peter monahan

That would be a war to tell the grandkids about! Completely different from the mess on the Western Front for the most aprt but probably just as nasty in its way, as I suspect the casualties due to sicknes outweighed those actually shot or shelled. Interesting group.

It would be nice to think so.

"5th Summit of the Americas medal"? Sounds positively... Waltish. Awarded for exemplary car park security or...? Seriously, though, how would one qualify and how many may have been issued? Enquiring minds wish to know.

Jonsey, can you post a picture of the 'P' marking and any others? Not clear to me from your post what exactly we're meant to be looking at. Off the top of my head I'd be more likely to guess that 'PFG' stood for 'Protective Flying Gear' than 'Polish...', but I'm no expert.

Odulf points out an important phenomenon: there are probably as many present and former pipe band members and 'clan' members in North America as the aggregate total of all the militia types, if not regulars, who served in Canadian and British Highland units between and since the two great wars. And all of them wore some type of Scottish headgear. OTOH, almost every piece of gear including head dress I've ever seen which was issued to or purchased by soldiers was labelled - stamped, with sewn in labels or at the very least with inked in names or initials. So, while this may very well be military, I suggest that absent evidence such as that just mentioned, we're thrown back on the Scottish legal verdict of 'not proven'.

Absolutley different! No one NEEDS that many shoes. It borders on obsessive. No my collection...

Wow, what a story! Any chance that Johnston left a diary, letters or even a biography behing? Just touching on the exotic bits: Egypt, Russia, India and Palestine - quite the grab bag of postings and experiences. I wonder if he carried the sword with him to all those places and units though technically I suppose he would have been out of uniform to have done so, at least after his transfer to the Royal Scots.

Sometimes referred to as the 'Kenyan Home Guard', the KPR was formed in 1948 as an important of the British efforts to combat the Mau Mau during 'the troubles'. Apparently Europeans were autmatically awarded the rank of Inspector, so Assistant Inspector for an 'Asian' would make sense. There was also an African Section of the KPR, made up of untrained black kenyans and commanded by Europeans, or Asians perhaps, so that is an alternative explanation for the 'A.S.' prefix to the serial number.

Bernhard I have had the dubious privilige of working on several 'historical' fims over the last decade or so, several for PBS and similar nteworks, a couple for the broader commercial market and a number for in-house use by historical sites. As I point out to others involved, except in the last category, the fim makers are not selling history, they are selling popcorn! These days it is considered desireable to have an 'hsitorical consultant' even on such fantasies as the Pirates of the Caribbean series. In fact, that consultant is a good fried. That said, the producers want to have hired a consukltant, not necessarily to have consuled same, and money, story line or the idosyncracies of the director almost always trump historical accuracy. Its the world we live in, I'm afraid: experts and connoisieurs are doomed to disappoinment. I see a lot of Hollywood films with my best mate, who is in the business, and we either shrug, roll our eyes or grit our teeth, then leave the theatre and have a cleanisng pint. To do otherwise is to court madness!

Clearly no IQ attached to getting a gun licence in that jursidiction! Dad and the insurance company gonna be seriously pissed!

Also, sadly, both national, internal and inter-service politics, I strongly suspect, play a part. The most obvious examples, to go to a by gone age, were the number of VCs awarded for the relief of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny - 24 in a single day - or for the defence of Rourke's Drift. How badly the force(s) and or the public need 'bucking up' must sometimes influence the awarding authroities. And that is in now way a dig at those honoured! But it does, I think, explain some of the apparent discrepanices mentioned by dave and BigJar.

Very nice indeed. Does it make you feel safer to have all that law enforcement around the place?

I like the cross. And, I'm sure, the resemblance to a much more prestigious British award is purely coincidental. Both fine looking medlas, in fact but a shame the designers couldn't have come up with a more original and interesting ribbon design! Several decades ago the school I was at in northern Nigeria was visited by the then head of state and the principal spent a pile of naira on paint, which he then gave out freely to the senior prefects. By the day of the visit everything in sight including some of the slower moving junior students was decorated in green and white stripes, and it was months before it wore off the trees, rocks and buildings! Blah!

Very nice, Jock. Gone to the Dark Side, have we?

These are the first I've ever seen, so I have no idea as to authenticity but they are very interesting examples of an unofficial but highly coveted badge! I was lucky enough to meet a member of the 'Caterpillar Club' years ago, actually shot down on the first day of the first Indo-Pak War while flying with the Indian Air Force. His pin eventually, through 'a man I met in a pub' got him a job with Freddy Laker! Any details on the possible origins/owners of these two?

I gather from something I read that he didn't talk about it much but that, when he did, he was quite offended by Steve McQueen and the motorcycle. Not impressed, like so many of us, by the liberties Hollywoood takes with history in pursuit of a 'better' story!

Yes, one of the comments in Harry's section is to the effect that 'Africa always wins.' My wife, like me a veteran of two years in Nigeria, likes to quote the old rhyme "Beware, beware the Bight of Benin; Where one comes out though twenty went in." We also, I think, tend to forget that the Great War was in fact one of the first in history in which fewer men were lost to disease than to enemy action. Even today, with all our modern medecine, a huge percentage of the casualties in any military campaign are illness and injury not directly attributable to combat. In recent years, for example, many many US servicemen and women suffer imjuries - leg, back and other - caused in part by the vast weight of equipment they routinely carry on patrol. And, in the days before anitbiotics and anti-malarials, tropical climates were quite literally 'the white man's grave' for many.

Presumably then the rationale is that this is not a group but a collection and by selling them separately Chrisitie's will not only give more people a chance to 'own a piece of history' but also maiximize the collective price of all the medals. Sadly, but realisitcally, Chrisite's and other auction houses are not in fact in the hsitory business but in sales and their first obligation is arguably to their share holders. Hence, whatever maximizes profits is the best course of action for a business operating in a capitalist system. At least in the short term.

I believe it's the wrong colour to be RCMP, as their belts and equipment were brown leather and this looks black to me.

Rachael It' s possible that the script is a fancy version of Deva Nagri - the alphabet used to write Hindi and other Indian languages - but its rather hard to say. Is it possible to see a photo of the tulwars, as that too might provide useful information.

Your usual outstanding work, sir! Truly excellent and bound to make some new owner very happy. Please keep sharing. Peter

Indeed a rare pair! Wonderful. And you've done well with the research on the recipient as well - not a lot of info. out there for militai men unless one is hooked into the geneaology web sites and prepared to do a lot of skimming of old records for the potential small nuggets. Thanks for sharing this wonderful find! Peter

So many choices, so little time... money... space. Besides, here in the Great White North, miost of these are restricted or prohibited and I haven't the aptience to go do 'the course' to get that bit of paper! Lovely collection, though.

Excellent work and truly evocative of the sense of loss felt by so many, in that and other wars. Thank you for sharing it, Dan.

"Fools and their money are quickly parted."