I have a 5KDP group with cast brass eagle which I was told was a Middle East variety and a copper sheet one.
Yes, some of those guys are dedicated, very knowledgeable collectors with great interest in and respect for national and family history.
I think of the stories behind some of "my" groupings - men sent to camps in Siberia, maltreated, being worked to death and then given the chance to fight for the Russians or the west, traveling overland to the Middle East, placed in camps again but administered by the British, formed into military units.
The widow of one Polish Para whose medals, documents, photos I have told me how she was walking home from school one day when she was 14, a truck full of German soldiers pulled up, she was thrown on board, taken off to a camp, never saw her parents again.
There are some terrible stories behind these medals and badges.
|