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Some Allied - hopefully will sate small minds...
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02-01-2011 7:35pm#1Like the Father Ted episode...
"Allied stuff - we wouldn't be into all that" ;-)
I was coincidentally going to post this part of my collection today when I saw that ridiculous feedback post.
These are my allied WW1 medals - as usual click for larger image:
The Belgian Victory Medal - same as the other allied countries with the winged Victory statue and the emblems of all the allied nations on the rear. As usual it has the rainbow coloured ribbon.
50th Anniversary of the Ijzer Campaign:
This side shows the profile of the King.
The rear has the emblem of "Stad Nieuwpoort" meaning "City of Nieuwpoort" a coastal town where the Ijzer reaches the sea. This river is tidal and the lockkeeper opened the gates at Nieuwpoort flooding the German trenches and halting their advance. As a result they had to retreat to the opposite side of the Ijzer where they remained until ceasefire.
The next medal is known as the "Croix du Feu" or the Fire Cross (Dutch is Vuurkruis). Awarded to troops that came under fire on the front.
Next is my favorite of this bunch - the Ijzer medal. Awarded to all veterans of the Ijzer campaign. the ribbon is original but has clearly seen better days. Near Diksmuide there is a reconstructed trenchline on the Ijzer that can be visited today.
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HerrScheisse wrote: »Like the Father Ted episode...
"Allied stuff - we wouldn't be into all that" ;-)
I was coincidentally going to post this part of my collection today when I saw that ridiculous feedback post.
These are my allied WW1 medals - as usual click for larger image:
The Belgian Victory Medal - same as the other allied countries with the winged Victory statue and the emblems of all the allied nations on the rear. As usual it has the rainbow coloured ribbon.
50th Anniversary of the Ijzer Campaign:
This side shows the profile of the King.
The rear has the emblem of "Stad Nieuwpoort" meaning "City of Nieuwpoort" a coastal town where the Ijzer reaches the sea. This river is tidal and the lockkeeper opened the gates at Nieuwpoort flooding the German trenches and halting their advance. As a result they had to retreat to the opposite side of the Ijzer where they remained until ceasefire.
The next medal is known as the "Croix du Feu" or the Fire Cross (Dutch is Vuurkruis). Awarded to troops that came under fire on the front.
Next is my favorite of this bunch - the Ijzer medal. Awarded to all veterans of the Ijzer campaign. the ribbon is original but has clearly seen better days. Near Diksmuide there is a reconstructed trenchline on the Ijzer that can be visited today.
by collecting Belgian medals you could be accused of supporting child molestation or supporting slavery. I think people are suspicious of anyone who collects things that are not the norm, the norm being GB.0 -
by collecting Belgian medals you could be accused of supporting child molestation or supporting slavery. I think people are suspicious of anyone who collects things that are not the norm, the norm being GB.
"The only reason Belgian chocolate is so good is to get at the kids..." -Sorry I just had to! ;-)
Actually collection British stuff is not really the norm. It is something that interests me as I have a huge interest in WW1 and WW2. And I have a few family medals from WW1 and later, but seeing the king or queens head on them gives me an uneasy feeling.
So they are not ones that I would openly show. As one of my friends said when he saw them, "not heros but traitors". This is BS as it does the Irish men and women that served a huge injustice. (And no I am not a colonialist!
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So if you want to be safe from any judgement then you have to collect American stuff.
I'll post up mine in a bit.0 -
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also the fact that the republicans were a small minority at the time in the country.
i think a quarter of a million irish died in the first world war and id asssume there were alot more serving abroad for the british army than the amount of republicans in ireland during the first world war.
Exactly as you said. The Irish went to war for a number of reasons- firstly due to poverty and the good wage and pension that they could give to their poverty stricken families, but also "to fight for humanity" as it was sold to them. Not one of them was to "fight for the British Empire". The sinking of the Lusitania off the coast of Cork/ the murder of Catholic nuns/ priests in Belgium (among other things) played heavily on the people in very Catholic Ireland at the time. And of course these were used to great effect by the British to recruit here.
