Bavarian Cross of Military Merit 3rd class

[Chris Boonzaier]

And a big question...Whats your favorite Canadian Regiment?

Actually, its not a regiment, its the Canadian Army women's beach volley ball team...

Rick and I have season tickets ;-)

[Chris Boonzaier]

I agree with Rick,

sounds a bit like an urban legend, based on a story, but embellished maybe through misunderstanding, by the family or friend or comrade.

Technically the word should not be possible, and the telegram also in no way confirms it.

All the best

Chris

[Jacky]

But then...

How comes the merit cross with the star??

Someone might have put them together and said whow, that's nice....

It remains still a little shady why the cross is together with the star.

Might it be possible that a german NCO had taken his own cross and pinned/given it to the private??

Kind regards,

Jacky

[Chris Boonzaier]

But then...

How comes the merit cross with the star??

Someone might have put them together and said whow, that's nice....

It remains still a little shady why the cross is together with the star.

Might it be possible that a german NCO had taken his own cross and pinned/given it to the private??

Kind regards,

Jacky

Or someone added it 70 years ago because he heard the story, or a collector added it 30 years ago because he thought that was the medal mentioned in the telex,

I would think the fact that the BWM and Vic are missing points to the fact that this is not a group that has been untouched since 1919.

best

Chris

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Laurence:

Is there anyone (the museum?) who has access to the original telex in German? If so, could it be posted? Where did the "translated" information come from? If the original German text can't be found, then the AWARD portion of the story is unfounded (I will have to side with Rick on this one).

This of course in no way detracts from the significance of the brave deed performed by Cochrane. The fact that he received ANY recognition at all from the government of his enemy as a POW is extraordinary.

Best regards,

"SPM"

[Laurence Strong]

Actually, its not a regiment, its the Canadian Army women's beach volley ball team...

Rick and I have season tickets ;-)

All those years in tha army and I never knew we had one of those.

Email sent, I quoted some of your posts and gave a link to here.

[Ed_Haynes]

I suspect there is a good deal of mixed urban myth and intentional misunderstanding at work here. Rather like the Iron Cross that was "given" to Captain P. B. Bhuracha, DSO, IMS (the first Indian DSO, by the way) by a German officer he was treating. Sure, the German "gave" him an Iron Cross; it wasn't "awarded to" him.

(This is rather different from the Iron Cross said to have been awarded to the brother of Jemadar Mir Dost, VC, IOM, Bahadur, 55th Coke's Rifles, the second Indian to get the VC. Mir Dost's brother -- also in the 55th -- defected to the German side and is said to have been awarded the Iron Cross as a political/propaganda award.)

Edited March 31, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[JamesM]

I'm finding this post well after it was discussed here. I happened across it as I was curious about this award being given to Pte. Cochran. I am a former Patricia and volunteer at the Regimental Museum. I have been asked about this by visitors, but as I am at the museum when the archivists are not, I've not had the chance to talk to them about it. There is mention, here in this thread, about a telegram with mention to this incident. Does anyone have this that it can be displayed?