peter monahan

An interesting fellow and an equally interesting family.

Thanks for posting this Mervyn.

Regards

Brian

Hear, hear!

Peter

Fort Henry, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada regularly fire their 32 pounders at the sunset ceremonies. Common lore has it that the 32 pound muzzle loader was the cannon which established the '3 mile limit' as the limit of a country's sovreignty on the coast, because they could throw a ball that far. Can't recall whether or not that's true but I believe it is.

The Fort will doubtless have footage of the ceremony and there are sure to be shots on YouTube, to save you a flight over. Fired at night they are truly impressive to see and the crews, all summer students, have a very high standard of drill and deportment.

Good luck with the film!

Gentlemen

A small shop in my town has for sale a War Medal & a Defence Medal in the box of issue, with unused ribbons, a guide to wearing and the award document/certificate. They were awarded to "Sq. Ldr. Z. J. Pekarek" and there is a stamp for RAF Farnborough [i think - didn't have a pen] and a signature 'squiggle squiggle Smith'

A Supplement to The London Gazette of 6 AUG 1954 lists "Emergency List": The undermentioned relinquish their commissions under the provisions of the Navy, Army and Air Forces Act, 1954, and have been granted permission to retain rank with effect from 10 February, 1954. ...

"Flight Lieutenants retaining the rank of Squadron Leader... Sq. Ldr Z. J. Petarek (84574)"

Petarek is apparently a Czech name, a deminutive of "Petar", which means 'baker'.

Is this gent likley to be researchable? And, is anyone interested in owning this pair of medals - the seller is asking $150.00 Cdn. for them. I don't know whether that is negotiable but am willing to enquire.

Peter

I got the "Albert Ernest Ind" part but missed the VC part!

Interesting however: rank and name, no unit mentioned. Perhaps a renamed or replacement?

Peter

Gents; I well remember the switch over of the MPC notes in 1968. I had the misfortuntion of being the Pay Office of my Company, being the new " butter bar" , who was give that additional duty! The Viet barber was trying to get G.I.s to switch over a hugh amount of the now invalid MPC notes for a cut, but was caught by me and my assistant. So much for the blackmarket profits. A interesting note is that merchant seamen were paid in greenbacks and there was a hugh illegal market for them. Regards, Oiva

I spent 1978-1980 in Nigeria, West Africa and just after I arrived the government switched over the entire currency of the country, with something like a 90 day period to hit the bank and, if you were very very lucky, get new bills for old. There were severe currency controls: no 'naira' to be exported and all foreign currency to be switched for naira within 30 days of arriving in country.

Both laws were widely ignored and I recall that the crash of an entire plane load of Naira in a neighbouring country was the proximate cause of the change. I also recall being offered the old naira for weeks and months after by little old market women who hadn't got the word in time. They tended to have been folded 10-15 times and tucked into clothing for security, so they usually looked like sweaty lace doilies. Yuck!

Wrong information here. Officers had to apply for their medals BUT they were received officially impressed with rank, initials and name for army personel and with the force added after the surname if R.N., R.A.F., etc.

Kevin in Deva.

Blame it on early morning brain and a caffeine deficit!

Peter

Mervyn

From the wording of your post it sounds as if these were worn during the Boer War, as opposed to after, to mark veterans. Was that the case? I'm only familiar with the [very similar] WWI badges issued to ex-servicemen. They are numbered as well and I'd always assumed that was to allow people to catch fakers and wanna-bes by running the numbers, as everything from preference in hiring to discounts in shops were available for pukka veterans.

Peter

Noor

Is the same name on the Star? You say it's 'broken'. Did you mean missing a ribbon or soemthing else as well?

The BWM was issued to non-soldiers: nurses, members or various Labour Corps [Chinsese, Maltese, etc.] but most of those have some sort of unit title. The medals were issued unnamed to officers. Nice one!

Peter

I too suspect that off-make calibre ammuntion may be a problem to acquire. And, while I know little about old revolvers I have a very little bit of experience with old ammunition and old rifles & muskets and I would be very loth to try firing a pice like this. Consider:

inevitably, even with immediate cleaning afterwards, there will be at least a little added corrosion as a result;

small parts such as firing pins can weaken over time and break when used again - I've had one firing pin and one musket main spring go while blank firing quite new [less than 50 years old] weapons;

if its [post 1900 manufacture its almost certainly proofed for 'modern' [cordite] rounds but there's always a chance it isn't. I assume it does NOT say 'Nitro proofed' or the equivalent. Previous user(s) have over-stressed the breech and barrel, which you could only find out by Xray or by firing. And if anything catastrophic happens while firing, you could wind up being nicknamed 'Lefty'.

