Prussian Calvary Officer

Going into strangers' houses for books puts Christopher Stephens into the lives of those strangers. Sometimes he brings more than books back to riverrun.

These were small possessions of an old man long gone. His name was August Giehr. He was a Prussian Calvary officer. The picture on the left was taken 90 years ago, in 1919.

Giehr's time worn kit is painfully touching. There, amongst scuffed stays and shirt studs, lie his medals.

What about those medals?

  Born after WWII, raised in the 1960s, I've been indifferent to valor.  Until now.  Giehr's kit gives me a glimpse of a different world where medals are a treasured currency of honor in battle.

left to right:

1914 Iron Cross, 2nd Class - awarded for bravery, far beyond demands of duty. The original 1813 design is on the back with initials FW for Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia.   

Silver Cross of Merit with Crown bearing the words 'virbus unitas', the name of an Austro Hungarian battleship

Kyffhauferbund medal - WWI veterans' medal

  There's much more about medals on the internet.  Here's a start:

diggerhistory website with pictures of Prussian military medals

a google collection of websites about German medals

a google collection of WWI Allied military medals