peter monahan

The winged lion - symbol of St Mark the evangelist - is often associated with the city [or state in earlier times] of Venice.

But the badge doesn't look Italian to me.  The crown is very odd too - can we get a better shot of that?  Perhaps just on a sheet of paper or cloth?  Thanks.

Peter

"Thanks for your replies..  I hadn't considered that the badges could have been deliberately blurred."

If the caps were in fact photographer's props, the photographer may have blurred the badges to avoid annoying anyone from the regiments to which the badges belonged.  Just a thought.

Peter

Oh, well done.  I did, as I say, once own and read the one on the USAAF's body armour for WWII bomber crews, but so long ago I'd forgotten what they looked like.  But , the British  'splinter googles' are completely new.  I wonder how common they were. 

And, from the photo, what I saw as a design flaw - the protruding screw head - was actually a 'feature', allowing the eye shields to be opened and closed.  Very very interesting.  I wonder if there are photos of them in use too?

Peter

Duncan

Here's a pointer from another thread, back in January: The records are unfortunately not online, so you will have to contact a researcher based in South Africa. Two researchers that I know, and believe are also members of this forum, are DENEL (Dewald Nel - Nel's Antiques) or Aud (Audrey Portman from Rhino research). I have used both in the past with good results.

Audrey is no longer with us but I believe her daughter is carrying on the business.

P

I have always loved that pattern of sword, though I've never had enough spare change in one pile to own one.  A very elegant design and I think the brown leather scabbard a nice understated touch, as compared to the shiny steel version.  

Thanks for sharing.

A pity there are no identifying marks on the coins themselves.  Call me a cynic, but I can see a booming trade in these 'rarities' in the not too distant future, when some entrepreneur marries up his colour printer and a felt pen with a supply of the plastic boxes, which I assume are used for other coin issues as well.

You could try sending her a PM by clicking on the 'Melz' name in her original post and using that address.  Unlikely, I suspect, after all this time, but worth a try?

Peter

"is it common for only 1 person to be issued a clasp in a company  /battalion?"

I bow to Mike's superior knowledge on thi, as I can't find references to the '1901' clasp in the regulations, but it may be that his being wounded qualified him for the clasp and that the rest of his unit did not complete the necessary service period [30 days?] to get the same clasp.  

It is the case for WWI and WWII medlas that the service period was usually '30 days' but being wounded qualified one immediately.  QSAMike, similar rules here?

I'll shut up now!  I have a book on 'armour' from WWII, somewhere, but these looked so primitive I couldn't believe they were issued.  My bad.

That is a very good question!  I know that Czar Nicholas was Hon Col for one of the cavalry regiments and I think the Kaiser was as well, but it doesn't seem to be easy to turn up a list of past Honorary Colonels. 

The King of Jordan is currently Hon Col of one of the cavalry [armoured] regiments.Sorry, I wasn't clever enough to write down which one.  Maybe the Bays?

Good luck with this hunt.  If you find a list, please share.  Thanks.

Peter

Sadly, 'WWI tanker masks' are now a regular item on eBay and a very high percentage of them are modern fakes.  While the first one looks a little like those issued to British and French armoured troops, the padding would be completely inadequate in use. 

The one with the 'cross slits' has a screw on the face, which would become an extra piece of shrapnel on the inside of the mask if struck by a bullet or fragment.  It also has what look like elastic straps, which would be very unlikely, IMO, on a military issue piece.  Again, the padding looks too thin to be very useful.

I don't think these are military, but somebody's private experiments in face protection.  Blacksmith?  Welder? 'Inventor' ???

Peter

What a lovely thing and nice workmanship by Skinner.  Thank you for sharing.

And what a shame that some [adjective] person cut the ribbon!  How short sighted, to be polite about it.

I know a tiny bit about early 19th century US uniforms and such  [not 20th century so much] and I would have expected an eagle rather than a lion.  The lion is, for me, a British symbol or, going world wide, Empire / Commonwealth and some European armies.  Just my two cents worth.

3 hours ago, ozmedals said:

does anyone have a photo of the original Kenya Independence medal, from 1963.

Anyone know where I can get one ?

Megan?

16 hours ago, Spasm said:

I suppose he could've fought for both sides - maybe lost a finger to the Russians and another to the Germans - now that would've been a story not to miss.

Steve

 

I'm pretty sure, from the context and the sniggers, that he only fought for the Axis.  There were a number of Finns, technically mercenaries I suppose, who fought the Soviets in the Baltic states, alongside Wehrmacht units, right into 1945.  But, yes, still kick myself for not digging out the story.   

Neat!  From the days when it was worth saving your brass and reloading.  

Thanks again.  I did take a quick look, after I realized you had given the tank commander's name in the title of your post.

Shooting down a plane with a Tiger is pretty amazing too!

Fascinating! "'Tiger Apotheke'. His book "Tigers in the Mud" "  I for one, tend not to remember that all of the soldiers, on all sides, who survived, had 'life after the War' stories too, and sometimes fascinating ones.  I once worked with a Finn, named Torri, who was a rock blaster in a mine in northern Ontario.  He was missing two fingers on one hand, which I assumed was work related.  Torri had a partner who spoke for both of them, though I'm pretty sure Torri understood English just fine. 

Anyway, long story short, I eventually discovered that Torri lost his fingers 'in the war' and, for the rest of the Finns, the joke was which side he's fought on.  Not for the Allies but for the [anti-Communist] Axis.  Always regretted that I never got the full story.

