Hauptmann

Hi all, Here's an Order of Lenin. Again not one to fool anyone but again okay in a display when you can't afford the real one: [attachmentid=63208] [attachmentid=63210]

Hi all, Again not anything to seriously fool anyone but okay in a display when you can't afford the real McCoy: [attachmentid=63206] [attachmentid=63207] Dan

Hi all, Here's a couple of Hero stars. Note one has an inscription on the reverse, the other is blank: [attachmentid=63203] [attachmentid=63204] [attachmentid=63205] They look much better when they're polished. Fine for display but not ones to seriously fool anyone. Dan

Hi all, Guess I'll start this out with my copy of the Pilot Cosmonaut of the USSR: [attachmentid=63201] [attachmentid=63202] Dan

And a Proficiency Badge that I'm assuming is a 2nd class: [attachmentid=63192] [attachmentid=63193] As with all Hungarian awards I just love the color combinations and overall design. Beautiful pieces that really catch the eye... even for the low level awards. Charles... again my most humble and profound thanks to you my friend. These have definitely made an outstanding addition to my small but ever growing Hungarian collection. Can't wait till you're back in the states so we can visit and share our collections in person. I'm sure we'll both have added quite a bit to them by then, God willing. Dan

A badge to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the End of WWII: [attachmentid=63190] [attachmentid=63191]

Now a Distinguished Service Order which is cased but I couldn't put that in the scanner and as I believe this is the same one from Charles post #45-47 that I'd just go ahead and show the Order itself: [attachmentid=63187] [attachmentid=63188] And one of my favorite parts of all complete Hungarian awards... the ribbon bar with the miniature device. Very well made and just beautiful in my opinion: [attachmentid=63189]

Here's a bigger scan of each page: [attachmentid=63185] [attachmentid=63186]

Hi all, I hope Charles does not mind but I wanted to post my newest additions which he was kind enough to send along as an early Christmas present! Now do we have the greatest members or what? Thank you my friend, from the bottom of my heart. You've also got some goodies coming before too much longer. Will let you know when they're on their way. Also Charles, I'd promised to send scans of the award book so you could translate but right now my laptop is on the fritz and being worked on. Hoping it will be back to normal in the next couple of days. But for now my mail is locked up on that except for what I can access online. So figured this would be the quickest/easiest way to get these to you. Here goes. First off the award booklet for my Labor Order from post #21: [attachmentid=63183] [attachmentid=63184]

Hi Jim, Definitely heavy enough, especially if it's in flight. I'd love to see those practice rockets... perhaps one of the members may have one... be neat complete with the case. I've got a practice shell complete with the case: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9173 Posts #4, 5 and 6. Dan

Hi Charles, Hmmm, hadn't thought about that. I did do up one of my dewat grenades with one of those complaint department type labels, but doing so with the practice bomb didn't even enter my mind. I may give that a try. Wow! A 500 pounder! Can't imagine how much bigger that one was! Dan

Hi Paul, I'll get this started. I could not find a ton of info on his awards. Nor could I find a single picture of him in any uniform wearing awards or even ribbon bars. He doesn't seem to like to wear such things even in dressier uniforms and of course likes to wear fatigues more than just about anything. However, I have seen pics of his brother Raul in uniform with a fairly large set of ribbon bars... nothing close to say a Marshal of the SU but a good number. I'm hoping someone can come up with some pics of him wearing some or all of his awards and that others can add to this thread. Here's what I was able to find including links to the sites where they were found: Hero of the Soviet Union (HSU). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_the_Soviet_Union Order of Lenin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Lenin The Order of Duarte, S?nchez and Mella, golden cross (the highest Dominican decoration) presented on 24 August 1998. http://dr1.com/news/1998/dnews082498.shtml The Order of Good Hope (South Africa's highest civilian award for foreigners). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro Ghanaian Star Order (the highest decoration awarded by the African country). http://www.library.yale.edu/~fboateng/castro.htm Jamaican Order of Merit. Castro is an Honorary member of this Order. http://www.jis.gov.jm/officepm/html/200503..._excellence.asp Havana, Cuba - 31 August 2003 - A Native American activist group awarded its highest honour for exceptional warriors to President Fidel Castro - the first time the "Eagle Feather" has been bestowed on a non-native of the United States. Daniel Cheng Yang, leader of the American Indian Movement's youth group, presented the award to Castro along with a declaration honouring"the man who represents respect, success, honour and bravery," Cuba's official National Information Agency said. http://www.aparchive.com/aparchive/pages/l...tro_cuba_3.html Wish I could have found more but hope this helps. Very interested to see if others can come up with more, especially pictures wearing same. Also hoping others may be able to provide photos of these awards. Thanks for coming up with what I feel is an excellent thread. Dan

