peter monahan

O.S.B., B.E.M. I'd say, as a Catlick myself, that his membership in the Order would, to he and his conferes, take precedence over any secular award, degree, etc. he may have earned. In fact, its likely that he would not have used any postnominals except OSB. The President of my old college at the University of Toronto uses "Professor Anne Anderson, csj" - Community [sisters] of St. Joseph, although she is entitled to at least three academic degrees and more likely 4 or 5.

Now if only they can avoid the plating which makes most of our new medals look as if they belong on a WWF [wrestling] champion's belt!

When I first started making my 1812 vintage leather equipment [for reenacting], a policeman in our unit offered me a small brass stud for the bottom of the cartridge box. You know: small post with a spherical head, over whcih a leather strap or tab fits to act as a closure mechanism. He had dozens and when I asked why was told 'I took them off 3 dozen Sam Browne belts just before we destroyed the belts.' :banger:

Hear, hear! Sq. Leader Cheshire, the only Battle of Britain VC sold it years ago to provide money for a charitable organization - homes for mentally challenged adults, I believe. Well done, that man. During my very brief tenure as a militaria store employee I also had a WWI flier come in to sell his medals: Pip, Squeak and Wilfrid, plus a Belgian award for spotting for Allied guns which took out a German ammo dump. I asked him why he was selling and his response was instructive: 'I've kept my log book to remember by. I wear the medals one day a year and they sit in a box the rest of the time. With the money, I can afford to visit my sister in Vancouver." 'Nuff said.

T Rex The Amharic alphabet has 7 vowels and 34 consonants, with a different symbol for each combination. That is, for example, for each of ha, he, ho, hi, hu etc etc. there is a discreet letter. So, about 200 separate 'letters' and the marginal note in the site I visited says 'there is no standard translation from Amharic to the Latin [our] alphabet. So, if you want to try to do a letter by letter transliteration, then tranlate what you get from Amharic to English, using BabelFish or GoogleTranslator, good luck! And that's assuming the inscription is in the standard version of the Amharic alphabet, apparently called 'Fidel', and not some special, used for monuments and old stuff version. Here's a site to start with: http://www.amharicma...efault/alphabet Your bets bet is to take a photo to your nearest Ethiopian restaraunt, if there is such a thing in the Antipodes. Sorry, mate! :(

Mervyn I'm not sure the scratches above the 'SAP' are anything to worry about. They look like wear marks of some kind to me - perhaps from having the rifle racked with bayonet fixed? Anyway, they don't appear- to me - to be related to the stamp, if that's the basis of your question. Peter P.S. Snowed here yesterday. Still, musn't complain, as its been sunny and shirt sleeve or light jacket weather for most of November. The real 'downer', quite literally in my case, is the fact that the sun rises at 7:30am and sets at 4:30 pm this week, so those of us with Seasonal Affective Disorder [sADS] are already hunched over our sun lamps praying for spring! :off topic:

Lovely weapon! First rifle I ever owned was a 'Tini - the long lever Mark 4 - and I still love them. Kipling wrote a great story, with his characters the 'Soldiers Three'. Private Mulvaney has a talk with the armourer sergeant about how the lads are b*****ing up the weapons by putting twigs into the action to ease the trigger pull, which was notoriously hard, especially after the Snider Enfields. Later in the story Mulvaney hears some other Irishmen in the regiment planning to use his rifle to shoot an unpopular officer, so he'll get the blame, so he pulls out the pin which holds the breechblock in, with predictable and ugly results when the would be murderer pulls the trigger. Sorry, can't recall the name of the tale.

It seems likely to me that someone, who either didn't know or didn't care what they were, decided they would make lovely jewellery! I assume that the cnahges must have been done by a non-Japanese, but maybe that's stereotyping we 'gaijin'. I don't know anything about Japanese orders either, but if its possible to date these examples [?], I wouldn't be surprised to find that they came out of Japan immediately post war, when many treasures were being sold off cheap so that the owners could eat! Shame, though. Peter

Lovely display, Robin! Is there a family connection to the truncheons? [i assume the photo is you?] Peter

Spasm Couldn't agree more! Life's too short. You forget to mention: overbrushing handles and knobs with silver so they look as if the paint's worn off, abusing the fenders with a hot metal object to simulate dents and, if you really don't have a life, scratch building interiors so you can fix the hatches in the open position. I never did that last myself. All my AFV were done in 'buttoned down' mode: hatches closed and crewmen all safely inside. Then, at 18, as I was a late bloomer, I discovered alcohol and women, and the long winter evenings got way more interesting and it was "So long, plastic modelling!" ;)

Majesteka Simply click on Chris' name at the top left of one of his posts and a new window will open with his 'bio' and a button to send him a private message. Welcome to the GMIC, by the way!

Scrumptious!

Looks great so far, Gordon! Can I assume that when it is planked the interior detail will be hidden? Unless one peers in the gun ports? What a lot of work!

