peter monahan

I'm a little ashamed to say that I don't know where Egypt and her army stood in relation to the beliggerents in the reat war, but the mention of the Italian Order intrigued me. I know that the various Allies regularly 'traded' awards among themselves. That is, for example, Col. Branfoot, a Captain in 1917, was awarded a Roumanian Order of the Crown even though he had never been withing 1,000 km of Roumania. His mess mates believed it was as a consolation prize for not getting an MC or DSO and that the Biritsh would simply have sent in his name to the Roumanian Embassy. I wonder if the Egyptian officer had any dealings with the Italian colonies in Africa or was, similarly, recognized for some non-Italian related service or deed.

What a wonderful story! It's fascinating to see the vestiges of the Victorian social system at work in the great war, with unofficial and semi-official units and efforst springign up and, of course, the upper classes 'doing their bit' for King and Empire. In fact, if there was mch to be admired in the Empire it was that sense of obligation - now often stigmatized by reference to 'the white man's burden' - which inspired many Britions. I often allude, when the topic comes up, to a plaque on the wall of St Paul's in Londion. It commemorates 4 brothers, the eldest of whom was 28 at his death. Three were in the West African colonial service and one in the Indian Army. All died of one or more tropical disease, prorably nastily, and it's safe to guess that none got or intended to get rich on the proceeds of imperialism. But I digress! Again, a lovely narrative to add to a single artifact. Thanks for posting it.

I feel your pain! There are a couple CEF badges I wouyldn't say no to myself but won't be shelling out $X00 for any time soon.

Well done, indeed! BTW, my comment on 'posh' was in reference to my humble status, not a dig at your collection or the RAMC and its successor and sister units. Yes, two of the three double VCs are to M.O.s and the WWI casualty rates among Mo.O.s make it clear that they did not, as per organizational charts, wait in the Aid Posts for the wounded to come to them. SBs, like the character I portray also took heavy casualties, shells and MG fire being no respecters of coloured arm bands or insignia!

See my comments on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum. Two of these badges for sale by a Canadian dealer at $1,000Cd each! Rare and, apparently, desireable.

Very nice!

Keep in mind that US troops overran most of the supply depots and factories responsible for the issue and manufacture of Nazi medals, awards and paraphenalia and that before the shooting was done there was a huge market for souvenirs, especially 'sexy' stuff like Iron Crosses and SS items. It's certainly the case, for example, that the US Marines on Guadalcanal had an industry going making 'Japanese battle flags' within weeks of the capture of the island. Similarly, Iron Crosses, as an example, were being manufactured from parts found in warehouses certainly by 1946 if not late '45. So, the fact that these came out of a vet's effects sugests that they are 'contemporary' to his service, but not that they were taken from sereving members of the SS. So, as Spasm says, important to your family I hope, but of far less imprtance to collectors.

Very nice indeed! I belong to a WWI re-enacvtment unit, 3rd Canadian casualty Clearing Staion, CAMC but don't aspire to anything more glamourous than my CAMC cap and collars and the Stretcher Bearer small red cross badges on each arm. Nothing near this posh!

OTOH, you were able to keep the group together, which always counts as a win for those of us who care about and understand medals. Well done, sir.

Pieter I think a document initialled by His Imperial Majesty will do for we mere mortals. Thank you for sharing it. Most of us will never have either the gelt or the inclination to be Lord Ashcroft but, personally, I'd be as happy with a musket ball fired on the battlefield at Waterloo as with a Marshall's uniform and were I still collecting medals, many of the 1813-15 awards to the Allied troops hold great appeal for me. I was on the battlefield, in the [reproduction] uniform of a British staff officer on the 200th anniversary of the battle last June and that in itself was very special. The culmination of 20 years of re-enacting and hard to beat as a living history experience!

Lovely work, Squadron Girl! Thanks for sharing the results of your brave efforts. Now, of course, if anyone else destroys a priceless vintage headdress we'll know who to blame! I wonder if the use of multiple 'WD' stamps on the actual skin is merely a reflection of the military compulsion to label everything, often, or a signal that there was in fact a market for stolen bears in Victorian London?

The badge of the 7th, whoever they are, would fascinate my friendly neighbourhood Satanists!

Intersting! Does the background info. give the rationale for institutitng this, Frank? Are they perhaps afraid that there are not enough provincial awards for this, or that Her Majesty won't be around long enough for another XXth anniversary medal to share out?

Excellent! When I was at the the 200th anniversary of Waterloo last year there were quite a number of Swedes there, although I think someone told me he was in a 'Finnish unit' if that makes sense. I'm afraid I'm lamentable ignorant of the role played by Sweden in that war. I had a beer with a couple of them who, of course, spoke excellent English! [You Europeans put we North Americans to shame with your command of multiple languages. ] Peter

Is that at Newville, Hoss? I'm headed down there next week - SB with the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. What's your unit?

There's the definitve word then. Essex Reg't is a possibility, particularly if he joined up early enough that the Army was still able to deal in regional preferences. good luck!

You're both lucky to have connections to such a disntiguished soldier, however little he may have valued his 'trinkets'! Now all you need is some bit fom one of the Emporer's uniforms.

I notice that both the original photo and the latest one feature 7 button tunics, not the 5 button style shown in the Turkish plate. The empty crecent might be either a function of rank, perhaps, or because of the unit he was a member of. Did all battalions / units wear a distinguishing numeral?

The only easy answer is to blow the photo up until the badges are visible, but I assume you've thought of that. OTOH, with your father's full name and birthdate, one of our British members may - not 'may' - be able to extract somehting from the WWII records - always a somewhat dicey proposition. As a direct descendant you are entitled to your father's service records, I'm sure, but being in Canada and not a WWII expert, I'm not sure how much info. is needed for the records blokes to search for them for you. here is an address which lays out how to go about that. Seems fairly simple [in theory]. https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records Good luck with the search!

Sometimes one gets lucky on Ancestry; sometimes one is driven to alcohol laden whiskey!

Very nice! I suspect His Grace would have needed a separate baggage wagon to carry all his awards and decorations in the latter years! Always interesting, though, to see who was given what and by whom in these international situations. [I almost said 'international love fests' ] Is the star yours, Augustin? Whether or no, thank you for sharing it.

With an unnamed, very common medla that may be as close as you can get, but your best bet is likely some one of the members with access to the Ancestry.UK site. If you can track the born-in-1909 through their respurces you may be lucky enough to find reference to is service, especially if the syrname is a bit uncommon or if some family member has shared a family tree with bioraphical details on line. Sorry that's not more help but perhaps the UK members can think of something I've missed. Peter

Good luck with your search, Lady!

That last article is fairly daming! Nevertheless, he did his service and certainly deserves recognition for that. Intersting too that he identifies his British service as having been in 'intellience' while the official record seems to suggest active service with the Gunners. OTOH, the transfer to Egypt and perhaps ther Italian award suggest that perhaps he wasn't just filing inter-Army memos as a US-Brit liason. Interesting fellow, no doubt.