No problem with the documents. Easy as pie. I'll run them off by#
#1. Award document for the Polish War Medal. That's the one with the eagle on the front and the sword in it's claws.
#2. Award document for the '39 - '45 Star and Italy Star.
#3. The marvelous document for the Sappers of the 5 Kresowa Infantry Div. One of the nicest docs. I have seen and the only surviving example that I know of. Pity you don't have the badge as it's rare as hen's teeth.
#4. Award document for the Polish 2nd Corps badge. In your group of badges that's the one that's on either end. The full size and mini. If you notice the full size will have a serial # on the reverse that should match the document.
#5. Award document for the Cross of Merit w/Swords. That's the medal that I posted for you to see.
#6. Award document for the Cross of Valour. Suprisingly it doesn't show up on the ribbon bar at all. Perhaps he was never issued it and it's still owed to him.
The badges you have are as follows from left to right:
Badge for the Polish 2nd Corps (full size), badge for the 5 Kresowa Infantry Div., badge for the Polish 2nd Corps (mini).
Hope that was of some help to you.
Jack,
Nice set of wings. I have yet to get myself a set that I'm happy with. Do you have a name to go with the badge?
I have all the details written down somewhere, given to me kindly by Gary J! I think he was a Sergeant attached to Brigade Headquarters. Parachuted into Driel on the 21st. I'll try and dig them out, but failing that, Gary J could confirm.
. Award document for the Cross of Valour. Suprisingly it doesn't show up on the ribbon bar at all. Perhaps he was never issued it and it's still owed to him.
This is very interesting. Do you happen to know the award criteria for this cross. Also, would you happen to have a picture?
Many thanks for all your help
Regards
Andy
No worries. Happy to help. I do have both photos and info on the Cross of Valour. I'm at work right now but as soon as I get home I'll snap a couple of photos of one or two of mine and post all relevant info.
Photos and a little history of the Cross of Valour as promised. The award itself was establised in 1920 (hence the date on the cross) as an award for bravery in the field for acts not justifying the award of the Virtuti Militari. The Cross of Valour was Poland's second highest bravery award. The writing "Na Polu Chwaly" translates to "On the Field of Glory". "Walecznym" simply translates to "Valour".
I noticed in your first photo that there was also a pink award card. That would have been presented with the cross at the time of issue. He must have gotten it at some point but never added the ribbon to the bar. Interesting indeed.
I will show a couple of photos of a couple of different crosses from my collection. The first is of a Middle Eastern manufacture piece of similar construction to the Cross of Merit that I posted earlier.
My newest cross. Just recently acquired from eBay of all places. In fact it's on a bar with a group of other medals. The seller was breaking up the bar and selling the medals seperately . I managed to buy the entire bar and save the lot. I apologize for the blurry photos.
Just for the hell of it I'll post the whole bar. I know it's not really related to the thread topic but I'll do it anyways. It's a curious combination of medals and the placement is off. It should be the CV, Polish War Medal, and then the Commonwealth awards. It's always been that way though so I'll just leave it as is.
Cheers,
Greg
PS. One of these days I'm going to have to photograph my entire Polish collection and post it all here to share.
Hi Greg
Brilliant. I love these Polish medals. If you have time, would you mind looking at this ebay item to see if it the correcr missing medal for my Grandad. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...501843839&rd=1
Also, I have collected a few Monte Casino Crosses over the years and was wandering if you know of anywhere that lists the crosses by issue number.Finally,have you a
picture of the missing badge so that I can try to track one down.
Many thanks and happy new year
Regards
Andy
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