for a job, didn't get it and the guy who did get it got shot in the head in a traffic jam, then they came back to me (but my salary demands had increased too much) and now they're back with me again. Just curious whether it's worth an adventure or whether it's russian roulette.

Received this a few days ago - familiar little badge, but this time WITH document and apparently also cased. Anything interesting from the translation?

Pic above was wrong one of course...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Museum_of_the_Chinese_People's_Revolution Visited this great museum around Xmas time. It was EXTREMELY cold (a Chinese colleague had told me it was nice and sunny in Beijing and I had neglected to look up what that would mean temperature wise... let's just say wearing a polo shirt with thin pullover was NOT sufficient, it did make a lot of Chinese smile at me because they thought i was crazy to walk around outside like that). Anyway, in that bitter cold i rushed to checkout the Mao mausoleum and then to the military museum before heading back to the airpot for onwards flight to Australia (another great museum there: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=47395&pid=437139&st=0&#entry437139) I think pics of the Beijing museum have been posted before, but not yet of the top floor which focusses on the Korean war. Interesting to read there that China came to the help of the Koreans attached by US, while reading in the Canberra museum a week later that it was the Ozzies who came to the help of Korea against the attach by the Chinese etc.) Anyway - some DPRK relevant pics... all fake i think (unfortunately) Any chinese translation help would be much appreciated - more than curious as to what made these guys earn their DPRK awards:)

I suspect this will be a case of praying for research (and hoping for a positive outcome!)

A clue?

A whopping 36 pages of text in this booklet!

Serial nrs: - 516 - 586 and 2390 for the regular red banners

Will be posting a type 1/2 booklet here later today - a group just arrived by mail (well, I'm assuming it's a group). If it is, would contain 3 orders and it comes with a fully uighuir script award booklet. No picture (and i can't read uighuir)... but there appears to be a clue in the form of a name written in cyrillic on the inside cover of the front page. Ink is faded (and my cyrillic isn't that great...) but it appears to be: "Cogvoi H.C." Pics to follow.

While interesting to see, i have to say it's a shake that "old style" design is being left behind. I can understand not putting Choibalsan on a medal anymore and perhaps updating some of the symobolism, but would much rather prefer some continuity in design (and quality!) of awards. If not, they tend to lose character and become more or less generic awards which could be used for just about any country. I guess this is called progress though and I'm just conservative... happens as you get older :blush: