In da Club.... me war room mon..

[Chris Boonzaier]

How do we pinko liberiltos live?

Okay, its is a bit rustical compared to some of the bunkers shown, but at the time I did it I had a lot of German uniforms and documents on display so I did not want any light in the room.

welcome to my crib, some may remember about 4 years ago before I renovated, old wallpaper, old carpet and about 30 tailors dummys with jackets on. A couple of friends here in the area still cant forgive me for getting rid of all that and concentrating on British/South African medals, but hey... thats life.
Anyway, the entrance . The yellow sign has "entry forbidden...danger of death" was one of the warning signs on our company weapons store in the legion. They were taken down once the weapons were moved to a central Regt weapon room.

[Chris Boonzaier]

"northeast" coming in looking right... These are some of my favourite groups, DSOs and MCs to British Cavalry officers and the same to Boers serving in mounted units in WW1.
The middle group with a black and white photo is a DSO, MC and QSA with siege of mafeking bar + WW1 trio etc. The guy was an Australian who moved to South Africa. Rifle is a 98K Helmets are a south African one with sacking as Cammo, My one for desert storm, and a couple of WW2 sand coloured ones for north Africa.

[Chris Boonzaier]

The middle shelf 2 from the bottom has 2 of the DKiG groups that have survived the Grossaction of german sales...

"Swordwall" Here on top of the medal cabinet I have odds and ends I find nice. The 2 bronze lion bookends, on the right a pen and ink stand made from part of the prop of a WW1 aircraft that was shot down, Botton left a pre WW1 statue of a man from the GardeEisenbahn pioneer regt, some bayonets, kukris and decorative shells. Between the flags was the original window, after I had put the wood on the walls I made a big panel that fitted into the window and put a ships porthole in it. if I want daylight I can open that and look into the garden.
"Northwest" shows a couple of my last uniforms, top right is a Lee Enfield and WW1 British cavalry sword, The frame with the guy wearing the Turban has the DSO group to Lt Col Coaker who commanded Skinners horse. Then a frame with a CdG and Medaille militaire to a guy who fouhgt at Verdun, below that the same to a guy who was killed in 1914 inthe battle of the frontiers. Bottom left is a 1917 made mauser that was sold to Turkey. at the top is one of those really sexy Khyber Knives, late 19th century, the DSo group below was awarded for the North Western Frontier (ie Afgahn border) so the knife fits in there pretty well.

[Chris Boonzaier]

wifeys Grandfathers jacket and an enlargment of the photo decicated to him by Doenitz.

[Chris Boonzaier]

"Mechair" is where me sit. on the wall is a late 19th century sword to an officer of the 1st Dragoon Guards and another Khyber knife, a copy of time magazine with FM Smuts on the cover, next to it the original sketch of the cover picture signed by Smuts and the Artist. The Frames are the medals for wifeys Grandfather and Greatgrandfather. Behind me chair is a heavy velvet curtain that keeps out the evil light, its hides a glass door out onto the porch.
"Door" well, cant afford to waste space, my medals on the back of the door, a great original 1916 print of the canadians at Ypres, above that a medal group to a guy in H battery RHA in the Crimean war.

And thats the full 360°
Did the floors and walls all myself and I am no handy man, it was suprisingly easy.
Once you turn 2 or 3 or 4 uniforms into a medal bar, the room suddenly looks bare ...but you sure have more place.

All the best
Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

Ha ha... here is a blast from the past... this is what it iused to look like ;-)))
http://legionnaire0.50megs.com/

(no, none of that stuff is for sale, it is all already long gone)

[PaulR]

Nice display... I guess i should have read all of your posts before sending you the PM ...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi paul,
The group you enquired about is safely in my medal chest. it has the awards and documents ...DKiG, EK1, EK2, Lifesaving medal, Russian front, Sudetenland, Anschluss, 4 year service madal, Bulgarian bravery cross of St whatiisname, close combat clasp in bronze, bronze panzer assault, Silver and black wound badges, sport badge.

It is a keeper for me because the guy was in the 2nd panzer Div, and it was rated THE best panzer unit, bar none, by the allies.

he was in Poland, it was the unit that reached the channel first when France was attacked, he was in Greece and the Balkans, in Russia (his regt was the one that actually made it into the suburbs of moscow) Normandy (where his unit made the biggest advance in the mortain counter attack and was then destroyed at falaise) and the battle of the bulge (Where his Unit made the deepest penetration of the allied lines) (In "band of brothers" they 502nd attack a village in the Ardennes where the village is held by some hard bitten panzer grenadiers, if I remember correctly it was the part where some Lt screws up and an NCO takes over, well, it was the panzer grenadiers of his Regt that were in that village at the time).

For me it is THE front swine group because he did the whole thing from m36 jackets in france to whitewashed helmets in russia to cammo vests in normandy. Sure, he did not get the knights cross, but he saw a lot more action than some folks who did.

All the best
Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

By the way, it just goes to show you how highly rated the lifesaving medal was.
KC winners did not get a special achievment recognition certificate from the chief of the Army, but it seems Life saving medal winners do.

By the same token, Navy winners of the life saving medal are the only ones listed in the Marine verordnungsblatt, no Kc and swords winners or Uboot with Diamonds awardees.
http://legionnaire0.50megs.com/photo2.html
here is part of schmelzers group

[PaulR]

All of this paper work and still no clear cut number of how many were issued?

Thanks for the explaination...for the record, that is an awesome set and I would not ever part with it either!!! I would kill for another medal with one of those certificates..


Paul

[Marcus Hatton]

I like your style Chris, nice room I like the walls, floor and the furniture. I don't 'do' modern style, glass and metal either.

Your old collection was certainly some thing, but I know you like your Brit stuff, any chance of seeing a selection of not seen before pic's of your 'new' medals.

Kind regards,


Marcus

[Chris Boonzaier]

Originally Posted by Marcus. H

I like your style Chris, nice room I like the walls, floor and the furniture. I don't 'do' modern style, glass and metal either.

Your old collection was certainly some thing, but I know you like your Brit stuff, any chance of seeing a selection of not seen before pic's of your 'new' medals.

Kind regards,


Marcus

Yes indeed, coming to international some time soon..

I am doing some pretty heavy research and it is taking ages. Just the group to Major Cloete (posted with some rough research in international a couple of months ago) has had me going for a couple of months with no end in sight.

Here is some to keep you going... to Alan Boyd Reynolds, MID in the Boer war, commanded the 12th Hussars for a short time in WW1 then the northumberland Hussars 1917-1918..
Then one to Edgar Bridges, who commanded the 14th hussars and "Bridges Force" around Baghdad in 1917 and 1918 where he and his cavalry spend frustrating months trying to catch Arab Raiders who were attacking lines of communication and trading shots with the turks and basically being very frustrated.

All the best
Chris

[Richard Gordon]

Hmmm...but where is the beer cooler? I asks.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Beer Cooler?? There is not enough room in thee...thats why you have to go through the kitchen to get there and resupply yourself along the way.

[Sebastian Bianchi]

Originally Posted by Chris Boonzaier

Beer Cooler?? There is not enough room in thee...thats why you have to go through the kitchen to get there and resupply yourself along the way.

Wasn't there a window in the room?