I have no Arabic at all, bar 5-6 oral phrases, but the last pages you posted, with the soldier at the blackboard and the 'sample writing' on the facing pages remind me of a booklet some friends of mine had, years ago, when their dad took a job in Saudia.

I wonder if this might be a basic reader, with 'high interest illustrations' and sample written words / phrase, for the instruction of soldiers who were illiterate?  Or for their children?  I used to teach both English and ESL and, bar the two prtraits, it has the look of a 'primer' as they used to be called, IMO.  

Paul.  I can certainly ask MilMed if he is interested in joining in and sharing.  He seems quite knowledgable and willing to share that knowledge.

We're doing well here.  My adult son, who lives with us, did his last shift at MacDonalds on March 7, the day before Ontario was locked down.  He had worked their for 9 years, 10.5 months and yesterday one of the managers showed up at our door to drop of an award, which included a booklet with comments from all his managers.  He is a super sweet guy and all his managers were upset that he left, but that just made his day.

I'm doing some 'car birding' - we have a Bald Eagle nest I can see from a road - and yesterday I spent 3 hours, 4 beer and 7-8 episodes of 'Broklynn 99" hand sewing a mask for myself.  Will probably do one for the wife today.  Also discovered that our elder daughter, who works in a group home with 'challenged' adults, will get a $4/hour raise for the duration of the  emergency.  So, we're all good.  

I hope you're staying healthy and safe.  Are you back at work yet?

Peter

Congratulations on your find.  I opened this thread at the beginning - 2012!  I had an interest in bronze medals because of a life long passion for the old British Indian Army. 

Even back in 2012, however, someone was expressing concerns over the naming on a bronze BWM, which I brushed aside.  He went on to say that the bronze medals were being reproduced / faked / 'improved' with added naming.  It is ironic in the extreme that the 'lesser awards' are now more desirable to some because of rarity value.  My reaction to the bronze awards to Labour Corps and so on has always been 'The all bled red'.  Glad to see others share an interest in the 'also served' units and individuals.

Nice one! 

Ravs

The only thing I can suggest is checking with the appropriate regimental museum.  After multiple amalgamations since 1958, I think that would be the Rifles Museum.  They may not have the rolls in question [or war diaries] but can perhaps tell you whether or not they still exist and where.  If you are a Facebook user, you might contact Rob Yuill [Major] who was Curator and Director of Regimental Heritage with The Rifles 2013 - 2019.  He is a reenactor, avid historian of the Rifles and all round nice chap who, if he knows, will almost certainly steer you in the right direction.  Good luck!

Peter

At one point, 30-40 years ago now, I tried to compile a roll of Indians who served in South Africa.  So, remember that anything I say below is filtered through my now middle-aged brain.  Here's more than you asked and quite possibly more than you need!

A couple points:

• no Indian units were sent to South Africa, at least partly because the British authorities did not want to encourage the idea that Indian soldier should shoot at white men, even if those white men were the Boer.  Memories of the Mutiny!
• Numbers of British officers from Indian Army units 'took long leave' and went to SA, where they often joined volunteer units.  Kipling writes a story about this. 
• A number of cavalry sowars made it to South Africa with shipments of remounts, mostly Australian origin, which were trained in India and sent on.  My strong recollection is that some of them were awarded no-bar silver medals. Bronze medals were awarded to some non-combatants, including a number of Indian 'sais' [grooms] who also travelled with the remounts.
• Lord Roberts, 'Bobs', had two Indian orderlies who served him in SA.  There are either photos or, I think, paintings of the two which appear to show them wearing multi-clasp QSAs.  The 'colony bars' could be earned - you might want to check this - for one day's service in Cape Colony, so presumably getting off the troopship qualifies you.  Whether an Indian sowar would or could get away with adding the bar himself, as many British soldiers seem to have done, is unknown to me.

I believe, given what I've mentioned above, that there are likely no consolidated rolls of Indian Army recipients of the QSA, because the rolls are typically organized by unit.  These would all have been slightly irregular and so noted, if at all.   But IU did at one time identify 20 to 25 examples of silver QSAs to IA personnel, mostly no bars, held by collectors in the UK, USA and elsewhere.

N.B.  Just re-read the original posts and realized that David Grant has posted a list of units [above] known to have been in SA.  So I may be wrong about 'no central roll'.  My info. is at least 30 years old

Sadly, without colour, which might  allow one to identify the pagri [turban] and cummberband colours, it is almost impossible  to identify individual regiments of IA cavalry once they'd all gone to the khaki kurtas.  The absence of beard only indicates that they are not Sikhs, who made up a very large percentage of the Punjab and Bengal units.  However, even they had troops and even squadrons of Hindus, Dogras and Muslims, not all of whom wore facial hair.  Some of the 'Trans-Frontier Pathan' [Afghani] recruits, for example, wore just a moustache and other castes might be clean shaven.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to babble on and go down memory lane.

Peter

Paul

Not my field at all, I'm afraid.  However, I am aware that the medals, which can go for as high as 1,600 Euros apparently, are being faked, quite heavily and expertly.  A quick look suggests that the badges - again quite commonly faked I think -0 can be bought for $30 US.  So, I would have the badge and it's provenance looked at by an expert dealer.  Below is some info on the medals [and fakery] and perhaps some people you can speak to.

https://thecollectorsshopblackrock.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/rare-fianna-na-heireann-medal-for-sale/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Defence_Forces_cap_badge

The badge may be quite common.  This is not my area of expertise but this seems a common price range for what you have: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Irish-Defence-Forces-cap-badge-Fianna-Fail-Insignia-Metal-Hat-badge-NEW-/133334327069