Remembering someone I never met

[White_Wolf]

Well, it may sound like a weird, nonsensical statement. It's my grandfather whom I never met. He died in WW 2 in 1943. These are the only two photos of him and his crew. I took them from my mum earlier this year, I feel bad about it ...My intention is to scan them (done), restore them the best I can (the writing at the very least), print them out on a nice printer I bought today. Frame one set for me, send one set to my mum. She doesn't know what I want to do and was nearly in tears when she gave me the photos. I feel really terrible when I think about it. I want to put these two photos on a display thing at home, along side other photos of my grandads (nan remarried, she was 22 when her husband died), their medals (as many as I could find. Shame that I don't know enough about them and there is nobody who can tell me about them either ....

The photos are in pretty good shape despite them being taken in 1941. They show my grandad, he was the pilot, the observer and the gunner. The plane is an IAR 39, a 3 seater recon plane. The airfield is near Constanta, by the Black Sea.

Thanks for looking,

Laurence

 

[jknaus]

Very very cool Lawrence.
James

 

[moon puppy]

Laurence post up the medals you got, some pretty resourceful folks around here.

Keep us up to date with this please

 

[lupanzer]

Very nice Lawrence...

Luiz.

 

[SA Dave]

I will retouch em for you Laurence PM sent

 

[jknaus]

I've been hording the one pic of my Dad, but maybe I'll follow your lead, go and scan it and post up.
James

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Thanks for posting the photos White Wolf! It is rare for us to ever know many of the people that are in our reference photos. What was your grandfathers name?

 

[chukw]

Great story and pics- priceless!

 

[White_Wolf]

Thanks folks

Those two pics were taken in June 1941 few days after Operation Barbarossa began.

His name was Constantin BALBARAU, the only piece of written evidence I found was a list of staff from April 1939. He was assigned to FLOTILA 3 Informatii - that means 3rd Flotilla - Informations (Recon). Other than that I don't know much at all. My nan told me he was a very happy go lucky, crazy inlove with life and his wife and child (my mum). She told me he had a bunch of crazy friends, playing cards once a week at their place, talking about their planes and all things that could fly.


Laurence

 

[moon puppy]

Sounds like a pilot eh?

 

[White_Wolf]

Yes indeed - IAR 80, IAR 39, Me-109 are the only three planes I know he flew, either part of their training or combat missions. Although he could fly fighters, he was assigned to recon.

The only belonging mum has ever had from him is his watch - a Universal Geneve Aero Compax, Swiss made on order from Romanian Ministry of War in the 1930's. I have it now - treasured item and it's still working.


Laurence

 

[moon puppy]

Still working? Wow, what a treasure. Great thread Laurence, thanks for this. What about a shot of those medals?

 

[White_Wolf]

I'll take some photos of all medals and watch and post them here

 

[White_Wolf]

Medals and watch - top row one medal - the step grandad WW2
Second row - dad's dad all his civilian medals except for the first one to the left
Third row - my medals as many as I could find

The watch - my mum's dad

Laurence

 

[lupanzer]

A treasure , for sure...Laurence!...

Best!

Luiz

 

[SA Dave]

Thanks for sharing My grandfathers medals from WW2 is some of my most treasured items so I have a good idea how you feel about it.

 

[RichB]

Medals and watch - top row one medal - the step grandad WW2
Second row - dad's dad all his civilian medals except for the first one to the left
Third row - my medals as many as I could find

The watch - my mum's dad

Laurence

The top medal looks to be the "Medal of Military Virtue, 2nd Class" (Medalia Virtutea Militara de Razboi), awarded for bravery during wartime. Pre-1918, 1st Class (gold) was for officers and 2nd Class (silver) was for enlisted. When a seperate order was created for officers, this medal was exclusively awarded to enlisted men.

The one on the left of the second row looks to be the "Medal for the Upsurge of the Nation" (Medalia Avantul Tarii), Second Balkan War 1913. Awarded to both military and civilian workers after the defeat of Bulgaria. There would have been two laurel branches extending from the top to which a blue with orange & yellow trimed ribbon was attached.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[White_Wolf]

That's correct - The Military Virtue Second Class (silver) was awarded to my step grandad in July 1942 I think ( I have some paper mentioning that). He was wounded on the Eastern Front in battle against the Red Army and lost a leg. He was discharged (obviously). He never wanted to talk about it and every time the conversation was turning towards discussing the war and stuff he would frown and say "War is the most stupid thing ever" and that would be the end of it.

The medal was awarded - starting 1918 to enlisted and NCO's only, the equivalent for officers was the Order of Michael the Brave. During WW1 it was gold for officers and silver for lower ranks. Medal goes back to 1872, and even earlier than that (in a different form). Still awarded today.

The Balkan war medal there - that was in the pile with stuff from my dad's dad. I think it would have belonged to his father. My grandad was born in 1910, too young for the Balkan War obviously, what I know is that his father fought in the Balkan War but not much else. It's pretty bad the way the medal is but after 100 years ....

 

[moon puppy]

Thank you for sharing this Laurence. :zen

 

[White_Wolf]

Thank you for sharing this Laurence. :zen

My pleasure MP


Laurence