Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward De Santis

I have known Ed de Santis since Moses went up the mountain. As old collectors we have gone through the collection cycle. As younger men we took many collection trips under Ed’s planned-to-the-last-second schedule. We travelled to society shows, sale shows, and collector get togethers. We stopped to smell the roses touring North American military history sights along the way. We visited the places where men in Ed’s collection grew up. We took photos by the hundreds, talked to family members, and visited local libraries for fruitful research and local information. Best of all we met with other collectors, for long winded boasting, and the serious sharing of research, on numerous occasions asking “Oh, where did you find that?” We were always working on how to better tell the story. We tried all kinds of displays, and whilst we stuck to our themes we were always looking for ways to add new interest. Now we are thinking about what do we do with our collections. Ed, being older than me, is first … Melancholy, but also fun and a sharing experience.

Ed was the ideal person to collect Royal Engineers. He was himself a professional geo-technical engineer and a US Army Corps of Engineers Officer, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served in Central America, Germany, and during the Vietnam War, with tours both in country and in Thailand. He has a sharp engineering eye. I learned this first hand when he visited my West Virginia mountain home and helped me assess and predict engineering issues facing our roads. These roads are built on old logging roads that were between 100 to 200 years old. As time pasted several of his predictions came true and the community began to listen. One was major, closing one of our roads for several weeks.

As for the medals themselves, Ed loves them, but most importantly he loved the man behind the medal – not just as a fellow soldier but as a human being. He delved into the man’s history with great passion, compassion, and with the detailed eye of an engineer. He was able to explain engineering problems in his men’s history with detail that both the novice and the professional could understand. Most of all he recorded the story of doers of history. In war that is always the individual soldiers. The medals listed in this collection are linked to the detailed, illustrated, and colourful history of the lives of Royal Engineers. You are as much buying the research as you are the medals in this collection.

Thank you, Ed for your wonderful friendship and for sharing this best of all hobbies, that of medal collecting, with me all these years. I am looking forward to the next chapter as your research focus moves to photographs – doubtless we will still be helping each other in the future in the quest of ‘Who is this man?’
Fred Larimore
May 2026.

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