MEET OUR AUTHORS

HARVEY S. EISENBERG 3794 Dianne Street Bethpage, N.Y. 11714

At the age of 12 Harvey Eisenberg was a collector of patches and his interests grew in things military and finally medals were his forte. His particular area of interest is the Spanlsh-American War, Philippine Insurrection and the , covering the period 1898-1902.

Another interest in the area of Civil Air Patrol~ embraces the collecting’ of all awards, medals, badges and patches. Harvey is an Information Officer in the Civil Air Patrol.

Combining both the medallic aspects of these periods and the historical research area Mr. Eisenberg has written a book on the U.S. Navy in the Spanish-American War, which has not yet been published. He holds office as the President of the Spanish-American War Historical Society.

Only 33 years of age Harvey holds a ~ster’s degree in Physiology from Adelphl University. Currently he is in charge of the Laboratories at Inter- boro General Hospital, Brooklyn, New York.

F.v.A. CANADIAN TOKENS AND I.~DALS - An Antholosy edited by A.D. Hoch - $20.00 Quarterman Publicatlons, Inc. 5 South Union Street, Lawrence. Mass. 01823

This volume, fourth in the GLEANINGS FROM THE NUMISMATIST series, brings together for the first time the extensive material published in THE NUMISMATIST dealing with Canadian token coinage and medals. Articles by mahy of the impor- tant writers in this field as Dr. Eugene Courteau, R.W. McLachlan and W.A.D. Lees are included in this 352-page, hard-bound volume which has an easy-to-use geographical and chronological format.

Most of these articles are over fifty years old and therefore virtually unobtainable today. However~ their age enhances their value~ as the research of these early pioneers in the token and medal area (even as to their estimation of rarity) is still valid and in many cases has not been surpassed. An exten- sive and detailed price guide by R.C. Willey, as well as a foreward by Maj. Sheldon Carroll, has been added to make CANADIAN TOKENS AND MEDALS of greater service to the American and Canadian token and medal collector.

Of notable interest to the members of OMSA is the section written by Lionel A. Lapolnte on the War medals of ,~which appeared in the 1931 issues of THE NUMISmaTIST. Starting with the Gold Medals for Military Opera- tions in America, 1812-1813, Medals of the , Naval General Service, 1814, the various Raids, Zouave Volunteers to Italy, 1868-69, and the famous Canadian Nile Contingent, Northwest Canada, 1885, South Africa, 1899-1902, Diamond Jubilee, and Coronations Medals, and the various medals for the Great War, 1914-18 and ending with the Mercantile Marine Medal.

A further article by R.W. McLachlan deals with CANADIAN ~DALS RELATING TO THE LATE WAR (World War I).

In this day and age when this material in its original form is located far and in between we find ourselves fortunate indeed that an ambitious publisher as Quarterman makes these out-of-prlnt references available for those whose interests lie in that field. Frederic yon Allendorfer

RIBBONS AND ~DALS (The World’s Military and Civil Awards) by the late Capt. H. Taprell Dorllng, in association with the late L.F. Guille~ this Edition revised under the Editorship of Francis K. Mason - Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden Cit~ New York - 1974 $ 14.95

For those of us who have been collecting and studying medals for 25 years or more a familiar book found on most reference shelves has been "Taffrail’s" RIBBONS AND MEDALS, by H. Taprell Dorllng, which has gone through many editions since it’was first published in 1916.

Now, the NEW ENLARGED EDITION has been published by Doubleday & Company, and a radical change has been made. Where we had been used to seeing line drawings of the medals a change has been made to photographs. The format of the book is larger than any of the earlier editions and many new countries are added to the colored ribbon section as well as appearing in the photographic section of the book.

Many of the emerging nations are now represented by photos and captions, such as Ceylon, Burma,~ Botswans, Brunei~ Ghana, Guyana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Abu Dhabl, Muscat and Oman, Malawi and the Truclal States. Tribute is paid to our friend, the late L.Fo Guille by the present editor in his preface to this edition.

The new Editor who raised again the fallen torch with this edition is Francis Mason who comes from a military background. Son of an Army officer and graduate of the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell he retired from the R.A.F. in 1956. His interest turned to historical research and writing which produced some forty-odd books, including the major work BATTLE OVER BRITAIN (published in 1969), the research of which took over twelve years. His most recent books are ~OW BRITAIN (1972) and KNOW AVIATION (1973). Among the important works for whose editing and design he was responsible was BRITISH GALLANTRY AWARDS (by Peter Abbott and John Tamplin). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a committee member of the Historical Section of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London.

Having this "Taffrail" on my shelf is llke the visit of an old friend who has wonderful new stories to tell.

Frederic yon Allendorfer

AUSTRALIAN GALLANT AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE~ VIETNAM 1962-73 by I. L. Barnes - Military Historical Society of Australia Publication.

This publication is a record of British and Foreign decorations awarded to Australian servicemen during the conflict in Vietnam. It is produced by I.L. Barnes and is published as a Limited Edition by the Military Historical Society of Australia and is available from the MHSA, PO Box 67, Lyneham, ACT~ 2602. Price: Cardboard Cover $5.00 (Aust.), Hardbound ($i0.00 Aust.)

After the conclusion of each war there is a need for a reference book covering awards, both unit and individual, British and Foreign. In the case of Vietnam the need for such a record is most important as the confused situation on foreign awards and unit citations has resulted in a failure by any one organization to consolidate all known records before they are lost due to the passage of time.

This book comprises over 150 pages and many excellent plates of award winners from the three Services. There are sections on the brief history of the war in Vietnam, an introduction which traces the ’awards muddle’ and each Service has a section which, in the main, is a list of those personnel who received British awards, foreign awards and unit citations. The full text of unit citations are of interest as they have not appeared in such detail before. The concluding section on the wearing of foreign awards will enable those who have earned awards to know the manner and procedure in which they should be worn.

The book contains some criticism of certain of the British awards made for Vietnam. The author, who was not personally involved in Vietnam but who had studied awards for twenty years, has base4 his remarks on historical comparisons with other wars. No doubt for any war critical comment can be made on the number and type of awards made.

Ably summed up in the Foreward written by Lt. Gen. The Hon. Sir Edmund Herring: "However, I would like to commend most highly the Military Historical Society of Australia for pub- lishing this book. It has taken nearly two years to prepare and I recommend it to all interested in our proud military heritage.