As you know, in Militaristic Japan in the early 40s there were two branches to dispute... - The first (air forces and navy) wanted to attack America in order to gain access to all the routes in the oceans that America had blocked.... - The second (Kwantung Land Army) demanded an attack on the USSR in order to gain access to vast territories in Siberia... ------- But as a result, Emperor Harohito ordered a surprise attack on the Americans at Pearl Harbor.... ======================== As a result of the war, the Americans destroyed the Japanese fleet.   In 1943, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill gathered in Tehran... Stalin promised them to launch a military operation against the Kwantung Army of Japan no later than the Soviet troops would defeat the Combined Forces of Nazi Europe.... Then in 1944, at the Yalta Conference, Stalin confirmed his promises....   ====================== In August 1945, Soviet troops attacked the Kwantung Army of Japan and defeated it in two weeks... In August, the Americans dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan...   Emperor Hirohito gave the order "the entire civilian population of Japan should not resist the Americans."   ... But Hirohito did not give such an order to the Army!!!   But when the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, Hirohito issued a second order, "I order the Army to lay down its arms, resistance is useless." ==============================   so... Who defeated Militaristic Japan in 1945?      

The answer is simple.. Americans have never fought against an enemy army on the territory of "America"... 😃

Поздравляю Всех с Великой Победой над Нацизмом! В этой войне Советский Союз разгромил войска Объединенной Европы, которая была под нацистскими флагами

Russians laughed for a long time at what Mr. Trump said.... Was HE drunk or...?  😀 ------- As we know from History, World War II is 1. The war in Europe, which officially began on September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland....   BUT IN REALITY - the war in Europe began in 1938, when Britain, France and Poland agreed with Hitler to divide Czechoslovakia.....     ============================================== Then... in 1941-1945 the Soviet Union defeated Nazism in the United Europe, including ALL the COUNTRIES of Europe   in 1944 Roosevelt and Churchill moved troops into Europe... They wanted to defeat Nazism? hahahahahahahaha They wanted to leave the Red Army of the USSR, which had already defeated Nazism...   They did not want the Red Army to occupy all of Europe!

. Today . . . . . . . .    This morning I attended a car show in Ste Mere Eglise which Johan had sent details for, sadly for me too many modern road cars and little by way of vintage or veteran.  And this afternoon we are invited to a VE Day barbecue so I dressed accordingly and off we go . . . . . . . . . hopefully I will grab a few more photos at the barbecue.                   Norman D. Landing, Forum Normandy Correspondent, May 11 2O25.     ….

In the very early days of the Legion of Merit, there were documented instances (likely due to confusion in interpreting the regulation) when it was a presented to U.S. Army personnel in degrees other than Legionnaire (as the U.S. Army awards regulation currently prescribes).  The attached image is one such case.  As seen in the photograph, Brigadier General Barker was presented the Legion of Merit in the degree of Officer.   Shade      

Rooster,  that USS Concord Dewey Medal you posted from Wiki,  I wouldn't be plunking down anything on that without pictures of the back of the brooch (which I'm not feeling the real based on that picture of the front) and I'd need to see the rim naming.    The drape (ribbon) is hideous.   Anybody thinking about putting down the money it will take to buy an authentic Dewey named to a sailor or marine  in Dewey's squadron at Manila Bay on 5/1/1898 best do their homework, and get the course book.   There's pictures of numerous Dewey copies and fakes made to deceive the collector market in John and Allen's book and one medal in particular that's scary good as a fake-- even the rim impressed naming.  If I remember correctly they found two copies of that particular fake.  If memory serves,  it's believed to have been made in Korea, but I could be wrong on that. 

Apparently I was further with 'Fordifying' than I realized. I already mentioned before I have a GPW steering box & column as a spare; today I took the steering box that's on the jeep off and cleaned the outside as it was caked in mud and old grease (never took it off before) and lo & behold look what I found:       The steering column is fixed to the box with these 3 bolts; they have a different script than the usual style:         The outer tube over the column was fitted with a clamp with an 'AA'-marked bolt so that is Willys, and the tube itself could very well be the original one to  my jeep.   I also started to strip some parts from the engine and to clean the block.       The cross-over tube is an original F marked one and will be replaced by a 1st type, the oil filler pipe & dipstick will also be replaced with the 1st push-pull type, the CJ-model oil filter bracket I have now will be replaced by the correct type but unfortunately I will have to keep using the CJ oil filter housing for now as I haven't found an original Purolator or (preferably) Fram housing yet.   The block has to be cleaned very thoroughly to get rid of all the oil and grease residue, or the fresh paint will fall off again in 6 months. For this I use de-greaser, a wire wheel, a plumbers' torch and acetone (not at the same time 🤣 ).

From the web site: Military Medals,  NO DISTINCTION in degree is made when the award is given to U.S. personnel, though the Legion of Merit is typically presented only to senior command or staff, with occasional exceptions. SO there should be NO "gold miniature of decoration and horizontal gold bar"