I have one Tuareg dagger, acquired in West Africa years ago and it is very similar to the Hausa one. Both tribes are great travellers. In fact, Hausa is a trade language in many West African countries - every market will have someone who speaks at least a bit, much like Swahili in East Africa. Wearing the dagger handle down is not restricted to the tribes. If you look at photos of special forces - US Rangers, SAS, etc - you'll often notice fighting knives worn handle down on the left breast, handy for a quick draw with the right hand but less likely to get caught on things or get in the way than if it were worn on the belt. "There's nothing knew under the sun"!

Demir It may be just me, but the uniforms look American in style. Was this uniform worn by all the trrops in the Turkish Army, or just the ones who served in Korea? Just curious. Peter

Joe Isn't this kind of thing fun? Welcome to the GMIC. I'm not sure about the photos but I believe that it has to do with the type of membership or how long you have been a member. I do know, for example, that paid subscription memberships come with a larger allowance for uploading photos. If you want the word from the horse's mouth, go the the very first Forum -'News' - and click on "Chairman". Nick, our fearless leader will be able to answer all questions. If it turns out you can't upload photos yet, send a personal to one of the members who has responded her - Spasm, pikeman or me - and maybe one of us can help out. I'm willing to try, but I'm no tech geek! Again, welcome! Peter

I can't recall what the difference in the Indian made ones is either but many/most of them would have been named, as issued to the Indian Army. I believe that the South African stars were named on issue as well, but that may be old age and a faulty memory!

The short and simple answer is 'Do nothing, you're more likely to make it worse than better. I do a little [amateur] shoemaking and repair and so I've heard all the 'granma says' - 'heard it in a pub' - 'the little old cobbler down the street told me' solutions. As Odulf says, leather losses its oils and moisture and begins to break down, just like any organic fibre. [ I'm breaking down faster and faster these days myself! ] No one would believe that soaking an old plank in water would turn it back into green wood, but people persist in believing they can make old leather new again with fats, oils and creams. One light coat of dubbin probably won't hurt. It is meant mostly to keep water out and natural oils in, but even hours of rubbing won't turn this artificial fat/grease compound into natural oils. The same for saddle soap - it cleans the surface and puts a sheen on but its like waxing a rusty car - does b***er all for the rust. Leather has a natural life span just like the beasties it comes from and 70+ years is old leather. This topic has been debated for decades, even among conservators. If you want chapter and verse, the US National Park Service [who run literally hundreds of museums] publish "Conserv-o-grams". Here's the one on leather care: http://www.cr.nps.go...ogram/09-01.pdf Sadly, the same is true for the cleats: there is nothing chemical you can use which won't hurt the leather. In fact, the iron nails in shoes react with moisture to damage the leather. Watch a cobbler re-heel a pair of shoes and notice the dark stains around each nail - the iron oxide actually rots the leather. That's why shoemakers often used brass nails or wooden pegs [among other reasons]. Buff or sandpaper the cleats and then keep them dry. Bottom line: clean the boots gently and leave them be. They can look good again, but they're always going to be old boots!

This discussion has gone on for some time on various re-enactor/history buff web sites. Some of us are already saving our euros for the trip to Waterloo in 2015, the 200th anniversary of the battle!

Lord Strathcona's Horse traces its roots back to the creation of the School of Mounted Infantry in 1885 and subsequently the Canadian Mounted Rifles and The Royal Canadian Dragoons. Its official 'birth date' is considered to be 1 February 1900. The unit won the battle honour "South Africa 1900-1901 and one of their sergeants won the VC in 1900.

Nice shots! At the risk of exposing my ignorance - not for the first time, I hasten to add - they're French, right?

A quick search of the Gazette doesn't turn up Alfred E, Alfred Edward or A E Eddolls, though I didn't check every variant spelling of the surname. Unfortunately, there are 185 pages of hits, at 5-6 per page, for just 'Wallis' but none for George Frederick Wallis. Doesn't mean neither is there, as the search engine is far from infallible, but more info. would be very helpful in narrowing down the search fields.

Quite a classy looking piece, if I may say so. I remember thinking that the first time I saw one and haven't changed that view in the 30 years since. Now if only I'd bought it back then! To quote a friends Ukranian babushka, "To soon old, too late smart." Peter

The brass work on the hilt, especially with the very visible tang end, certainly looks like Indian standard workmanship but I also agree that the device is a colour crossed with something else. The work looks Indian too - a copy of something perhaps only partly undertood by the craftsman. I know that John Company had a navy - the Honourable East India Company's Marine, later His Majesty's Indian Navy, so it would make sense that they would have naval swords and it was in existance for 200+ years, so your theory makes a lot of sense! Perhaps some one of our esteemed members can make an authoritative pronouncement on the subject.

Incroyable! Fantastique! There's got to be a great novel and movie in that story! I was mildly puzzled, though, by your reference to "His Canadian RNAS badges". A slip of the keyboard for "British RNAS"? Peter