Iron Crosses with wound badge and miniatures from Florida veteran

[Don Bible]

Earlier today I posted these pictures on the wrong forum as I an not familiar with
either Iron Crosses or Imperial items.

I was asked to place them here. They came with several other pieces from the family of a WWII veteran from Florida.

I cannot scan the reverse of the 1st Class Cross good enough to read the engraved notation. I tried photographing it but my skills are not good enough.

For anyone interested I can type in the brief inscription.

[Don Bible]

Here is the wording in the inscription.

The Iron Cross 1st Class has the following engraving on the back:

Oberleutenant Krehmke
3. M. G. K.
Inf. Regt.
131

[Don Bible]

I have now posted this on the Imperial forum as requested, but I don't know how to remove it here.

[streptile]

Wow, great collection.

EK1, EK2, SWB, Hohenzollern House Order 4th Class with Swords (HOH4X), and two Silesian Eagles.

The Kette seems to be from Meybauer, and the SWB mini is the same type (design) as the 800-marked SWB, which has no maker known as of this time. Could it be Meybauer? Mike K. may have some ideas about this.

Congrats.

[münster]

Don, cigars and Fla,would that maybe be out of my hometown Tampa?

That is really neat with the mini chain having Meybauer Crests on the reverses.

Photo up that engraving on the EK1 when time permits, would love to see it.

Best,
Dion

[Don D.]

I agree, better pics of the engraving are critical.

[luftkrieg]

Here is your man. Retired as a Hauptmann and died in 1923.

Kind regards
Pierce

[Don Bible]

I also moved this from the other forum. It is additional information I had posted earlier.

These pictures were made on my flatbed scanner and the upright position of the pin on the EK 1 would not allow the scanner to get close enough to pick up the engraving. I will try to photograph it and post everything here in the Imperial section later.

At this time I am not going to sell anything from the grouping. I am still trying to learn more about the service of the veteran. I love the research of a known soldier. In March of 1944 he was at the giant Infantry Replacement Center at Camp Wolters, Texas,and was preparing to head to the P.O.E. for the trip across....perhaps just in time to make D-Day.

Although nothing in the grouping is really what I collect, I am always very hesitant to break up an old grouping.

There is nothing outstanding in the grouping but it covers a wide range. Besides the iron crosses and the small pieces on the chain, there is two tankers badges, a close combat clasp, six various arm bands, five police and fire police shoulder patches, one Wehrmacht buckle and one Luftwaffe buckle, and the normal box of old coins mostly from France.

I will try to post the tanker badges and the CCC in the proper places also.

The veteran was from a cigar making family in Florida and had placed everything in an old wooden cigar box. I think the nicotine in the box acted to somewhat discolor the metal pieces.

I am not that familiar with Tank Badges, but I think one is a bronze or gold type and the other possibly silver, but both are dark. The same applies to the Close Combat Clasp.

When I get a chance to post them perhaps members her can set me straight. __________________
Don Bible

[gregM]

That is a wonderful group.

[rbminis]

A very nice grouping Don!
There are no gold versions of the panzer assault badge, therefore it must either be a bronze or tarnished silver.
Ralph.

[Don Bible]

Streptile, thanks for identifying all the mini badges for me.

Dion, you are spot on. The veteran was from Tampa of Cuban parents. His father was a cigar wrapper and his mother a tobacco stripper. I learned this from the U.S. census for Hillsborough County.

Don D., I will address the photograph of the engraving again at the end of this posting.

Pierce, Thank you for posting the roster with the name of the WWI soldier. Do you think he was from Lothringen or just attached to a unit raised there? My old folks came from neighboring Elsass.

Greg M., Thanks for your comments.

RBMinnis, Thank you for setting me straight about the "gold" panzer badge. As you can tell, I am out of my element here, but this was a grouping I could not pass up. I had more or less ignored it for several months as it was not in a convenient place for me to see it in hand. Now I am glad I took the time to do so.

To all of you asking to see a good picture of the engraving on the EK I...please bear with me for awhile. There is a reason I am asking this.

I have never had a really good camera and most of what I need to show a flat bed scanner is fine and has always been satisfactory for me.

When I did need a good close-up picture, I used my iphone camera, then transmitted it by email to my computer files. That is probably going around by "Murphy's outhouse" but it works.

Now here is the problem! I recently got a new iphone and was placed on another carrier network. When the changeover was made, I can receive email fine on my iphone...however I can no longer transmit email from it!!

I am still trying to get the problem solved, and when I do I will photograph and post the engraving on the EK I.

[münster]

[QUOTE=Don Bible;6096079]Streptile, thanks for identifying all the mini badges for me.

Dion, you are spot on. The veteran was from Tampa of Cuban parents. His father was a cigar wrapper and his mother a tobacco stripper. I learned this from the U.S. census for Hillsborough County.

If you have the info from Census I bet the family lived in Ybor city. I scored a nice Silver Star grouping there.

A lot of items in Tampa, also little known is right in the middle of town was a B 17 Air Field, it is now all industry mostly and is across the street from where The Buccaneers play.

As Don says, the engraving is critical to see,it adds a lot to the cross.

[Don Bible]

This is the best I can do with photographing the engraving on the WWI EK I.

[Don D.]

Thanks Don. Is there any patina in the engraving?

[Don Bible]

Yes, there is patina in all the letters, and much more to the letters that have more depth to them, but to set everyone's mind at ease about possible later engraving---that thought in my opinion, can be discarded!

All this material that would fit in an old wooden cigar box was dumped loose in the box, with the armbands and police patches on top of them. The whole grouping was in a Wal-Mart bag that probably dated back to close to when Wal-Mart began operations.

They sent me word about the pieces several months ago, but it was not in a convenient location for me to see it in hand, and I put it off until a few days ago.

When I first learned of the material it was by telephone and the owner gave me the number, but never called me gain. I recently made the move I should have made months ago.

The two tank badges have been posted in the Heer section and I am hoping to post the CCC which is so dark that I cannot tell what color it should be. The tank badges are also very dark.

In the bag was a book that many early soldiers bought in basic training to get the names and addresses of their fellow enlistees. All the dates of names and addresses are from March and April of 1944 at Camp Wolters, Texas...the largest infantry replacement center in the US at that time.