New medal bar - what's missing?

[GdC26]

This is all pretty amazing. First of all, I didn't even know there WAS a roll of recipients of the Griffin Order. Still, I can't explain the absence of the Spanish order from this bar, so it may be too soon to conclude that this is our man. On the other hand, there may not be any better candidates.

The original story on the group was that it was "taken from the uniform of a Lieutenant General when he was captured in 1945," but that story is barely plausible. There is a General's shoulder board that came with the group (just one) but as I said there is also an 1870 EK2 medal bar, so obviously the story is just a story. It's possible the shoulder board was taken from the uniform of such a person, but the rest of it may have come from other sources, which I why I didn't give the Italian Order of the Crown much thought when I first posted this.

The only other thing in the group that may (or may not) have any bearing is a Johanniter Order, Ehrenritter. There is no particular reason to believe that the Johanniter belonged to this officer, or for that matter to the owner of the EK2 bar.

This all may be possible, as the von Bredow family tree seems to have comprised a number of generals, who served at different times, although none of the ones listed seems to have surrendered in 1945 http://bredow-adelsgeschlecht.co.tv/de . The family has its own website: http://www.familie-von-bredow.de/ueberuns.html

[GdC26]

Leopold Waldemar von Bredow was married twice. The marriage in Washington DC was to Frances Clara Newlands. She died on 22 August 1907 in Berlin. They had one daughter, Friederike Frances Adelheid, born on 2 November 1906. The second marriage was to Hannah Leopoldine Alice Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen. The first wife wasn't a noblewomen, being American, but she was the daughter of a U.S. Senator, Francis Griffith Newlands, who served as U.S. Senator from Nevada from 1903 until his death in 1917.

The problem with Bredow remains why, if it was his medal bar, he would wear only one of three foreign decorations. Italy could be explained by the war, but why neutral Sweden and not neutral Spain?

Dave,

Thanks, I was wondering about the Washington marriage but did not have time to look into that last night. I think the decoration in last place indeed more likely than not is the Swedish order of the sword - the ribbon for the Dutch Houseorder of the Golden Lion is much narrower, see pics.

The Friedrichsorden and the absence of the Spanish Military order of Merit remain a mistery. Perhaps the family can help.

Regards,

Sandro

Edited May 26, 2011 by GdC26