Austria-Hungary Austrian Ribbon Bars

[Dave Danner]

Maj. Gen. Robert T. Frederick, the commander of the First Special Service Force, received eight Purple Hearts in World War II, along with two DSCs. Lt. Col. Richard J. Buck also received eight Purple Hearts - 4 in Korea and 4 in Vietnam. Col. David Hackworth also received eight Purple Hearts (4 in Korea and 4 in Vietnam), plus two DSCs and 10 Silver Stars. Medal of Honor recipients Col. Robert L. Howard and Capt. Joe Ronnie Hooper both received eight Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War. There may be at least one other with eight ? a 2002 article from the Topeka Capital-Journal refers to Master Sergeant Roy Hamilton having received one in Korea and seven in Vietnam ? but I can't find confirmation.

Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Matt Urban received seven Purple Hearts in World War II. 1st Lt. G. Murl Conner also received seven Purple Hearts in World War II and there is a drive ongoing to elevate his DSC to a Medal of Honor. There is also a move in this regard on behalf of Maj. Gabriel Navarrete, who received the DSC and seven Purple Hearts with the 36th Infantry Division in Italy. DSC recipient Col. Patrick N. Delavan received two Purple Hearts in Korea and 5 in Vietnam. Self-described "The Veteran's Advocate" Pat Kiggins indicates that he received seven Purple Hearts in Vietnam. Another Vietnam veteran, Capt. David Christian, also received seven, as did Staff Sergeant Patrick James Caffrey. There are others with seven Purple Hearts out there as well.

[David Gregory]

I have a Milit?rpass to a soldier who, according to the entries in the booklet, was wounded six times and promoted once for bravery in the face of the enemy. There are no award entries - nada, zilch, nothing - although the entries are complete until 1919.

Perhaps he received a wound badge or even an EK2 a few years later, but not everyone who saw dangerous front-line service was necessarily showered with awards.

[Paul R]

That is strange... I would have thought that these wound medals would have pretty much been an automatic award... kinda like our Purple Heart is in the US.

Do you have that Milpass posted here on the forum somewhere?

Regards

Paul

[David Gregory]

That is strange... I would have thought that these wound medals would have pretty much been an automatic award... kinda like our Purple Heart is in the US.

Do you have that Milpass posted here on the forum somewhere?

Regards

Paul

Paul,

Unfortunately, I have not. It is one of about 350 for which I only have index cards with basic details entered on them. I am adding all their essential details, and those of a lot of award documents, to a simple Access database because I simply cannot find them when I want to.

Using my existing highly efficient "pieces of paper with notes scrawled on them" system that lives on my desk (and the floor when it gets knocked off), I have flagged this for scanning and posting when I get to it.

The wound badge only appeared in mid 1918, so many awards were only bestowed many years later, and not always entered into the Milit?rpass, as some document groups prove.

David

[David Gregory]

Paul,

At the risk of straying off-topic, here is an example of a man whose Milit?rpass shows that not every wound automatically resulted in a wound badge being awarded. This is not the Milit?rpass that I refer to above.

Friedrich Ewald was born in Neuhof in the district of Blankenburg in the Duchy of Braunschweig on 2 February 1896. He was working as a servant when he was inducted into the 1st Recruit Depot of the 2nd Replacement Battalion of Infanterie-Regiment 77 as a replacement recruit on 29 November 1915 (90 years and one week ago).

He was trained on the Gewehr 98 and passed through a number of units before finally joining the Field Recruit Depot of 20. Infanterie-Division in the field in May 1916. A month later he joined Braunschweigisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 92 and saw action with 6. Kompagnie and 4. Kompagnie on the Eastern and Western Fronts from late June 1916. During this period he was also involved in fighting on the Aisne or as part of the Aisne-Champagne fighting. While with the regiment he also attended a course for the Sturmtrupp of 20. Infanterie-Division. This was a unit of specialist assault troops whose job was to train candidates in modern fighting techniques to be used in battalion and regimental assault teams. From this training course entry and the battles entered into his Milit?rpass, I think it is highly likely that he saw some heavy action.

He was first wounded in his right lower leg by a hand grenade near Autr?ches (this name needs to be checked, as Milit?rpass entries did not always feature correct spellings of foreign place names) at the end of January 1917. He was transferred to Sanit?ts-Kompagnie 24, and rejoined his unit on 11 February 1917.

In March 1917 he attended a 2-week trench mortar course.

His next wound was sustained from a shell splinter to his left lower arm near Cerny on 26 April 1917. This wound must have been more serious, as he was sent to a reserve hospital in Germany a few days later.

By early August, he was sufficiently recovered to be sent to 111. Infanterie-Division and then to 50. Reserve-Division in the field. In early October 1917 he joined 9. Kompagnie of Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 229 in Flanders.

In May 1918 he was wounded in the elbow by a machine gun round while fighting on the Ancre, but remained with his unit. After being promoted for bravery in the face of the enemy in mid August 1918, he was wounded in both hands at the beginning of October 1918 and was transferred to convalescent and replacement units while in various hospitals in Germany. He was formally discharged with 50 Marks discharge pay and 3 Marks march expenses one day after leaving hospital in May 1919.

The final discharge entry in his Milit?rpass is dated 23 August 1919 and records that he received no awards, displayed good conduct and had not fallen foul of the military justice system during his 3 1/2 years in service.

This and the other example I refer to above are good examples of men who obviously saw a lot of action and were wounded several times, but received nothing by the time they were discharged soon after the end of the war. There is a fairly good chance that they received a wound badge much later, as some wound badge award documents were not issued until as late as 1940 for wounds sustained between 1914 and 1918. It is also possible that they received an EK2 that was not recorded in their papers, but it seems to me that many post-war award entries are to more senior NCOs of junior officers than enlsited men.

