azyeoman

A beautiful Fracke with a red label by Paul Kust.

Another fine one by Hocke.

I hope you find out that it was a safety deposit box in the bank safe.

Beautiful. Please post in the Tailor Label section too as I know everyone will love seeing this quality bar.

Another new one for an entirely WWII bar. No name, but the address.

Have you ever noticed that for every one Burma Star PoW group, there are 15 or more Pacific Star PoW groups? And those aren't all that common either considering the number of PoWs incarcerated by the Japanese. Well, I finally came across one in Yorkshire with the original box of issue and condolence slip. The box is addressed to Mr. North of Bradford and the condolence slip is for 2338672 Sjt. James North, who served with the 47th Mobile Workshop Co., RE. He was the 23 year old son of Frank and Mary North of Idle, Bradford and was the wife of Winifred North. He died at the hands of the Japanese on the 6th of August 1943 and is buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. His medal entitlement was: the '39-45 Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal and War Medal. All are unnamed as issued. From what I gather, the RE had mobile workshops and eventually they became part of the newly founded and organized REME. Below is some information on the environment and circumstances the mobile workshops and Sjt. James North faced in the Burma Campaign. By VE-Day May 1945 (the end of the War in Europe) the Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers had been firmly established as an essential component of the Armed Forces having proved their utility in the various theatres of operations. By 1942 the Japanese had driven the British Army out of BURMA, and when the REME was formed the British and Indian Army units were establishing a line of resistance in ASSAM. The operations against the Japanese met with limited success, and the tide of battle was not turned in the Far East until 1944 with Allied success in the major battles of KOHIMA and IMPHAL. The REME supported the Army operations providing Officers and senior NCOs for the IEME, the East Africa EME and the West Africa EME who were also fighting in BURMA. The dreadful terrain and climate, together with the absence of nearby workshops, placed a heavy strain on the Corps of EME. Improvisation and repairs beyond the limits intended for small mobile workshops became normal routine. The nature of the campaign and the absence of clear front lines resulted in support services like EME often being in the thick of the fighting. The provision of EME base support in the Far East came from INDIA where military and civilian-manned workshops were established. Only a trickle of repairable equipment reached them over such tenuous L of C, so their efforts had limited effect except where components could be made or repaired for airlifting forward. The need of a build-up for REME and IEME resources was met by a number of reinforcing units sent from Europe after the war had ended there. The terrain and climate of BURMA proved to be very hard on equipment. During the dreaded monsoon period very few vehicles without four-wheel drive could progress on the muddy roads. Vehicle and component life was short, weapons succumbed to rust, instruments and radios were affected by damp and fungi. In order to increase the mobility of workshops, many larger machinery trucks were gutted and their machines transferred either to smaller four-wheel vehicles or to trailers which could be towed or manhandled. The widespread rivers and estuaries led to workshops being established on landing craft or even on a railway train. Wayside service stations had to be established on the main supply routes. All these Allied Corps of EME included tradesmen of different races and creeds, highly motivated and well regarded. Before the end of the war, fully trained Indian Officers and artificers began to replace REME personnel in the IEME. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has posted this information on the cemetery. Location Information The town of Kanchanaburi is 129 kilometres North-West of Bangkok and is best reached by road, along the National Highway which runs north from the capital. There are bus and train services from Bangkok. Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is situated adjacent to Saeng Chuto Road which is the main road through the town. When approaching from Bangkok, the cemetery is on the left side of the road, towards the far (northern) end of the town. A Commission signpost faces the cemetery on the opposite side of the road. Historical Information The notorious Burma-Siam railway, built by Commonwealth, Dutch and American prisoners of war, was a Japanese project driven by the need for improved communications to support the large Japanese army in Burma. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the railway. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). Two labour forces, one based in Siam and the other in Burma worked from opposite ends of the line towards the centre. The Japanese aimed at completing the railway in 14 months and work began in October 1942. The line, 424 kilometres long, was completed by December 1943. The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma-Siam railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Myanmar. KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY is only a short distance from the site of the former 'Kanburi', the prisoner of war base camp through which most of the prisoners passed on their way to other camps. It was created by the Army Graves Service who transferred to it all graves along the southern section of railway, from Bangkok to Nieke. Some 300 men who died (most from a Cholera epidemic in May/June 1943) at Nieke camp were cremated and their ashes now lie in two graves in the cemetery. The names of these men are inscribed on panels in the shelter pavilion. There are now 5,084 Commonwealth casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. There are also 1,896 Dutch war graves. Within the entrance building to the cemetery will be found the KANCHANABURI MEMORIAL, recording the names of 11 men of the army of undivided India buried in Muslim cemeteries in Thailand, where their graves could not be maintained. The cemetery was designed by Colin St Clair Oakes.