Just my tuppence worth.

Peter

Sweet! One of my favorite police caps!!

Ver' nice, ver' nice! :cheers:

Couldn't help but jump in on this one!

The motto of course is the same as used by the RAF, RNZAF, RAAF, etc. I agree with everything else suggested by members, but feel that Peter is kidding us about the albatross though, presume he served in the Navy! Navy types always seems to be the source of the hoary old myth of the RAF albatross. I think the only reason they get away with it is that the rendering of the bird is so poor that it could be just about ANY kind of bird you could name! Blame the original artist.

David D

Here's what the official RCAF web site has to say: "Ever since the birth of the RCAF, the heraldic descriptions of the various Air Force badges have described the bird as "an eagle volant affronté, the head lowered to the sinister", clearly answering the question. As Wing Commander Hitchins put it, "...it was still an eagle and always had been - although the albatross was a very nice bird, too."

The debate on what kind of bird it is has gone on since 1918, when both the British Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air service adopted the badge. So web-footed half of me was kidding! :whistle:

Well - that certainly ' puts the cats amongst the pigeons'. I think Prosper must advise his friend a.s.a.p. - hopefully it will turnout to still be the drill bit.

Indeed! Not worth risking your fingers, hand or life over, however it turns out.

Peter

The dark tip on this is probably an industrial diamond. Used to use cutting bits for mining with very similar 'gems' in them. Probably worth a pint of lager on the open market!

Peter

The eagle is ugly. One person mentioned it "would be an insult to the reich"

You mean, just because it looks like a seagull and is holding the emblem off center? Boy, what a skeptic!

Clearly the seller means it was cast by Adolf himself [in his garage, of course] and that's why it looks so rough: the man was a military genius [ ] but a lousy goldsmith! :cheeky:

Black Bear

And the supporters are a deer and a moose, both 'rampant'. No points for figuring out which is which! :cheeky:

Tim

Unit diaries or divisional orders may be the only way. I re-searched the Gazette with only the following results.

London Gazette, 29 JUL 1902, p4837

I would also beg to bring to notice the

following names:—

Lieut. - General Sir H. M. L. Rundle,

K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.

Lieut.-General H. J. T. Hildyard, K.C.B.

Major-General Sir B. Blood, K.C.B. ...…

p4854

OVERSEA COLONIALS.

CANADIAN CONTINGENT.

Lieut-Colonel T. D. B. Evans, C.B.

Captain T. H. Callaghan.

Lieutenant R. H. Ryan.

Lieutenant and Adjutant F. Church.

Squadron Serjeant-Major M. Docherty.

Serjeant D. P. Bliss.

OVERSEA COLONIALS—•continued.

[column 2, p4854]

CANADIAN "SCOUTS.

Major C. Ross, D.S.O.

Captain A. McMillan.

Captain T. H. A. Williams.

Serjeant-Major K. J. Stallwood.

Regimental Quarter-Master-Serjeant G. Saunders.

Private A. Chesworth.

The dispatch starts somewhere before page 4837 for that date and, starting at Generals and the Life Guards, covers MIDs for virtually every unit in the British Army! As each page requires a separate download to get past my ‘net nanny’ program, I didn’t go all the way back to the first page. The despatch ends on page 4858 with the following signature:

I have, &c.,

KITCHENER, General,

Commanding-in-Ghief,South Africa

I suspect that this is the only ‘citation’ which exists, as there do not appear to be any other references in the Gazette to your Bliss between 1 January 1901 and 30 December 1902. . But if you go to this site, you can do that at your leisure:

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/1902-07-29;1902-07-29/atleast=D.C.F.+BLISS%2c/start=1

Peter

London Gazette, OCT 31, 1902

"To Have the Distinguished Medal

p1609

"Sergeant D. P. Bliss, Canadian Rifles"

p6911

"2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles.

For "Staff Sergeant D. P. Bliss" read "Staff

Sergeant D. C. Forster Bliss." "

Sorry, no details - the list runs 3 full pages, 100s of names.

here's the site for LG searches:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/1898-01-01;1898-12-30/exact=army+regulation/start=1

Peter

My suggestion would be to leave well enough alone. I assume that the flags are silk and I believe that water damage to silk is generally irreparable. However, I'm basing this on recollections of a course on artifact preservation I took several years ago so you might want to get an opinion from a museum or professional conservator.

