Is there a Doktor in the House!?

[Kondor]

I'm sure that there will be a cry of foul out there, but I have asked THE Doktor to work a little of his majic on this trench converted EKII to a EKI. As you can see the troops did a pretty bad job on the conversion. As this will only be going back into my case next to its store bought brother, I have asked Jimmy to clean up the first botched attempt and fashion some sort of catch at the bottom while retaining the original top and pin. The Swastika in the picture is another story. The story on the EK follows:

[Kondor]

The EK belonged to Hauptmann Felix Granier, Commander of the 1st Company, Reserve Infantry Regiment 217 (Magdeburg). He earned it while undertaking offensive operations against the Russians in southern Poland in 1914. He was notified of the award while still engaged against the Russians. His soldiers then took an EKII and converted it to a EK1 "in the field". He then wore this one until he got back to "civilization" where in he received a regular EKI. He also bought an additional three for future wear.

[Kondor]

Ok so I need some help resizing my pictures The bottom picture is from August, 1914 having been assigned to Infantry Regiment 26 in Magdeburg. The top one is of him as a Major and Battalion Commander of Reserve Infantry Regiment 82 in which he participated in the offensive of March through May 1918 on the Western Front. The picture shows him wearing the unit designation of Infantry Regiment 143 which was the regiment that he served longest pre-war from 1898-1913, stationed at Strassburg, Alsace. It gets more interesting as he volunteered to be reactived from 1938-1940, but as a Major in the Luftwaffe where he worked consulting with industrial plants on how to best camoflage their installations. Educated in the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, he demonstrated his Prussian blood by naming his daughter Helmtraut The saga will continue, but not tonight. I have to shoot pictures of the store bought EKI and try to figure out how to resize!

[bobcam1]

Wow.....with so much personal history attached to that badge, why would you want to change it from it's actual condition?

It's just my opinion of course, but I'd be happy to have that one in my collection, with all that original, hand-made character.....

[Kondor]

Bobcam.....I knew that I would get some flak on this one and believe me I thought long and hard before deciding to send it to the Docktor for a little bit of a clean up. The gobs of solder just kept getting to me everytime I picked it up to show someone. Here is a shot of the front:

[Kondor]

Here then is its "store bought" brother:

[Kondor]

Its "store bought brother" is a real light weight silver on the back, however, no marking or makers mark at all. The "awarded" EKI was engraved by the good Hauptmann and remains with the family today.

I received the trench conversion cross one day at "mail call" while I was pushing cadets at Fort Knox. Yes, you could have picked my jaw up from the dirt as we were out on the field training exercise. My friend sent it because his father in law had also commanded a training battalion between moving from the eastern front to the western front. Its brother came the following christmas with the full history of the man who earned it, hence the details of his career.

The gentleman who sent it to me was Albert Muller. Who followed his father in laws tradition of engraving his EKI and his RK.

[wh014d4394]

very interesting i must say

[mike y]

Bobcam.....I knew that I would get some flak on this one and believe me I thought long and hard before deciding to send it to the Docktor for a little bit of a clean up. The gobs of solder just kept getting to me everytime I picked it up to show someone. Here is a shot of the front:

I've thought long and hard before making what turned out to be a bad decision myself. Aren't those gobs of solder part of the history of the badge? IMO your just wrecking the badge "cleaning" them up

[bobcam1]

Especially if, as you say, it's simply going in your display case, the reverse of the medal will rarely be seen..... The obverse looks fine.

No real flak, here... It has such a unique and personal story, and I'm simply curious as to why you would want to remove that story, especially when that side will not be seen, on display...

Cheers,
Bob.

[paddywhack]

why on earth would you want to "clean" it up and basically take away all the history of it!!! il gladly swoop you an ordinary 2nd ed if you like!!!
honestly please please PLEASE leave it alone!!it looks fine as is and wont benefit any way shape or form being clean up!!!!

[Kondor]

Like I said, I thought long and hard on it before sending it to Jimmy. I've modified to just removing the big glob of solder on the right side and fashioning a catch. The reason is that it doesn't just lay in the case. It comes out to show to interested (and there are many) at our local museum when a bunch of us set up for Veterans Day activities. The question always surfaces as to the difference between the 1st and 2nd so this is my trench conversion for the masses. I also use it when teaching about the desperate battles on the eastern front in WW1. The addition of the catch wil make it easier for the masses to see the conversion. So I will suffer the slings and arrows that I knew would be forth coming

Now if I took Paddywhack up on his geneous offer, then it really would lose its historical value. But thanks anyway.

[paddywhack]

but removing that blope of solder is removing what the guys in the trench did therefore aernt you erasing history and what the guys in the trenches did just so its abit more clean????it was last modified by those same people in the trench you are trying to teach people about it so arent you hurting the very history you are teaching?????if you have the original catch then cool no problem getting it put back on but dont have one made up as this is a VERY unique ek!!!im in no way having a go at you i just want to point out that with this type of cross it deserves to be left as is after being how it is for 80+ years!!

[Sonderkommando]

un-f******-believable

[Chris D.]

Nothing I can say that has not been said already but PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE RECONSIDER!!!

This isnt restoration, its destruction.

Really, no flak but Im begging you not to ruin this!