Soviet Medals and Pins

I picked up a number of old Soviet medals and pins in my travels about 15 or more years ago and they have been living in an old Huckleberry Jam jar ever since............. I've been sorting and organizing my "treasures" and ran back across them the other day and decided to actually find out what they were for! I have a co-worker who was born and raised in Russia and has lived there for all but the last few years. She took a look at the pins and gave me her translation.................

Here is what I know so far:

THE SMALL PINS

This pin is a "Young Pioneers" pin. The "Young Pioneers were the USSR's equivalent of the Boy and Girls Scouts. The Young Pioneers were in existence from 1922 to 1991. The translated motto on the pin's banner reads: "Always Ready". Irena said that every time you said the "slogan", you had to give the official salute.

This is an official membership pin of the original Communist Party of Russia (KNCC).

This is a military pin that I am not quite sure of as of yet. I can however say that it appears to be from a "Naval Aviation Technical Department" of some sort. I'll be doing more research to see if I can find out what it is exactly.

This is a "common" hat pin from the Soviet Army. This is the pin you would see on field caps, etc.

THE BIG PINS

This is a commemorative pin that could be purchased and worn by anyone. It commemorates the "Patriotic War of 1941-1945" . It features a miniature version of Russia's highest WW2 award, "The Order of the Patriotic War Medal" on the field of green.


This one roughly translates to something like "Western Fort or Defense", so I would imagine it would be for some sort of service related duty on the borders.



This is a partial medal......... it would hang from an attached ribbon and pin originally. This award was called "Inventor of the Soviet Union", and was awarded to people who contributed a good invention or idea to the USSR.


This one is a badge for an "Industrial Label Inspector". Sounds like a really interesting job to have had during the Cold War days of the Soviet Union...........

This is a sports pin for a youth tennis championship held in 1989.

This is a pin for a city located in Russia that is known for it's radiation contamination from a meltdown during the dark days of the Cold War....... Irena said that the nuclear accident occurred when things were routinely covered up by the Soviet Government so it is not that well known outside Russia today. I'm still not sure exactly what the town is called..... "lost in translation".


This is a city pin for the port city of Nakhodka. This city is located in the Far East of Russia on Nakhodka Bay, on The Sea of Japan. It is one of the most easterly large cities in Russia.


I'll continue to research these pins to see if I can find out more, but until then, we'll just have to be happy with the translations by my Russian co-worker and my brief internet searches.......