peter monahan

But classy, no? Interesting that the Russians would subvert national pride to the extent of going with an admittedly world class but foreign maker.

Nice one, Ilja!

I agree with both Paul and Brian. For many years my obsession was IGS medals - to Indians. The VCOs were and are researchable, but one can also build up a fine collection of bars and campaigns using the more economically priced medals to ordinary sepoys, sowars and followers. In fact, followers are a field unto themselves, with numerous fascinating ranks and stories. Sadly, my collecting days were all BC - before children - but I've kept the interest and in fact just this week opened up an exhibit at a Canadian museum on the Indian Army in WWI. One of the medals on display is a BWM to a Sepoy of the 52nd Sikhs who is also entitled to and AGS, bar 'Somaliland', the WWI trio and a 1908 IGS. Thanks for posting, Nelson.

Thank you for these, Harry!

That sounds like a reasonable assumption. There was apparently, in the Victorian period, a Chatsworth Rifles unit of the Derbyshire Militia, so an earlier [Napoleonic era] unit is not impossible.

Jim I see that he began his career as an AC1 [different serial number] and was commissioned in 1941, also that he was still serving in 1947 when promoted to Pilot Officer but there only seem to be two Halliwells with the DFC in the Gazette, a Stanley Halliwell and a Gordon Halliwell. Perhaps the ribbon bar has been improved, as someone else suggested, but possibly not. The search engine for the Gazette is sometimes a bit wonky, at least for earlier records, so its possible he's there but not coming up.

No, the British have battle honours - and we won't get into which are harder to earn, thanks, gentlemen - and on occasion British regiments have been awarded foreign honours of a similar nature. For example, some British units and at least one Canadian one were given an American Presidential Unit Citation for services in Korea and I'm pretty sure that British units have been similarly honoured by the French. Hope that helps. Peter

Ignore Chris. I think there's a reg somewhere that says Legionnnaire's needn't even bother applying for LS &GC awards. As Brian says, you're a lucky man: lucky in your collecting and very lucky in your clever choice of wife! Well done, that man.

I believe - courtesy of a very similar discussion on another forum - that the ACE gilt finish was often worn or polished off, though it lingered in the details, so many of the Styars look 'brassy' while others have the high 'gold' shine'. My tuppence worth and, as Brett says, there are experts among us. I take it that this example is not named? Peter

Mike You've made me break whichever commandment covers 'covet' again! And I'm not a covetous sort of guy, normally. That has got to be the non-plus-ultra of Canadian colonial medals, with the possible exception of the three Cdn. VCs fro that war. Well done and thanks for sharing!

Weixiang I'm not very expert on diplomatic and ADC badges, but I would have guessed that the crown on each board is in fact a major's rank badge, which would be appropriate for an ADC to the king - fairly senior in rank. These are obviously full dress epaulettes and not unlike what was worn by senior officers in full dress. Boris, a member from Spain, has recently started drawing all the rank badges for the British Army in WWI, starting with Generals, so you should check out his site for examples of Staff and other high ranking officers to compare their shoulder boards to these. Here is the thread: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/60340-ranks/. I'm sure Boris will be happy to share any information he has. Thank you for sharing them! Please keep us posted on anything you find out aboput them. Peter

Amazing photos, Yossi. I'm surprised that these relics are still there, 100 years later. Is it safe to assume, as the last 3 photos suggest, that they are in a remote area where no one needs the land for anything else?

The last would likely be "Orange Free State", as it and "Cape Colony" were the two commonest bars issued.

Definitely a Napoleonic period shako plate, but probably one of the Volunteers regiments which were raised in the period. Pretty sure it's not a regular regiment, as the proportions are slightly off - too tall and narrow - and the regiments which had regimental plates mostly used the standard 'template' with a regimental centre device replacing the royal cipher, rather than a unique design for the whole plate.

I'm not sure that it is Belgian. Doesn't match any of the common Belgian orders. What is the source?

Sorry, should have revisited this post. I've discovered that apparently a number of the Ross bayonets were officially or semi-officially converted to trench knives - probably in regimental armourers' shops - as a useful way of recycling bayonets for a withdrawn weapon.