The US National Park Service publishes a series of absolutely invaluable papers/pamphlets of artuifact preservation, intended for theior museums and historic sites and available on line. Google "US Park Service artifact conservation" and variations on that and see what they have.

Peter

Wow! Fabulous! Don't know what else to say except that, if she was a relative of mine those medals and photos would be front and center in the most important room in my house. Talk about a person who made a real difference to the world!

Peter, lost in admiration

[and getting soppy about it! ]

An Indian Korea Medal is named in English - still part of the Commonwealth back then, before Republic status in 1959. There were two issues of the UN Korea Medal to the Indian Army, both named in English apparently. This site gives more Info: http://www.korean-war-medals.com/india/medals.shtml

BTW, Urdu is a lingua franca for many Indians of different linguistic/cultural backgrounds and is still, I believe, the official language of the Indian Army, as it was under the British. The script used to write it is called "Deva Nagri". I don't know its relationship to Arabic/Persian script. Sanskrit is an ancient language, used to write the Vedas [Hindu scripture] and only spoken now in a few religious sites and groups in India. I don't believe it is used for writing, except for religious texts.

Peter - a few years ago we had a 68lb carronade shell brought-in. Dredged up from the Tugela River and from the Guard ship for the landings in the 1879 Zulu War. This had the lug on the side - to be replaced before fire. Two holes were in the top to screw it an and out with a special tool.

Mervyn

I stand corrected. I had 'American Revolution' stuck in my head as the probable date, which is close enought to the period I do know a bit about to have me stick my neck out. And get it promptly whacked off! As the original poster says there are no navigable rivers near the find site - something else I missed first time round - a 'bring back' seems posiible / plausible.

As you say, people are fascinated by artillery bits. Over here we occasionally get to see things which purport to be cannon balls which are in fact iron spheres from a 'rolling mill', a primitive mining device in which the balls were tumbkle in a drum of some sort with chunks or ore to break the ore up for easier smelting. Needless to say, they never have any markings on them, but then neither do cannon balls, so the only giveaway is the odd sizes they tend to be.

Thanks for the correction - and another factoid for the mental files!

Peter

Clever and lucky both!

Nice score, but I'm not sure I'd have been keen to play with cartridges whose primers have been sitting God-knows-where for 95 years! It looks lovely, though, all done up again.

Peter

BTW, are you domiciled this side of the pond theses days? I think I recall seeing "Toronto" on your sign=in info. not long ago. Or is my middle aged brain slipping gears again?

Did they sell themselves or was there a patter that you used? Something along the lines of a secondhand car dealer ?

"Lovely little thing. Only fired once and belonged to a little old Admiral in the Swiss Navy. On special offer this week." :cheeky:

Mervyn

The bronze is a puzzle, I agree. I don't believe that the plug was replaced over lit fuses in 18-19th century shells. The plug was a wooden tube, cut off to a carefully calibrated length - which controlled when it exploded the shell - just before insertion. Putting the plug back would a) rob the smouldering fuse of oxygen and b) be REALLY high risk for the guy doing it. You didn't want to be still holding the bomb when the fuse burned down!

I believe carronades used a 24 to 32 pounder ball but not shells, and fired on line of sight like other naval [and land] artillery bar mortars. The only naval vessels firng shell were the 'bomb ketches', which mounted large and very large mortars, so this shell seems small for them. A real puzzle! If I remember I'll ask on my War of 1812 sites to see if anyone has heard of bronze shells.

Risking getting political and here, but I have to agree with Hugh. Once upon a time, US Army regs. forbade the enlisting of Blacks. And of women. People with glasses. And so on. But time moves on and so do armies.

I assume none of those other things would meet with your approval, so why does this one get such a strong reaction? The name "Singh" means "lion" and traditionally, all 'baptized' male Sikhs use it, as a token that the culture began as a sect of martial Indians, defending their homeland against Mogul [Persian, Muslim] invaders. And, as Hugh says, their reputation as soldiers is second to none.

As one who was born in the US and so technically an American [Canadian by raising and residence] I'm flattered that a new immigrant wants to help defend his adopted, my birth country. And if his hair is long, so what? I've seen lots of raggedy-ass looking troops who fought like lions. And I've seen parade ground by-the-book REMFs whose dress and hair would delight a Sergeant Major and who weren't worth the bullet to shot them! Which would you rather have watching your back?

Peter