peter monahan

Yep, like my wife says, "Men are all hands and mouth!" I think she was talking about food!

The down side of 'pals battalions'! After the Somme in particular, there were streets in some English towns where half the homes got a telegram. I once spoke to a man who as a 14 year old boy delivered telegrams during WWII. Worst job in the world, he said, especially as, at least the way he remembers it, whenever he turned into a street, everyone would come to their windows to see where he'd stop. Wouldn't do that for a pension and a gold medal!

Yes, I'm busily trying to track down the Army & Navy Veterans flag which featured in earlier posts, as I live just down the road from Canadian Forces Base Borden, whose museum is the putative home of the flag. Fascinating stuff. And Mr. Brophy seems to have been a great self promoter as well, no doubt, as a mainstay of the A& N group.

Richard Have you tried sending a PM to Megan? She's a whiz on international medals.

That's a classy little bauble, Ulsterman. What is it? Or should I already know?

I'm late to this one, so I'll shoot quickly and duck for cover. 1) Yes, lots of blame to go round. 100 years later, how much does it really matter which percentage goes to which leader/nation/general? The poor bastards in the trenches are still dead. 2) Yes, its fashionable to downplay heroism and damn all soldiers as dupes or villains. Most were neither and we do need heroes, always and everywhere. Give me a pukka hero with an inflated kill count over a guy who shoots a sports projectile - puck, basketball or cricket ball - any day! 3) Governments, especially in this case of Great Britain, are hardly going to announce a full court 4 year celebration of idiocy, slaughter and man's inhumanity to man, are they? So, in the face of lots and lots of evidence, it will be presented as 'a noble sacrifice'. And, having said that, I am currently working on a WWI programme to take into the schools in my area. just lettered all my webbing with the serial number of a great uncle who spent 11 months in 1917 in the trenches and never got over it. What I hope to convey to some of our young adults is: a) it was a slaughter; b) sensible people did it for four years; so c) just writing them and it off as 'stupid' is a good start to having it happen again! Done. Peter

"Attributed" sounds nice! Not like you're going to flog it off for millions of quid, right? A nice little early bar any way you look at it.

Oooww! That is pretty! Very nice acquisition indeed, Robert. Thank you for sharing it. Peter

According to Major Gordon, a quick though not 100% accurate source on things Asian, there were 11 infantry, 6 cavalry, and 6 RAF squadrons, plus Gunners and various support units, who qualified for the IRAQ bar. Many of those will have been on the NWF in 1919, plus the transferred officer mentioned above and those Indian units who did qualify for a Victory Medal. Apparently the rolls are available on the open shelves at the National Archives but that's more info. than you'd need. Naval Military Press will happily sell you a copy of Gordon's 7th edition, the most complete and correct one for that era and area, but it doesn't appear to be available on line.

I'm afraid Odulf is correct - without an unusual foreign award or a stranger combination than this the number of possible recipients could easily number in the dozens at least.

Harsh, Frank, harsh! Not necesarily wrong, mind you, but harsh! Apologoes to the Moderatort and all for bringing politics into it. Again!

Thank you for the synopsis, Kit. Interesting unit history! Are you a veteran of the unit, or simply an interested historian?

Any markings on the back of the buttons? Even Roman vs Cyrillic alphabet would provide some info., as I assume there are no QM stamps inside it. Perhaps check inside the pocket flaps and inside of belt for markings as well

I tend to agree with Jeff, that the inspiration - if that's the right word! - for these is British, so almost certainly ex colonies and sub-Saharan Africa seems a good bet. The eagle [?] shouldn't be too hard to pin down.

very classy!

Kit I can't get the link to work, hence my questions on your other post.

I wonder whether he suffered a chest wound, or gas attack, which was determined to have weakened his heart so that the death so much later was 'service related'. An application for his medical file - which does cost a few dollars - would probably answer the question. Interesting!

Apparently not a separatist!

I've never heard of this unit! perhaps you can share a little of what you do have, Kit? When were they formed and do they still exist?

Nice shots, Ilja! Thanks for sharing. That's a very odd suspender on the last medal.

Vladimir Welcome to the GMIC and the Africa forum! We hope you will be able to share some of your collecting interests and knowledge with our members. There is one post in this forum on Firefighter medals in Africa, with some information on Nigeria: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/53715-fire-service-medals-of-africa/?hl=%2Bfire+%2Bbrigade#entry497628 If you go to that spot you can also connect with the person who posted that thread and perhaps he will have more, new formation on African fire brigades. Also, if you go to the British Commonwealth forum we have members in South Africa who may have information on that country. Again, welcome to our club! Peter Monahan Moderator

The 219th Highland Battalion (Nova Scotia), which I,m assuming was his regiment, was recruited in 1916, went to England in October that year and were eventually transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion or the 85th battalion. Can't find any casualties to the 85th on the CWG site - it isn't recognizing the unit name for some reason, but they suffered heavily at Vimy and may have been gassed at some later date. Or there may have been a lingering wound or infection - not all the year's after deaths were gas, though it was a common cause.

We can hope, now that they have been framed with a photo that some descendant will think 'Oh, might be worth keeping!' or at least 'Oh, not trash.' I suspect that at the very least you've increased the chances that they medal won't get turned into bullion or a brooch, Frank. Well done!

Very nice, Irish. The Quebec RGA has a long and distinguished history - mostly of guarding Quebec City, of course. I believe it and the St. John battery both pre-date 1855 as local volunteer units, 1855 being the 'official birthdate' of the Canadian Army for various arcane and political reasons. Never heard of the Guelph unit though. There were apparently gunners in Wellington County, where Guelph is, before 1855 as well but the Howitzer Brigade was created in 1913, just in time for WWI. Very classy cards!

I agree with the notion of Georgian dating - gilt brass makes sense. I still can't see where on a person it would be worn, unless it was originally flat and someone has bent it for some reason - far too regular to be accidental. Very interesting piece!