I apologise for wandering off-topic, but the post is at least related to the wound stripes as shown above. I'll post some scans and comments in a separate thread when I find the relevant documents and can pursuade my scanner to do its job.

David

[Guest Rick Research]

Austrian Republic bestowals of First World War continued for years-- well into the 1930s, including for active duty Bundesheer officers.

Glenn has sent me sample Austrian First Republic Rank List pages which show these awards with a postnominal to indicate "awarded after the war."

[Josef Rietveld]

Hi,

to add some information aswell. i show a picture of a wound medal with NO bars. these were given to all permanently disabled soldiers and officers of all rank. as written before the wound medal was issued about summer 1918. the most medals were given after the collapse of the old reich.

haynau

PS: picture, credits to berts sammlerecke

[Paul R]

haynau,

Thank you for posting this medal. I have never before heard of or seen one of these!

Regards

PAul

[Paul R]

At the risk of straying off-topic, here is an example of a man whose Milit?rpass shows that not every wound automatically resulted in a wound badge being awarded.

David and Rick

Thank you for the illustration. I am amazed that it took so long for the wound badges to catch up to the members... People wounded in WW1 were still receiving awards in the middle of WW2!? I should not be too suprised as we in the US are still awarding overlooked WW2 veteran's with Valor Awards.

PAul

Edited December 6, 2005 by Paul Reck

[Ulsterman]

By 1937 the "new issue" of the wound badge was applied for by @500,000 veterans of WW1. 10% did not get one because they had been invalided by sickness-not injury.

See Frankfurter Zeitung, Sept. 10, 1937

[Stogieman]

Haynau.... interesting wound medal ribbon with no stripes....... I have not seen this example before???

[landsknechte]

Haynau.... interesting wound medal ribbon with no stripes....... I have not seen this example before???

While this ribbon site has issues, they list apparently list this decoration:

http://www.medals.lava.pl/at/at1.htm

[HeikoGrusdat]

nice ribbon bar with two enameled austrian minis on it, no needle system, for sewing on the uniform...

[Chris Taylor]

Great thread & some great bars (I especially like those enamel minis! )

Here are a few of mine.

First a couple straight Austian's....

[Chris Taylor]

Then a couple of brave Austrians who went on to TR service (also 3 of my favorite bars).

The top 2 are from the same man, just with the removal of the last ribbon on the bottom bar.

I can't seen to recall what this order is, anybody know?

[Bob Hunter]

Nice bars, Chris. I especially like the angular mounting style shown on the bottom bar.

[Chris Taylor]

Thanks Bob.

Yes the bottom one is a bit strange.

It's like the ribbons are mounted over a black piece of dense foam or cardboard, I'm attaching a sideways view for you so you can see what I mean.

Have yet to encounter another one quite like it.

[Paul R]

Chris,

Beautiful bars!! I especially like the set of two with the double TR LS ribbons!! Thanks for sharing them!

[Ulsterman]

Chris: I think the top 2 bars are probably to a German officer in WW1 (Lt.). He lacks a Karl troop Kreuz and any other Austrian awards besides the 14-18 commemorative. The last ribbon I believe is a Rumanian medal (military merit/order of the Star).

[Chris Taylor]

That's right, thanks Ulsterman!

It was a Romanian Merit/Gallantry award! I think I remember reading somewhere that after Romania fell/capitulated to the Russians that the F?hrer ordered all Romanian awards be removed & could no longer be worn. If I recall right he did this with a few countries. Hence the removal of the last ribbon on the bottom bar.

Also, after looking at it you could be right about the top 2 being a non-Austrian's bar. But would the Karl Troop cross be mandatory for it to be an Austrian's bar?

[Ulsterman]

Not mandatory, but highly likely given that it was awarded for frontline service. I reckon it's much more likely a german lt. would get an Austrian award than an jr. Austrian officer receiving an EK2 and no other Austrian awards for war service. Most snaps I have of them show at least 3 awards.

[Chris Taylor]

Right you are, I see your point!

[Viribus Unitis]

Dear Memebers,

As a new member I would like to contribute to this interresting thread, with my newest two ribbon Bars:

The first one was of a WW1 NCO, who was awarded the Karl Truppenkreuz, and the Wound Medal for One Wound. He also had the Austrian and the Tyrolean WW1 Comemorative, and the German Hindenburgcross.

As this Bar was made post '38, I am sure that he was a reserve NCO in the Wehrmacht but he never was on the Front.

The second one is a rather more interresting Bar, and sonn I will get the BIG medal bar (I have already seen it and it wont take long untill i get it ).

It has the Austrian Silver Merit Medal 2nd Class (Oesterreichische Kleine Silberne Verdienstmedaille), the bronce Bravery Medal (Karl 1st), the Wound Medal for 3 Wounds, the Styrian Medal for 10 years Membership in the Oesterreichischer Kameradschaftsbund (a veterans Organisation), the Tyrolean WW1 comemorative and the Austrian Comemorative Cross "Fuer Heimat und Volk 1939-45" (Also from the same Organisation).

I am sure that it was made post '38 and originally contained German Nazi awards, including the KVK 2nd Class (first position), the German Hindenburg Cross (instead of the Styrian award), and the Anschlussmedaille 13. Maerz (last position).

But I dont know if theese still exist. Maybe I will be able to purchase them with the medal bar.

Greetings from the outskirts of Vienna

-Johannes

[Paul R]

Johannes

That is a very nice set of bars!!

Are there any more Austrian bars out there?

[Ulsterman]

Interesting positions of the Austrian 14-18 commemorative medal.