Vets wearing their 57ers!!!

[Sepp45]

SS-Obersturmführer Willy Hund

.

[stuka rick]

Seeing these vets and their medals reminds me of the significance of the 57 medals. Many veterans had returned by then from imprisonment in Russia for terms of three to 10 years hard labor and had lost everything. The German Government at least acknowledged these vets with a gift of their medals, without the swastika of course. Very sad.

[Tom B]

Seeing these vets and their medals reminds me of the significance of the 57 medals. Many veterans had returned by then from imprisonment in Russia for terms of three to 10 years hard labor and had lost everything. The German Government at least acknowledged these vets with a gift of their medals, without the swastika of course. Very sad.

The "gift" of course was that they could again wear their awards. However they had to purchase them if they did want to wear them again. Tom

[Sepp45]

Many veterans had returned by then from imprisonment in Russia for terms of three to 10 years hard labor and had lost everything.

Believe it or not, some of them managed to hide their KC and brought them home after the war.

I still remember the story of Hans von Luck's Ritterkreuz.

[Gran Sasso]

Another foto taken at crete in 2001:

[Norm F]

It's apparent that veterans wore their '57s in a variety of configurations, and presumably military regulations had no authority over that, but does anyone know Bundeswehr regulations regarding the wear of '57s for those in active service, both on the uniform and on civilian clothing?

Best regards,
---Norm

[speedytop]

Hi Norm,

there are precise regulations about orders and decorations on the uniform, see for example the ZDv 37/10, No. 583 and the following numbers:

www.dmb-lv-westfalen.de/z1.pdf

For the wear on civilian clothes you can find everything necessary in the old books from Krantz (page 150-165) and/or Geeb/Kirchner (page 76-78).

Uwe

[Norm F]

Excellent, thanks very much Uwe. I actually have the Krantz book somewhere and will try to dig it out.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Sepp45]

This one I know, met him a few times....Hugo Laubereau (RK 23 Nov. 1943). Tom

A better quality of this photo

[Sepp45]

One more of Martin Drewes

(Photo credits to WAF member GP41)

[Sepp45]

Flottillenadmiral Robert Gysae

And a wonderful zoom on his ribbon bar

[Sepp45]

Unteroffizier Otto Binnig

[Sepp45]

Feldwebel Friedrich Memmert

[Sepp45]

SS-Oberscharführer Werner Kindler

[Sepp45]

Heinz Lammerding, Ernst-August Krag, Jochen Peiper and Ernst Barkmann - 1959

A wider and better quality photo