peter monahan

Ralph, it is a beautiful example of the type too. Lovely condition! Our Canadian War Museum has one with chocalate and cigarettes inside but I don't think it's quite so shiny as yours. They also have a scarf (or "muffler" if you prefer) allegedle knitted by Her Majesty with her own little knitting sticks and sent out to some poor trooper stuck on the veldt for Christmas. I believe there were said to be 50 such, so she must have been very busy. Or at least her ladis in waiting must. Peter

Scott I'd agree: loks ok, though the mounting bar is maybe a late addition. It would be an odd one to fake anyway - nice, unusual but not a real "gotta have it grabber" and the three forenames would be a lot of work to match/fake. My tuppence worth. peter

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And presumably the Lancs had primrose regimental colours as well as facings, so adopting the "yellow" backing would commemorate the colours upon which some of that incredible number of battle honours would be embroidered. Very clever of the colonel in question! A couple of points to agree with Grant on the "cowardice" issue. Lets' think this through: Forcing a unit to wear a cowardice badge would do what for their recruiting prospects? How long would it be before the unit did something (suicidally) brave enough to rehain their unit honour and have the sign removed? If such a thing were prescribed, especially in a removable form like a lanyard, how often would it be lost or forgotten, with the active connivance or the NCOs and officers, as opposed to worn to proclaim their shame? "Oh, the lanyard? We wear that in No. 77 Dress, our second Sunday of every leap year uniform." To quote Freud, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" and sometimes white and yellow are just colours. And lanyards do have a use - use one on my own jackknife when I'm camping 100 miles from the cutlery store. My tuppence worth! peter

[ Add these; "Blighty" for England (from "Belait" in Hindi) In WWI a "blighty one" was a wound that sent you home for good, ideally a tow gone or something similarly slight but incapacitating "Have a decco" (look round) from the Hindi for "Look / watch for "Khaki" of course is from the Persian word for "dust" - colour first used during the Indian Mutiny by the Indian Armies Corps of Guides I think of some more anon. Peter

I like this one! Who is it attributed too? Peter (in Canada)

If you want to get really historical, you can go back to the medieval English campaigns in France. I'm working from an increasingly shaky memory here, no notes, so bear with me. Anyway, as early as Agincourt there were "squires" whose duty it was to prevent quarrels - "affrays" in camp and punish people who "cried havoc" without just cause (ie: raised a false alarm). There are copies of the orders for the armies, which cover looting, making affray and other offences against the king's peace. The squires had real power and could execute offenders on the king's say so without any particular form of trial. They were the ones who executed/murdered the French prisoners at Agincourt when it looked as if the French might get into the english camp and free them. Some deep background. For what it's worth!

I'm involve in reenacting the War of 1812 here in Canada (a small sideshow of the Napoleonic wars) and one of our regiments is the 8th (Kings) regiment. Most of the officers and some of the men wear Masonic badges with an "8" and a square. I've always assumed that the 8th had a travelling lodge over here, but will ask next time I see one of them. Rudyard Kipling has at least three short stories on this theme too - military lodges - as well as the famous "The man Who Would Be King", in which two british soldiers of fortune become "Kings of Kaffiristan" because they wear Masonic badges which match the symbols left behind in deepest darkest Afghanistan by Alexander the Great! great story and not a bad movie either. Peter

Dave Beaverbrook die in England but his ashes are in Fredrickton, New Brunswick, Canada, in the base of a statue to him. (He was a local paperboy made good!) There is also a Beaverbrook Gallery there with a very good collection of art he acquired and later donated but also, apparently some stuff in England, where his (bankrupt) grandson is trying to re-coup the family fortunes. Try looking for "The Beaverbrook Foundation", which administers his estate and many charities, and see what info they have. Peter

Interesting is right! The disparity in ranks, for one, and the name for another. "wiliam vaz" in a Bombay Cavalry regiment? Anglo-Indian? Indian Christian? Rather odd any way one slices it! It would be fascinating to know what his other medals were too. Is it possible to research Other ranks yet for Indian stuff? It wasn't when I collected them, which of course is why I could afford Indian groups. Keep the lovely stuff coming! Peter

Ed Were the 15th Sikhs there, or was your man attached to another unit or to a British officer ? One hads heard, for example, of two 5 or 6 bar QSA's to Indians: both were orderlies for "Bobs Bahadur" (General Roberts).

Gary Sounds legit., then. Maybe the Cdns did issue such to American vols after the USA entered the war. Love to know what you eventually find out. Peter

Fewer than 100 silver medals were issued and they are exceptionally rare and command a very high price.