If you read about it from the social aspect of men coming home from the trenches after 4 years of what was in their mind was "fighting for right", to be then outcast as traitors. Similar to Vietnam vets returning home to called baby killers.
Approximately 1/4 million Irish fought in WW1, and 49,400 of those Irish died between 1914 and 1918 with British forces.
And as far as I remember there were about 100,000 Irish in the British forces in WW2. (Correct me with exact numbers)
And that is alot of people. And only this year they were recognised for their efforts for the first time by the Irish government, and some still call them "traitors".
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Better late than never I suppose. I have nothing rare or exotic but it's a start. My Uncle died last year, he was very close to teh family an ddid alot for me over the years. He joined the RAF in 1945 at teh youbg age of 16 or 17 and was stationed in Germany for the clean up of the camps. Fo rthe next 20 years or so he traveled the world with teh RAF, from Borneo to Iraq. This year my Auntie asked me if I would take his medals as he would want me to have them. I was taken aback at how beautifuk they are even if they have Lizzy's mush on them. It was pbviously very sad for my Auntie to be handing them over. She also gave me her father's WW1 medals and her mother's WW1 Red Cross medal I was honoured to taked them. R.I.P.
Firstly my Uncles R.A.F. Long Service and Good Conduct medals, he left the RAF in 1969 and returned home to Ireland.
My Auntie's Father's WW1 medals. He joined the Royal Navy for the war.
My Auntie's mother was with The Red Cross in Dublin during the war:
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Great medal photos!
a photo taken by a GI, not great quality, but still interesting
"part of our German Prisoners, high ranking Officers in front"
have a few magezines, maps, a leather vicker carry case etc... aswell, sorry about the crappy images took them when I started collecting.
British Notes on Map reading
also have the german counterpart
British Magazines
Tunisia and The battle of egypt
British Booklet
about the importance of west africa in terms of supplies, a base for aircraft and source of soldiers
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Some will question how Irish you are if you have GB medals, and the same people will call you a Nazi sympathizer if you have German medals.I think people are suspicious of anyone who collects things that are not the norm, the norm being GB.
Lets call a spade a spade, and say what they are doing is trolling.
I really do like the symbolism of the RAF medal, on the bottom left.MedalFuhrer wrote: »
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The curious thing is that I always respected those who flew their flying machines (Luftwaffe, RAF, & USAF), even at a younger age when I hated every Brit in existence
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Some will question how Irish you are if you have GB medals, and the same people will call you a Nazi sympathizer if you have German medals.
Lets call a spade a spade, and say what they are doing is trolling.
I really do like the symbolism of the RAF medal, on the bottom left.
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The curious thing is that I always respected those who flew their flying machines (Luftwaffe, RAF, & USAF), even at a younger age when I hated every Brit in existence
There are a lot out there that can't see past there own narrow minded prejudices or else are just stirring the sh1t. As I said above one of my friends would look at these medals with distain.
You like the medal on the left?!
Yes there is something special about pilots no matter what airforce they fly with. But with any airforce the pilots are the miniority, and as such my Uncle was in communications not a pilot. Still had some amazing stories from erecting telegraph poles in swamps to going on the lash in Iran, etc.0 -
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MF - not sure you are aware but the colours on the ribbon have symbology on that medal. The black respresents the dark days of occupation, the green the hope of liberation and the red the blood shed by the resistance.
Here are some more resistance medals of mine. First is the Defaulters medal - there are three ribbon variants. Green with yellow stripes emans the awardee refused to perform military duties for the occupier. Green with red means that they had been deported to Germany and while on leave refused to return. Finally green with white stripes means that the awardee refused to work for the occupier.
Next I have the Deportees Medal - awarded to anyone deported to Germany by the occupier. This medal is unique among allied variants in that it contains the swastika. Bearing the image of a soldier with Nazi armband holding a worker and telling him where to go.
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Here is a WW1 medal of the 1914 to 1918 campaign I recently picked up. The detailed design is incredible (though does not show up so well in my photo). I like this piece quite a lot.
WW1 medals can sometimes be incredibly cheap. This original item cost 6 euro :eek:0
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