Oh you'd be surprised how much paper builds up around here. Plus we have extremely high winds at times here in North Dakota... tie downs don't always do it, so I bring in the heavy artillery. Dan

Hi Charles, Terrific photos! Agreed... never seem many photos of any of this being worn so this is very refreshing. Hoping more turns up that can be added to these. Great reference material. On insignia... I've got some charts of insignia from WWII if that would help. "Might" have some post war but I'll have to go down in the bunker and dig through my library to see what I can come up with. Dan

Wow Gents! Excellent job on this section so far! Love these pics... hope they keep coming. Joel, how I wish I'd known you'd find that 88 as I'd have absolutely love pics of the optics if they're still attached. Seems the hardest thing to get in pics of 88's... and I've seen tons of them... but they never seem to show the optics. Only one I ever got was one I took with my digital camera off a documentary on the TV in freeze frame! Came on it quite by accident and the only one I've ever seen. I tried writing the staff at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and sure enough they have 88's but basically they said I'd have to come to take pics of whatever I wanted. Arrrrrgh! Hopefully next time we're in Maryland but that could be several years from now. Hopefully more pics will show up at some point. Will continue to keep my fingers crossed. But boy oh boy how I'd love that puppy in my front (or back) yard. Kim might grumble a bit but c'est la guerre! Keep up the great work! Dan

Welcome aboard! Wow, great piece there! I know if I'd seen it in a shop, junk box, etc. I'd have grabbed it in a heartbeat. Great find there. Hope someone can shed some light on it. Many thanks for sharing. Dan

Hi Chris, I totally agree that something needs to be done. I'll make the recommendation again and see if I can somehow get something decided so it can be taken care of. So as far as method of preservation... would soaking in wd40 be the best bet? Would that affect any of the other parts in a negative way? I'd want to go the best route as far as trying to preserve anything they have over there. I've tried to bring up preservation techniques with them before... sent them articles on same. Would love it if they'd send someone (and I'd even be more than willing to go if no one else was willing to take it on) to a conference or seminar on occassion to learn proper museum preservation techniques. But no idea if this is something they'll ever decide to do or not. Dan

Hi Jef, Wow... those are great! That one certainly looks like it took a lot of intricate workmanship to produce... cutting around the full inscription as well as the central design. Beautiful! I'm so glad more are coming out of the woodwork. I think most numismatists would turn their noses up at such things but I really think they're great. Thanks so much for sharing them. Dan

Hi Gents, Thanks so much for all the great suggestions and info so far. Will begin to check out a few of these. Not sure how he feels but in my mind I'd love to see him get them through official government channels. Anyone can go and buy them, but somehow in my mind it's important for it all to be official. If he's entitled to them... earned them, then I feel it's something the government should do. He served the country faithfully and with honor and like all such veterans deserves to be honored by his country in this way. Our just buying the medals and such is, again at least in my mind, just not the same. But my mind is open and I'm willing to help him to the nth degree in an attempt to get whatever it is he's supposed to have. I think he deserves no less and it's the least I can do. He's a great guy and a true gentleman in every sense of the word. I really want to see him receive whatever is due him from his service with whatever official documentation comes with same. It's something he can proudly display and then eventually pass down in his family. Looking forward to any more info and will get to work on all this right away. Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted on how things work out with this. Dan