What's the reverse look like? The patina on the medal doesn't look old. My guess is it's a fraternal organization of some sort. It may not even be French as if you look at the central line, it's red, white a blue and in France the colors are blue, white and red. Some of the US medals have edging on their ribbons that are similar to this. Maybe someone else will know.

Very enjoyable thread; please keep posting. : )

Couldn't agree more.

Another nice frack by Werner of Berlin.

Strapper, you're comment, "Hell, I'm surprised America didn't back the Nazis in WW2" is offensive.

Another one by Gustav Vietor Wisbaden

I'm not familiar with this medal. The eagle most certainly looks contemporary and if you can read the hallmarks, they might indicate when the piece was minted. I suspect it has to do with a veteran's organization. It's very nicely minted; too bad it doesn't have an original ribbon as that would be a clue too.

A new and very fine one for the thread. Max Reuter Munster i.Westf. black on aluminum rectangle sewn on each end

For those of you who are interested in this thread, I highly suggest you read Major Frederick Russell Burnham DSO. He was a freind of President Teddy Roosevelt, Cecil Rhodes, Lt. Gen. Sir Robert Baden-Powell, H. Rider Haggard and Rear Adm. William S. Sims USN among many others. Born in Minnesota, he eventually scouted in the Tonto Basin and elsewhere in the Arizona Territory as well as panning for Gold there. A real adventurer who went to S. Africa and became Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts. He wrote up his tails in Scouting on Two Continents, which was published in 1928 by Doubleday, Doran & Co. In the front there is a great photo of him with his DSO, British South Africa Company Medal (1897) with bar and QSA with four bars. Although written in a contemporary style and with an obvious narcessisitic bent, it's still a good read and has some wonderful photographs throughout the text. He's one of those 19th century and early 20th century adventurers who seemed to have met everyone and been everywhere and had luck riding on his shoulder. If you can't be bothered to read the book, then here's his online bio... ; ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Russell_Burnham

Here's an informative site on PoWs. http://www.war-experience.org/history/keyaspects/captivity/

HI Brian, You're probably familiar with this, but it's an informative article with anecdotes on PoWs. http://www.war-experience.org/history/keyaspects/captivity/ All the best, John

Exciting research is what keeps us collecting and you've done it yet again. Thank you for posting and as cheeky as it may sound, please keep 'em coming. I've just reread these and am jealous that you can get the service records. I hope they're available soon for the Brits. The first man is interesting because of the connections with the Benghazi cages; it's the first group I've seen that has that connection. Thanks for posting and again, keep 'em coming.

Here's a nice one by Sedlatzek of Berlin. It's nice to know that often the labels were made in different colors.

HI Rick, Thanks. I've collected medals since '77/'78 but have only become interested in German items for the last five to six, seven years. Even then, you could get Franco-Prussian bars quite inexpensively compared to WWI and TR bars; now they're creeping up and WWI seem to have tapered off their skyrocketing; TR bars have always been cheaper than the sum of the individual medals; something I've never understood in comparison to British/Commonwealth and US groups. I'm not just into German though and have a smattering of other items as you can see from this site too. It's the history that's interesting and that's what makes me want to do the research. What good is a gong without the research, eh? I'm glad you like the thread and I hope it helps some to see what's available and what good bars look like as opposed to all the fakes out there now. All the best Rick! Cheers,

I worked in the DRC when it was Zaire and lived in Bukavu. It got cold and during the rainy season I used to wear a jacket. I wasn't too far from Kenya and I know from having been there that there are times in the hills or higher altitudes that it's important to have something heavier to wear. Not all of Africa and particularly parts of Kenya are not Tarzan-like jungles that Hollywood depicts. I'm sure some of the old ex-pats from Kenya can pipe in and give some good tales. Can you post those photos; it's always great to see pics.

It's the former, "Fur Kreigsehrenzeichen".

My latest and a nice frackenspange. The second medal (from the right) is the the Prussian War Merit Cross, which was awarded to men and women who had done more than two years of faithful war work at home. The award was founded on 5 December 1916 by Emperor Wilhelm II. There were no differences in rank and status. The Cross was also awarded to residents of the allied states. The War Merit Cross could be worn after the Iron Cross. There was no obligation to return the award. Most crosses were made of zinc, but a few crosses were made of aluminum and even fewer of silver. The third medal (from the right) is the Hesse Honor for War Welfare Medal, which was instituted on 17 September 1915 by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. It was awarded to people were who had rendered outstanding services in the field of war welfare. Initially, officers, NCOs and soldiers and medical personnel were awarded for military merit which was not in the face of the enemy. From 26 June 1916, the medal was also awarded to women. It is made of bronze and is 25mm in diameter and weighs 6.8 gms.

Here's a great post card and my latest addition... follows nicely the HMS Benbow group above.

Excellent! I'm glad it will be on display for everyone to enjoy and not on the vault of a mega-museum-