Tony I suspect you're right. Not a very sympathetic description, but certainly not out of line with much of the official thinking on the subject, at least in the non-medical branches of the Militaruy. At least it wasn't 'LMF' or 'Lack of Moral Fibre' which some MOs used in WWII apparently with, for example, bomber crew who'd done 40-50 missions and asked to be taken off flying duties! Peter

"The 14 University Air Squadrons have a long tradition of offering flying training to undergraduates and a chance to experience life in the RAF. Joining a UAS will provide the perfect introduction if you're considering an RAF career, whether in a flying or ground-based role. However, there is no obligation to sign up and by getting involved you're making no further commitment other than your time and effort whilst you're there and the training and personal development you receive will give you a head start in whatever career path you choose." From this site:http://www.raf.mod.uk/universityairsquadrons/ which has information on RAF University Squadrons. I would assume that Singapore, as many Commonwealth states, has maintained, or at least were maintain in the '70s, many of the 'mother country's' traditions.

This song is part of the script of Oh, What A Lovely War! but I believe it is a genuine WWI song Hush, here comes a Whizzbang. Hush, here comes a Whizzbang. Now you soldiermen get down those stairs, Down in your dugouts and say your prayers. Hush, here comes a Whizzbang, And it's making right for you. And you'll see all the wonders of No-Man's-Land, If a Whizzbang, hits you.

A number of years ago I read and have been haunted by the novel Regeneration, written in 1991 by Pat Barker and a Booker Prize winner. It deals with the effects of and treatments for shell shock and is based on the writings of Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, a military doctor who specialized in nerve damage and shell shock. The follow-up novel, The Eye in the Door, deals with the persecution of gays and conscientious objectors in GB during the war. It is set in a prison - hence the 'eye' and in the Scottish military hospital where sigfried Sassoon was snet, as clearly anyone who wrote the kind of poetry he did about the war was not sane! Both are superbly written and very informative as to the social and military mind set around anyone not 100% 'behind the war effort'. In one of the two is a truly horrific scene with a British patient who is literally starving himself to death because of an incident in which he threw himself into a shell hole and landed face down in a German corpse, some of which went into his mouth. He has been unable to ingest food since and is being forcibly fed to preserve his life. An image which will stick in my head forever! Well worth the read, both od them, and I understand there is a third volume.

I believe that. I suspect that if you put a rat in a steel drum and pounded on it with a pipe for 2-3 days the rat would not emerge 'normal', for whatever normal means to a rat. I've owned two adopted small dogs, each with mild 'neuroses' from their earlier lives. Nothing serious and neither was systematically abused, but I've seen animals who were and they're never fully 'normal' again. And the longer I live the more I believe that we are products of our cumulative life experience and that our intellect is often a poor tool for overcoming the emotional and psychological 'scars', large and small, of life. I didn't know there were shell shock cases still in treatment that late but, on reflection, it doesn't really surprise me. What a morbid topic for what is, here, a lovely sunny day!

I'm with Don! At the very least there had to have been the German equivalent of 'the little buggers' and 'the big bastards'. Front line soldiers of very period and nationality, right back to the Greeks and Trojans, had colloquial, usually unprintable, nicknames for everything important in their lives: food, booze, women, officers and weapons, their own and the enemies'. The Brits also used 'dust bins', I think, for one of the bigger shells. Or was it 'coal scuttles'? And was 'Moaning Minnie' a WWI or a WWII term?

How Soviet! I wonder, would there have been specific awards for other industries? I've always loved the Mongolian concept: "Exceptional Goatherd, 3rd Class"

Civilian awardee? ARP, medical volunteer or someone on war work? I don't know enough about the SA requirements to know how common that would be but a lack of any rank or unit affiliation on British medals often indicated a civilian recipient, at least in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Only that the whole thought of having to depend on those to protect me from gas scares the willies out of me! I've worn the 'small box respirator' - a reproduction - for brief periods on a smoke filled mock battlefield and its almost impossible to do anything useful with it on because you really can't see! And the official instructions for the PH hoods if you were sweating was 'rub the hood against your forehead with your free hand' and carry on! Yikes! I suppose the only thing worse would be what happened to you in a gas attack without one!