Hi Kevin, You're quite correct re: the bodies and such at the Custer site. However, they did say there were up in the thousand or several thousand range re: how many shells and such they've recovered from the Custer site. Sadly I missed getting this one on tape/dvd. I haven't had time to check and see if I'd gotten it previously and had forgotten doing so. I generally tend to get such things that hold an interest for me, which the Custer battle has for most of my life. I'll try to see if I can find out the exact figures they mentioned in the program. Hopefully, if nothing else they'll repeat it soon as they usually do with most of their shows. I believe it was on the History Channel but again I'll have to double check to make sure. I just tried checking on the web to see if they'd mentioned the number recovered but so far I can't find it. I wish I'd caught it in time yesterday to get it on disc or something. I did get the last 20 minutes or so on tape as I had to head out and wanted to finish it later. I'll try and do that later today and see if they mention the figure again. Also totally agree with the York site not being documented as in the Custer case and it having seen untold combat not only during WWI but long before I'm sure and again after in WWII. Also not sure about the gun being kept/saved. Chances are that he turned it back in upon leaving the service and it was reissued ad nauseum from that point on, perhaps even being lost or destroyed over time. "If" it was kept and "if" they can test fire and then compare it's cartridges with those from the site and "if" the original firing pin and other parts are indeed intact (which I agree may have been changed over at some point) then there's a possibility they could get matches. All slim chances but all possibilities as well. It's also amazing how well preserved some items are even when recovered from the worst sites. Almost as if they're "meant" to be that way. But then again some mysteries like this may never be completely solved. All we can do is try and at times be willing to admit that it's just not going to happen no matter how hard we try. Anyhow if I manage to dig up that documentary and can quote their figures and other info I'll pop back into all this and let everyone know. Or perhaps if another member (knock on wood) managed to get it and can do so it would be much appreciated. Nonetheless this is a fascinating discussion and I do hope much more info comes to light in the near future. Thanks, Dan

Hi Kevin, Just wanted to pop in on this one. Happened to see a documentary on remains and artifacts found on the Custer Battlefield today. And they actually managed to do quite a number of amazing things. They had one researcher who compared all the shell casings that have been found to date and matched a number of them as having been fired from the same gun. In this way they could trace the various locations a particular gun was in on that day. They could also determine whether the guns were Army issue or likely used by the Indians... or in some cases Army issue pieces which were captured by the Indians during the battle and then turned on their former owners. They did indeed manage to match at least one rifle in the museums collection to a group of cartridges found on the battlefield and hence proved that rifle was indeed used in the battle and they showed each location where it was fired that day! So if they could determine this from cartridges buried since 1876 then I see no reason they could not do the same from those from WWI. I'm also curious as to whether they have York's .45 and if they could test fire it in order to match up the cartridges and confirm that they were indeed fired by York on that day. I hope more information comes out on this over time. Dan

Hi all, I have a friend who is a Vietnam Vet. I just learned tonight that he never received his Vietnam Service Medal... only the ribbon. I know this is not that uncommon but I'd love to see him get this medal and any others he might be entitled to. He received an honorable discharge when his service time was over. But he has no idea what, if any other medals or awards he'd be entitled to. He does know that his unit received the Presidential Unit Citation right after he left the service... and it was for service during the time he was with the unit. Would it make sense that he'd be entitled to that? How about the National Defense Service Medal? This is one that came to my mind... and also how about the Good Conduct Medal? I've no idea how to go about A) finding out what he's entitled to and B) putting in for same. I know he'll have to do it but I'd like to get any information I can to help him to do this. Hoping one of you may know the correct procedures and any help would be deeply appreciated. He's very proud of his service and very supportive of other Vets and those currently serving. But I'd very much like to see him get any medals or awards he has coming to him. Many thanks! Dan

