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An unknown Kriegsmarine officer wearing the Eiserner Halbmond on his summer white tunic
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An unknown Kriegsmarine officer wearing the Eiserner Halbmond on his summer white tunic
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An unknown German officer wearing the Eiserner Halbmond, Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse, and the Osmaniye Nişanı I. Klasse. The German officer standing is Willy Tischbein, not yet awarded the halbmond, whose service is highlighted in post #85.
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An unknown Great War Veteran awarded the Eiserner Halbmond serving in the Deutsche Reichsbahn in this prewar/early wartime photograph
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A post war photo of an unknown Ottoman calvary major wearing the Eiserner Halbmond, Liyakat Madalyası with clasp, and the İstiklal Madalyası which was awarded during the Turkish War of Independence.
Hello my friend. I found this photograph for sale and with your permission I upload the image of this highly decorated officer, by the government of Romania
Regards
Santi
Richard Hess
Born 31 December 1892 in Mährisch-Weißkirchen (Hranice, Czech)
Died 24 February 1918 in Valsugana (Italian Sugana Valley)
Richard Hess was an Austrian fighter pilot awarded the Eiserner Halbmond. He was destined to become a career officer following in the footsteps of his uncle, an Oberst, and his father, a Generalmajor. He first attended the Realschule followed by four years at the cavalry cadet institute before he was posted to Landwehr Ulanen Regiment Nr.5 in Stockerau. When the Great War started, Richard was serving as patrol commander within the 3rd bataillon of this regiment. He made many reconnaissance patrols for which he was honored with the Österreich Tapferkeitsmedaille II. Klasse in Silber in October 1914. Besides his knowledge of German, English and French his fluent Polish, learnt from his mother, helped him during his long range reconnaissance patrols. On 2 December 1914 he received serious wounds which forced him to remain in hospital for some weeks. During this time he received accelerated promotion to Leutnant on 1 January 1915. Fully recovered he returned to his regiment in February 1915 being further employed as a platoon commander and later as commander of the Reserve Squadron. For his outstanding performance he received the commendation of the Kaiser which allowed him to wear the Österreich Militär-Verdienstmedaille in Schwarz mit Schwerten.
In June 1916 after volunteering for the air service, he graduated from the observer's training course for officers and was attached to the newly raised Fliegerkompanie (FliK) 36 at the airfield of Braila on 22 October 1916. On 1 November 1916 Richard Hess received his promotion to Oberleutnant. During the following year he performed 51 reconnaissance sorties, 3 successful bombing raids and was involved in 6 air combats and one forced landing. On 12 March 1917 he received the Luftfahrerabzeichen and his successful bombing raids were recognized by the award of the Österreich Militärverdienstkreuz III. Klasse mit Schwertern und Kriegsdekoration on 31 July 1917. After his 39th sortie he received the newly introduced Karl-Truppen-Kreuz in August 1917. Seeing action in concert with allied troops on the eastern theatre led to the awards of the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse and the Eiserner Halbmond in the same period. However his real desire in aviation was to be a fighter pilot and so, as far as his duty allowed him, he used every minute and every available instructor, like Oberleutnant Gawel, Feldwebel Rumiha and Zugsführer Wiesmayer to improve his skills as a pilot. Finally he completed 64 training flights when he was transferred to the fighter pilots' course in early November 1917. The awarding of the Österreich Feldpiloten Abzeichen was published on 22 December 1917; it seems that his previous experience gained on combat missions as an observer was credited to immediately qualify him for the award of the piloten abzeichen after the successful completion of his pilot's training.
After some weeks on leave at home he arrived at FliK 60J on 20 February 1918. This fighter unit was located at the airfield of Grigno in the southern theatre, under pressure from the permanently increasing support of British and American air-units to the anyway already numerically superior Italian air forces. Between the 20th and 22nd of February he took part in three combat missions always involved in heavy air combat. His plane number 228.06 was so often hit that it was deemed beyond repair on the 23 February. On 24 February 1918 Oberleutnant Richard Hess took off with plane number 328.12 for his last combat mission. Near the frontlines his squadron met superior enemy forces. A wild dogfight started and it was reported that Hess was wounded just at the beginning but did not refrain from attacking the enemy. Soon he was surrounded by four planes, he landed considerable hits on one plane but the others finished him off. His plane was last seen spinning down out of control and crashed into the ground near the Cismon stream or the town of Cismon del Grappa. For this Oberleutnant Richard Hess was awarded the Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone III. Klasse mit Schwerten und Kriegsdekoration posthumously on 18 March 1918.
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