Hello Gentles all...
I have just finished reading an autobiography of a Luftwaffe pilotof JG54, and this piece caught my attention as something of interest to the forum.
"These iron crosses has stories of their own to tell. They were conferred at the discretion of a panel at the rear-area HQ. The unit commander at the front would first submit a recommendation. This would then be scrutinized, evaluated and pronounced upon by the rear-area authority. If granted, the unit commander would be informed by teleprinter. The medal itself would be despatched from the rear by courier, which could take days or even weeks.
The official date of the award of the decoration, however, was the day of the receipt of the teleprint. Rather than havng to inform a pilot that he had won the iron cross - "but it hasnt turned up yet" - this led to unit commanders pinning their own iron cross on to the breast of the new recipient and being without a medal themselves until the other one had arrived, which in turn they would wear. My own decoration, for example had first been presented to the Kommodore. He then passed it on to my original Staffelkapitan, who in turn handed it over to Emil Lanf, who had now presented it to me."
I have read of this happening in WW1 with the PLM, and also apparently not uncommon the RK in WW2.
Intersting, no ?
Chris
I have just finished reading an autobiography of a Luftwaffe pilotof JG54, and this piece caught my attention as something of interest to the forum.
"These iron crosses has stories of their own to tell. They were conferred at the discretion of a panel at the rear-area HQ. The unit commander at the front would first submit a recommendation. This would then be scrutinized, evaluated and pronounced upon by the rear-area authority. If granted, the unit commander would be informed by teleprinter. The medal itself would be despatched from the rear by courier, which could take days or even weeks.
The official date of the award of the decoration, however, was the day of the receipt of the teleprint. Rather than havng to inform a pilot that he had won the iron cross - "but it hasnt turned up yet" - this led to unit commanders pinning their own iron cross on to the breast of the new recipient and being without a medal themselves until the other one had arrived, which in turn they would wear. My own decoration, for example had first been presented to the Kommodore. He then passed it on to my original Staffelkapitan, who in turn handed it over to Emil Lanf, who had now presented it to me."
I have read of this happening in WW1 with the PLM, and also apparently not uncommon the RK in WW2.
Intersting, no ?
Chris
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