Hi Stephen, Many thanks... great shot! Images of Gerd Frobe in Those Magnificent Young Men In Their Flying Machines pop to mind... in the balloon ve must not vear our spiked helmets!!!! And absolutely love that garage scene! Hey, here's hoping you and your's and all the rest of the membership who celebrate have a terrific Thanksgiving and all that goes with it. Dan

Hi Peter, Hey, as far as not being a numismatist... it's never too late to start! Ve ist alvays tryink to recruit new members! Seriously, it's a wonderful hobby and as I say I've been enjoying it since I was about 6 or 7 years old. I believe that's when my folks gave me a Whitman coin collecting kit for Christmas... or my birthday... been so long I simply can't remember which. I still have the stuff. Basically it was a few Whitman albums which are cardstock with holes cut out for each coin... say Lincoln Cents for a particular set of years and mint marks and marked for same. The outside is generally covered in a blue paper which is marked with what the set is, etc. Then there were some coin tubes... plastic tubes for different denominations of coins. Coin tweezers to pick them up by the edge... a basic guide to coin collecting... stuff like that, along with a few coins to get you started... wheat back Lincoln cents and the like. But it was like rocket fuel to me. Over the years I've managed to accumulate at least a couple thousand pieces of currency (mostly foreign) and several thousand coins (again mostly foreign). Most are fairly common pieces which are examples of various types and denominations from all over and various periods of time. Many were purchased from dealer boxes which were always full of foreign coins... or from so called junk boxes from which I've managed to aquire a few treasures here and there. Plus buying outright from their main stocks. And on the currency the bulk of it has probably been from what are called job lots... large groupings which go for cheap so you can resell to make a bit on each item individually. I've collected by year/mint mark for several different series. I've also collected by type and have a set I'm rather proud of which takes U.S. coins from half cents all the way up to dollar coins and then some gold although those consist of some U.S. and some foreign pieces. I've not yet been able to do a U.S. gold type collection but would love to at some point... if gold prices ever come down again. Coins and currency... and even stamps, are minature works of art in many cases. They teach history, geography, politics... I could go on and on. It's a fascinating hobby, at least as much so as militaria. There's tons of references available, most well within the reach of anyone, even those on a limited budget. Hope I can tempt you to give it a try. Doesn't take much, nor does it take a big investment. Alot of folks these days collect those commemorative state quarters. And hey, being in Canada you have a rich numismatic heretage... especially in circulating commems. Seems like every time they turn around up there they're putting out a new commemorative so there's tons to choose from. One Canadian series I like it their nickles which do indeed have some very nice circulating commemoratives in the bunch. There's one which has the V for victory on it and around the edge the dit dit dit dah more code used with that during the war. It's a terrific piece and one that I believe you can still get for very little money in the higher grades. As for the cutouts... I'm kind of torn. They can be beautifully done. The ones I've seen the most have been bufallo nickles. They tend to do this with worn, common date examples. But I hate to see it done unless the original piece had already been holed in the past or something. On the one hand if enough of them are cut out then even some common pieces will begin to get harder to come by, especially for collectors on limited budgets. Pieces that are already damaged... well, not much you can hurt on them at that point. But the problem is that jewelers and such always need a steady supply so just keep cutting up more and more. It's a double edged sword. But chances are you'll probably still be able to find that Austrian eagle piece you liked. Try searching on Ebay and you may just luck out... or perhaps even on a search engine as there may be a jeweler selling just such an item. Anyhow hope I've said something to tempt you to perhaps look a bit deeper into all this and maybe consider starting a collection. Believe me, you can do it for very little money so it wouldn't have to pull much away from your other interests. But you can easily put together a nice collection to be proud of with just a little effort. There's tons of reference and sales material available online and also in just about every bookstore I've ever been in. Look around a bit and see what types of items appeal to you and before you know it I bet you'll be on your way. Dan

Hi Stephen, Great job on this one! Wondered if you could show a closer view of the officer... looks terrific but would love to see more. Thanks, Dan