cabart13

Four more to add to the database ... 123 126 132 424

Lt Burns

Greetings to All ... Well this project has come to a delightful end. We managed to locate the Davies and Burns families ... Found out that Lt. Davies was a gunner/observer; not a pilot as previously reported ... Both Lt Burns and Lt Davies were in the same formation that got shot down on 29 APR 1917 ... even got provenance linking all the POW's badges that were mounted on the post cards ... Here is Martin Davies; Lt Davies oldest son ... and Jane Sewell's hand; Lt Burns grand daughter; she is camera shy Lt Burns managed to keep a secret journal while in captivity and retyped it when he got released. I always wondered how Lt. Forrest; infantry, got in the mix with three RFC aviators' badges on the post cards ... looks like they were in the same POW camps for the initial interrogation before being transferred off the front line.

With the exception of 2LT Houghton (gunner/observer) , all other Officers families have been identified. I am in the process of contacting Lt Davies (pilot) family ... the German mispelled his name as Davis ... 2Lt Burns (pilot) and 2Lt Houghton were crew members on the same plane. Burns, Houghton, and Davies were members of 20 SQN and shot down 29 APR 1917 ... 2LT Forrest was infantry and got captured on 28 APRIL 1917 leading a trench patrol. I planned to purchase similar badges as you suggested Jock to preserve the project. Dat

Greeting to ALL, Well 2017 is a great year for my badge projects: 2LT Weatherill Abbott Strickland RE8 Gunner/Observer - 57 SQN "forced to land" with 2LT Griffith 12JUL17 2LT Harold Morgan Lewis Nieuport 23 Fighter Pilot - 29 SQN - shot down 12JUL17 by Oberleutnant Dostler Both were first interned at a POW camp in Ingelmunster, Belgium ... Station F First photo is Mrs. Skelding, grand daughter of 2LT Strickland, with her grandfather's badge. Second photo is Mrs. Wolstenholme, daughter of 2LT Lewis, with her father's badge. Took a while to locate the relatives through findmypast.com and ancestry.com ... I even ordered Lewis' will through gov.uk to locate Mrs. Wolstenholme. Almost 100 years, but the badges made it back to the families.

Here are the sports themed badges Dat

I am thinking that these were made for the Swiss military originally and then remade for the Afghan army by adding the military crest on the other side of the badge. Dat

Good day to All, Came across these badges recently. Very well made by the Swiss company, Huguenin, which is written on both side of these badges. I am guessing that these were made around 1926-1928 judging from the national emblem. I think these are soldiers awards similar to the Soviet Excellent Soldier Awards. It looks like these may have been gold plated or painted with some sort of gold colored paint. Has anyone seen these before? I wonder how many exist in a complete set? I got a few more with sport images and will post them shortly. v/r Dat

Nice photo of the group. They are standing on pierced steel planking that lasted till 2005. We nick name it "Steel Beach". The USAF tore it all up and lay down concrete instead. I kept a couple of connecting links as souvenir. Here is a photo of the work in progress. v/r Dat Nguyen

Hello Mr. Mitton, I am not certain of the forum's rules on posting a link to another site so I sent you a private message in regards to markings on UK bayonets. Collecting bayonets is one of my recents hobbies and every reference site that I've seen list X as the marking for the bend test. I was very fortunate to send back most of my bayonets for free using the military postal system. Some of my aircrew friends also took them back if there were available space and weight on the plane. @ Jock Most of the M18 helmets were gone when I got there in 2005. The ones left were fair to very poor conditions. I have two myself. Almost all of these Afghan helmets will have three holes punched on the right side of the helmet to attach a round badge. I have also seen some very clever Afghans modifying these helmets to look like the M-18 cut out helmet. They would cut the rim off then try to weld a fabricated seam back on the cut out. Their workmanship is very rough and the heat from welding basically destroy a good helmet. v/r Dat Nguyen

Oh a clarification ... The X on the blade indicate that it successfully passed a 'bend test'. The symbol used to indicate sold out of service is a large asterisk * v/r Dat Nguyen

You ought to see how many P1907's I have seen over the years in Afghanistan. Some has similar numeric numbers like the one you showed, but smaller font size. I purchased about 75 of the better condition P1907. Most were English, some Indian and no Australian one seen there. There were also plenty of P1888, P1903 and, P1913 back then. Recently, you would be lucky to see a poor condition bayonet at the local bazaar. v/r Dat Nguyen

If you do not get an answer, please let me know. I have a couple of extra Afghan DRA medals and orders. Please ask you father if he has a color photo of the ribbon to this medal. v/r cabart13

Measurement ...

Best of Wishes to ALL in 2011 ... Best of Health and Fortunes to You and your Families. Let's start off 2011 with a special die. One of the die to make the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. Is it the one that made Herman Goering's? I don't know, but how impressive it would be if we can compare this die to Goering's extra Grand Cross he ordered. There must have been a total of 3 dies used to make the cross: obverse, reverse, and frame. This is the only die of the three that is in my friend's collection. I hope y'all enjoy the photo. v/r DN