Austria-Hungary Photos of my Great-Grandfather. Any Idea Which Regiment?

[ItemCo16527]

I recently obtained scans of two pictures of my great-grandfather. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army in the very early 20th Century, probably enlisting around 1903 or so. I was wondering if there is any way to determine which regiment he served in from his uniform. I don't know much about the Austro-Hungarian Army, so I'm a little lost. His name was Josef Georg (a.k.a. Joseph George) Blum, and he was from the village of Billed in what is now Romania.

The second picture (wearing the hat) is a real head-scratcher. He appears to be about 10 years older (after he would have emigrated to America). The hat and tunic are Austro-Hungarian, but the insignia on the hat appear to be American. The disc seems to be a U.S. Army Infantry (or Artillery, it's hard to tell) collar disc, and the eagle badge is an American bald eagle with some kind of writing above it. It looks like either "C.M.C.R.C." or "C.H.C.R.C.". I was wondering if anyone might have some idea about this, too.

Thanks!

[ItemCo16527]

Thank you so much! No one knows where the pictures were taken, unfortunately. But, at least I now know he was with an Artillery unit - which is more information then I ever thought I'd find. Do you know offhand where the 7th Corp-Artillery and 7th Division-Artillery Regiments would have been stationed, say between 1903 and 1908?

If the second uniform isn't Austro-Hungarian, any idea what it could be?

Edited June 22, 2013 by ItemCo16527

[Farang]

The first pic was made before 1908, because after 1908 the k.u.k. artillery uniform had special bottom (Arttilerieknopf) without a number.

If he was from Billed it might be possible that he severed in Temesvar. It is closed by and it was a very big artillery garrison (VII corps command) of the k.u.k. army.

Regards

Michael
k.u.k.Militaer

[ItemCo16527]

Outstanding! Thank you. He likely would have been with the 7th Corps Artillery since the village of Billed was within that region. Mystery solved! Thank you for your help!

I'll check with the USMF about the second uniform.

[Rogi]

Just throwing this out there, but could the second photo be a Polish Uniform ?

I know the Poles adopted the American style Eagle on some outfits.

I was thinking maybe a Polish-American association, since the two nations had pretty big ties

There seems to be some writing inbetween the Eagle's wings, that I can't make out atm :S

Looks like CRE on the end.

Anyway I'm stumped too just throwing out suggestions

Edited June 26, 2013 by Rogi

[Markgraf]

Just throwing this out there, but could the second photo be a Polish Uniform ?

I know the Poles adopted the American style Eagle on some outfits.

The Polish eagle looks different.

I have two theories:

1. Some kind of costume or marching band dress

2. The dress uniform of a militia unit