Gary The only help I can give is to tell you that there were, pre-Pearl Harbour, a lot of Yanks in the RCAF. In fact, one base had it's sugn changed toe read "Royal California Air Force. But I've never heard that they wore anything but standard RCAF patches. Sounds very very strange. A fantasy piece, maybe? Peter

Best guess: Crerar's gongs are either at Royal Military College (RMC), Kingston, Ontario, Canada or in the Canadian War Museum. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Hope this is some small help

Subadar Mohd. Sher, IDSM, 3/1st Punjab Regiment Lovely group. Ed! Very nice with the Croix de Guerre especially with explanatory citations. I once owned a group to an officer of Indian Cavalry who had a lovely looking Rumanian Order of the Crown on the end but the only info. I had on that was third hand: a fellow collector knew one of the recipient's fellow officers and said that the fellow suggested (somewhat cattily) that it was "a consolation prize" for not getting an MC for some work in Palesyine/Syria in '17-'18. I do so love the IOM! Simple but strong. Pity you got it forst as a personal logo. Michael Johnson and I adopted it for the Indian Military Collectors Society logo just for the look, many many years ago. BTW, my regards to Ashok Nath when next you write him. He may remember me from the old IMCS days.

Someone quoted George MacDonald Fraser on Lee Enfields. In one of his (humourous) short stories he describes being in an old fort in North Africa circa 1946 and having Bedouin nomads come in to "check out' he and his troops. Carrying SMLEs. And his response "I don't know what the wild men of the world will do when the last Lee enfields wear out." Before the ubiquitous AK47, SMLEs were what you got it you were a poor guerilla group, local levies or just a guy who needed a rifle in many many parts of the world. Wrote a letter a couple years ago to our local paper when they carried a photo of one, misidentified as "Saddam Hussein's favourite gun". It was a No.1, mag in and COCKED, being carried by a little old lady in Baghdad who was turning it in under a "guns for food" program. I used to own a No. 4 and cried when I gave it up. It had a real kick when fired - not as bad as a Martini Henry, which actually left bruises after repeated firing,apparently, but enough that one didn't enjoy it after a few rounds. Also learned to shot on a what we called a "No. 7" (I think): the .22 cal. re-barrel version as used by Canadian cadet corps. BTW, the Longbranch version, with the standard "broad arrow" mark inside a large "C" are quite collectible her in the Dominion, though i haven't checked prices in many years. The Aussies also produced a "jungle carbine" version, which is quite popular with the collectors - looks very cool but I don't know how it shoots. Peter

Bob Embarassing enough, as a cavalry mount, to tell yer stable mates that your rifer cut off your ear with his saber (apparently a common occurrence) but "caught it in a trombone slide" ?? Ouch!

Ray Sounds as if danny's your man, but in the meantime I did a quick search for Cdn. dress regs. The Navy says rank badges (incl. chevrons) are worn "midway between the point of the elbow and the shoulder"; the Air Cadets measure it down from the shoulder seam: 14cm (5.5 inches), but they have a mapl elaf badge whose bottom edge is 12cm from the seam. I think that would look very cramped with large chevrons. My tuppence's worth. Peter

. Ray I had the same problem with placement of chevrons on an 1800's era British soldiers tunic. What works, visually, is to center them: take the distance from the top of the elbow joint (with arm bent) to the bottom of the flash; subtract the height of the chevrons (tip of point to TOP of open arms) and divide by 2. For e.g. if upper arm is 11" from bottom of flash to elbow and "hooks" are 5" high, you have 6" to work with, so place top of chevrons 3" below the flash. This means a slightly different height for 1, 2 and 3 hooks but I found it worked even with 4 large chevrons (RSM). It is a little more complicated than simply saying "X inches down from the flash" but looks better, I feel. Or, grab an air or army cadet and look at his/her little book on uniforms, which are a paraphrase of Cdn. Forces dress regs. (I'm serious.) Hope this is some help Peter

Firemedals "Peter's comments have explained a lot about the matter in the English system (Thank you). " A kind thought, but not quite right. It was Kgrd who gave the information. I'm just an earnest seeker after knowledge. Interesting stuff, though, and I agree with your general drift - if I may as a new guy -this isn't really off topic for such a broad forum as the GMIC seems to be.

WM Thanks for the explanation. Perhaps a bit off the military line, but the reasoning behind symbolism - military, heraldic, religious or national - is always instructive. Looking forward to more of the jewels! Peter