Pearl Harbor Survivor Group- I think!

[Teamski]

Hey all,

 

I picked up this group on E-Bay about 6 years ago. It is a named retirement group to Edward J. Braham with 4 named medals in the group (named at the same time). I did a search on Google and sure enough this exact name is on the USS Arizona's Survivor's list as a Marine PFC. Note the Marine Good Conduct Medal and American Defense medal with Fleet Bar. You would think this would pretty much guarrantee that this is one in the same guy. I did a request through the National Records center and I got his photo and his USAF details, but nothing on his WWII service. SO, I have to believe that this individual had quite the story to tell!

 

-Ski

[Teamski]

Hi,

 

Brit medal collectors have a tendancy to mount medal groups in a similar fashion.

 

Vic

 

That's a very good point. I have a good number of mounted British groups as well. This could of been done in the UK. But why? The cost of mounting such a group and having the length of ribbons to do it would make it pretty expensive, you would think. Now, I DID get it from a British guy . The naming of the medals is definately not contemporary, and thus the thought on my end that the group was put together as a retirement group for a shadow box. The medals are at least Vietnam vintage, not the modern garbage. I have Braham's original USAF driver's license and Geneva card along with his wife's commisary card. It's a beautiful group none-the-less. Here are some detail shots.

 

-Ski

[Teamski]

The back....

[Teamski]

The naming....

[KASTAUFFER]

British collectors do mount medals this way and I have seen some done recently .

 

I saw a group being sold by a dealer in the US a few years ago... cased #'d and named Silver Star BBB with a split brooch , Purple heart named cased ETC.... and a ton of original documents. It was a beautiful group. He sold it to a British collector. 2 years later the British collector decided to sell it. It had been COURT MOUNTED! The original ribbons and brooches had been removed and the medals had been sewn to a bar with new ribbons. In the eyes of a US medal collector, this would be considered vandalism . I know British medal collectors have no problems with remounting British medals , but US collectors want original ribbons and original brooches on US medals unless the group was mounted by the vet HIMSELF, not by a collector .

 

 

Kurt

[Teamski]

British collectors do mount medals this way and I have seen some done recently .

 

I saw a group being sold by a dealer in the US a few years ago... cased #'d and named Silver Star BBB with a split brooch , Purple heart named cased ETC.... and a ton of original documents. It was a beautiful group. He sold it to a British collector. 2 years later the British collector decided to sell it. It had been COURT MOUNTED! The original ribbons and brooches had been removed and the medals had been sewn to a bar with new ribbons. In the eyes of a US medal collector, this would be considered vandalism . I know British medal collectors have no problems with remounting British medals , but US collectors want original ribbons and original brooches on US medals unless the group was mounted by the vet HIMSELF, not by a collector .

Kurt

 

I've seen that elsewhere. Yeah, that would just about destroy most of the value in the group.

 

Now these medals could have been mounted by a British collector, but he put alot of expense into it if that is the case. The chance of the mounter to actually have all of the ribbon stock available to do the job is quite something. I had several British groups mounted while living in the UK, and they look somehwhat different. Look at this South African group I had done. The drape length is considerably shorter and the back of the ribbon is finished off by sewing. I know many mounters do things differently, so I suppose anything goes. The devices are older, larger versions and the ribbon is old stock, something I haven't got on any of mine done in the mid-90's. Interesting nonetheless.

 

-Ski

[Teamski]

Time to unbury this thread and pass on a somewhat interesting update.

 

Futzing around the site today, I noticed that Edward Braham was added to the WWII Memorial roll by a Lamar Crawford. I got a couple phone numbers from Ancestry.com and I got the right guy on the first call. After expaining who I was, we talked for about 15 minutes or so. Lamar Crawford was a fellow Marine Corps detachment survivor who was aboard the USS Arizona when it exploded. I was pretty humbled by this news. Anyways, he didn't know anything about "Eddie" after Pearl Harbor, even though he kept in contact with most of the 13 Marine survivors. They were all split up during the war. The only bit of new information I got was that Edward Braham was actually aboard the ship when it blew up. I updated him with everything I knew about Edward, and let him know that Edward passed away back in 1972 after retiring from the USAF in 1969.

 

Lamar Crawford had to compile the paperwork on all of the members of his detatchment that were lost, and he mentioned just how tough it was to do it. He ended the war as an admin troop in the 3rd Marine Division on Guam.

 

It was something to actually talk with a guy who was there when it all happened. You don't get that opportunity very often.

 

-Ski