To those who care; the things we "own", own us as much as we own them. Sometimes it is hard to find another caretaker / owner who cares as we do.
This ^^^^^.
Each collectible or family heirloom item can be a gift from the past or chains tying you down into the future. It took awhile but I have finally learned to see an item for it's utility first. While the provenance of it's ownership in the family tree is important, there are times when things need to go. I shop a flea market 30 miles up the road and it's usually pretty full of local items, a lot of them are Amish or Mennonite ancestry - the kids are selling old furniture none need. Small bureaus, a chair, and end table, mostly unrestored and plenty of it Victorian. The shellac has turned black, restoring it would lose 50% of the value, it's sized for peope no more than 5'6" average, and it's no longer a style that is popular. Great grandma's dresser simply has little appreciation after 130 years.
Guns are no different. You have to have a desire to "caretake" them, to house them in a safe and undamaging way, NOT the attic or a damp leaky basement where rust and decay will ruin them. Rot usually will attempt to destroy everything humans own, and it sometimes requires more expense to preserve them than someone can afford. Historic documents? Books? Clothing? Sealed in nitrogen charged cases and rarely exposed to bright lights is how it has to be done, not dusty drawers in an out of the way place in the house rarely supervised.
So, you sell it hoping the next person can afford to pay double or triple the cost to keep it maintained and protected. I have furniture my mom purchased - found down a country lane sitting outside a barn being rained on. Solid oak local craftsmanship turn of the century side board for $10, and the owner was like, You really willing to pay that much? At least now there are flea markets for the exchange. Beats having it sit at the curb in the rain.
We DO have too much stuff, America has gotten fat and lazy with hoarding, the worst of it is all the plastic and particle board sitting in rental units mixed in with Grandma's old furniture. Oh well. How many rifles and guns do we REALLY need, maybe one each, that and enough ammo to carry for them is about all a soldier is given, and considering their life expectancy in real combat, being stripped of the bulk of it before being loaded on a stretcher is plenty of help.
As for "bring back papers" keep in mind that the older guns from WWII and Korea are at least on the surface pretty legit, however, after Vietnam much of the import market got only a casual inspection and those items which could be fraudulently documented were. Papers typed up on old manual machines with aged documents thrown out of administrative use are not unknown. If anything the typos tell the story, a proficient clerk rarely has any. yet a repro document may include one to appear authentic. You have to know the progression of how things were corrected over the last 40 years to catch it, a totally different forensics that is a whole new science to the military collector. Goes to: Buy the Seller. There is plenty of fraud and $10 spent on forging a paper to get another $50 in selling price isn't infrequent. Bring back guns aren't the province of a grunt actually working to disarm the enemy - they are the hunting grounds of the support system, where trucks, gas, and time to scout or buy them from others near the front lines. A small pistol or such can be carried in a pouch or backpack, whole rifles? A soldier already has the one he's got, nobody much lugs one back in from a patrol to keep. Dead weight is the enemy of a foot soldier and he has little regard for history when he's the one making it.
I have one weapon my father brought back, an Air Raid Warden's dagger from Germany he obtained while working the Berlin Air Lift. He said the previous owner attempted to use it against him. This was 1946-7 era. For many, the war wasn't over, and they had to be persuaded on a case by case basis.