Hauptmann

Cased Sports badge in Bronze with cloth badge and stickpin .

Hi Grant,

Love your service medal. I've had one for a few years now. Just wish it would fit in the base of the case a bit better. Does yours fit snug or loose out of curiosity?

Absolutely love your Sports Badge set. Generally you just find the standard size ones and sometimes the minis... I've only seen one or two of the cloth. But I've "never" seen a cased set not to mention one as complete as this.

You must have some terrific sources over there because nothing this complete ever seems to turn up over here. Congratulations on a great find! Only way it could have been a bit better is if it came with the original award document.

Keep up the great work my friend!

Dan

Ed, Christian... many thanks for your help on this. Wanted to let you know I managed to get one which I hope will be here by the end of the week (knock on wood)!

Just wish to high heaven I knew what happened to my other one. I really can't believe it was stolen as there were much more expensive and desireable items than that and yet everything else is accounted for. And as it was sealed in a small riker with other medals and all those are accounted for... I can't see it having gotten lost. But I've searched high and low and it's just not here. So no idea. If it ever turns up all the better I guess but for now I've filled the empty spot again:

Thanks again!

Dan

Dan,

Thanks. A litlle slow tonight. I'll be more awake tomorrow!

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Not a problem my friend! I've been that way alot lately. Not been sleeping well... seems to happen every few months for some reason. That and early senility... my biggest excuse!

Dan

Hi all,

Don't suppose anyone might by chance have an extra of one of these Veteran medals? I had one that I got when I first started out in Soviet awards but now it's turned up missing. I've gone through everything several times and can't find it. I can only imagine it was somehow lost in the move (which is not likely as it was in a small riker mount with other medals all of which are here) or was stolen. Again I can't see how but I just can't imagine what else happened to it.

If you by chance have a spare please nudge me with a PM and hopefully we can work something out.

Mucho thanks!

Dan

Gents,

I'm a little confused by the location reference. I assume you are refering to the picture I posted. The caption under the foto reads "Schutspolizist und freiwilliger Helfer im Bereich der VPI Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg W?hrend der Dienstdurchf?hrung". I hope this resolves the question.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Actually, it's the locations mentioned in the helper ID I posted.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Mine has a barrel catch and complety smooth back of the medal

It seems to have what I would call typical USSR thick type enamle

Order of Victory

Hi Vic,

Sounds to me like one of the earlier ones!!!! Ya did great on it my friend! May you be as lucky with the other two!!!!

Dan

Dan,

You did very well for one of your first participations in the quiz!!! Congrats!!

I'm very pleased, because I learnt a lot during this set of question from you.

Please, continue to participate, answer questions, ask questions!!!!

Thanks again.

Cheers.

Ch.

Many thanks Christophe... I deeply appreciate that. I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for more that I can answer.

Thanks again!

Dan

Hi Dan,

Heres a pic of the backside what do you think

Order of Victory

Hi Vic,

Well, I just checked all three of mine. Your example seems to have a much less pebbled background than mine. Mine all have the later bent over type pin catches. I can't tell for sure if your's has the barrel catch (early) or the intermediate type.

But from what I see on the pic I suspect your's is earlier than any of mine... just can't tell which type. Can you do a better shot of the pin and catch?

Perhaps Gordon can also pop in on these. I've heard that the earliest ones had "really nice" enamels compared with the later pieces. But to be honest I love them all! Great Orders, very nice cases, and generally for low prices... can't ask for much more than that.

Dan

Hi all,

I hope I didn't make that last "too" easy ... but after talking with Christian it seemed I needed to give additional hints. When I originally did these I had no idea either of them would be that difficult. Seems ya'll have come up with things much harder than this... but perhaps it's because these are areas I've been intro'd in for so many years and I felt others would know of them. I saw the movie (which I "HIGHLY" recommend by the way!) when I was young when it originally aired on tv (I believe it was a made for TV movie) and it left a deep impression. Years later I got a copy of the book about Belenko and it too impressed me.

Well, hope they gave a bit of entertainment for all concerned. Best of luck on the 100th question!

Dan

Hi all,

Okay, I guess a few more hints are called for on part one of the question:

He served as a merchant seaman.

He was a defector who "literally" jumped ship.

There was a movie made about his experience.

Hope this helps. Can provide more if needed.

Dan

Was Saalkreis located in Bezirk Halle?

Hi Jon,

A good question! I myself have been wondering about the locations mentioned here. Hoping Gordon will be able to shed some light on this. Would love to see a map with the locations pointed out, if possible.

Dan

Hi Gordon,

Very cool! And love the armband. I keep telling Vic and Gordon they each need to pick one up since generally they're dirt cheap, although very well made. I'm still keeping my eye peeled for the Border Guard version. I only saw it once a few years ago and hoping another pops up.

Thanks for posting the pic!

Dan

Hi Grant,

Terrific new additions! LOVE the bar!!!! And it's once again got my favorite leading the pack. Love the postal medals too... it's the first I've seen in those earlier cases... generally they're in the plastic ones. Sorry I missed them but hopefully I'll get a set at some point.

Dan

Dan,

There are lots of blank ones available on ebay.de but not many completed ones show up for sale. I don't think there was a lot of stigmatism associated with being a police helper. It is a long standing German tradition and not the same as being an informant for the STASI. Those people had a hard time after the wall fell and the files were opened. For example, the only East German fighter airplane accepted into the West German Luftwaffe, after the reunification of the forces, was the MiG 29. The Luftstreitcraft squadron pilots that flew the MiG 29 were offered positions in the Bundesluftwaffe and amost all of them accepted. After the STASI files were opened and researched it turned out that some of the East German MiG 29 pilots had been informers and seven of them "resigned" their commissions in the Bundesluftwaffe immediately.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Many thanks for all this great info! I'd assumed they were on the same level as the informants and I was not aware that this was something they'd done for a long time. I guess they were similar then to our reserves here in the states? Helping at big events, traffic accidents, things of that nature.

Will definitely be keeping my eye out for more such docs in the future.

Thanks!

Dan

Dan,

Interesting document. Thanks for posting the additional pages.

Regards,

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. I wonder how many of these are still running around out there... at least this complete. You'd think most of these folks would have destroyed or otherwise gotten rid of these after the wall fell... but then again they estimate 80% of the population were working for the police in some capacity or another so perhaps there wasn't much of a point. But I was very happy to nab this one.

Dan

Hmmmm, very cool! Love all your new additions Vic. But think that's terrific that those boards are Reichsbahn. Had I only known. But hey, at least now I know what to look for. And quite a bit of info on the swallows nests. That would be even more cool if the green is police since you have a good sized police collection now.

Well done on all counts!!!!

Oh, out of curiosity how does the back of the banner look? Didn't know if it was an early or later type.

Keep on truckin' my friend. Gotta get em' all!

Dan

Hi Sergey,

A terrific presentation and an extremely fitting memorial you've made to all those who served and those who perished during the Great Patriotic War. Well done!

Dan

Dan

Hi all,

The ID doc arrived so here are some additional scans:

Hi all,

My latest addition... soon to be added to this tunic in place of the brown officers belt:

Dan

Hi all,

My latest addition:

Dan