Relics of War

[sevt_chevelle]

One of my great Uncles joined the Army Air Corp after Pearl Harbor. Being as he was only about 5'4, he got assigned as a belly gunner on a B-17.

If I remember the story right, him and the crew are still stateside, the bombardier gets drunk and ends up breaking his arm.

Uncle Don volunteers to become the new bombardier. He gets his wish, he becomes so good at the job the Army makes him an instructor. Don spends WWII teaching others how to use the Norden bombsight.

Anyways, maybe about 15 years ago at a family reunion, Don had written a book about his time spent in the Army, along with his uniform, some awesome photos of B-17s and other items out on display.
But on one table, all by itself, he had the instruction manual, some documents marked classified and a complete working Norden bombsight.
I asked Don how he came into possession of this Norden, just a simple smile and the shrug of shoulders.

 

[shuvelrider]

I was in Afghanistan. There was a lot a lot of rules and regulations to follow in order to bring back war trophies. First above all, personal war trophies were expressly forbidden. If you killed an enemy and wanted to take home his gold plated AK, you didn't have an ice cube's chance of getting it home. But...if you wanted that same AK to hang on the wall at your battalion or brigade headquarters back in the states, it was slightly more possible. If you sat down and did the paperwork. And it was a lot.

Purchased, antique firearms were allowed to be brought back. Again, with boatloads of paperwork. The firearm HAD to be at least 100 years old in order to be declared an antique, and able to be cleared, inventoried, and shipped back. At Bagram Airfield, a local made a killing off US troops because he had an expansive table of Martini-Henry rifles for sale. Some as low as just $15 when I was there. I know quite a few people who bought those rifles, went through the paperwork to import them back to the states, sometimes cleaned them up, and sold them for a massive profit. Very few kept them.

Personally, I tried bringing back a war trophy firearm. But it was confiscated and never got to me. The days when it was as easy as stuffing a Luger in a duffel bag or parcel are long gone.

I was at Bagram also around 2012 and saw many of those same rifles, some were probably legit but many were also Kyber Pass copies. There was a website I found at the time that explained the many proof stamps found on those rifles, some just did not match up historically to proper years of production. It was fun to look at them though, I usually bought some of the local jade jewelry and bead work for the family back home.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My Dad was in the Navy in WW2 and in the Pacific on LSTs. He enlisted in 1941 at the age of 44.
He told me once about being ashore and going into a cave and finding a couple of swords. Someone stole them on the ship though so he didn't get to bring them back. About all he kept were his dogtags and some uniforms. I still remember him wearing his "dixie cup" in the summer.

In 1969 we went to Denmark and visited relatives. At one of the cousin's farm there was a wall in the house that had some various antlers,(he was a hunter), as well as an M1 Carbine and a German Mauser rifle. I asked about them and Dad translated the story.
Our cousin had been in the Danish Resistance during the war and he pointed at the carbine and said "The Allies sent that one to us". Then he pointed to the rifle and said, "I used it to get that one."
End of story...

 

[eastbank]

i have my dads kabar knife he carried in the south pacific while in the navy, he was on a screening destoryer and never set foot on land there. i also have a USM3 imperial fighting knife with a USM8 scabbard that was carried by a friend of my dad, who carried it also in the south pacific on the illands and tho it,s no in ex condition(seen a lot of use) that i prize very much.

 

[Speedo66]

He told me once about being ashore and going into a cave and finding a couple of swords. Someone stole them on the ship though so he didn't get to bring them back. About all he kept were his dog tags...

My father told me when he was being treated in a hospital for trench foot after the Battle of the Bulge, the orderlies tried to steal his equipment for souvenirs, including his pistol and combat knife, so he had to sleep with them.

He told me when I was a kid dry socks were the most important things you could have.

I still have his and my dog tags.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I still have one of my dogtags as well as his.

 

[Jim Watson]

He told me when I was a kid dry socks were the most important things you could have.

Bill Mauldin knew it: Willie says to Joe: "You saved my life the other day and I swore I would pay you back. Here is my last pair of dry socks."

 

[Ignition Override]

DustyGmt:

You don't need to apologize. If people don't want to read Your topic, then they can make the decision to avoid the topic. But they also should not own a television or a computer with random global/historic news on the main page.

My WW2 Sauer 38H handgun (.32 Auto/ 7,65) was reportedly "liberated" from a German nurse by an American GI.

Just a random video here. I could not believe or quite follow this. He is a magician. The gun looked like acid had dissolved part of it.

Most of you will not believe this. This is my expression--am still baffled.

 

[22250Rem]

Fascinating thread going on here. I have the Luger that one of my late uncles liberated from Germany's V-2 Rocket factory in the spring of 1945 when Uncle Sam cleaned the place out. It's been seen on this web site a few times already. Also have a P-38 that was a WW2 bring back but I don't have the story on where it was captured and how it got here. I bought it from the guy who had purchased it from the son of the WW2 vet who brought it here. He had inherited it and didn't even have the full story on its past. . Do letter openers qualify as relics of war? My father was on one of the U.S. Navy's light cruisers in WW2 and never brought any guns back. Although his ship was part of the Invasion of Southern France in August 1944, a couple months after D-Day. Following that they were in port in Palermo, Sicily and the crew got shore leave. There was a blacksmith shop with a forge which was making souvenir letter openers for all the American personnel. They had large pieces of aluminum from a destroyed German airplane and were melting down the aluminum and casting these things from it to sell to the G.I.'s. . Not exactly a valuable war trophy but I always liked dad's story of how they were melting down all that Luftwaffe aluminum and etching the date & location on them.

 

[theotherwaldo]

DustyGmt:

You don't need to apologize. If people don't want to read Your topic, then they can make the decision to avoid the topic. But they also should not own a television or a computer with random global/historic news on the main page.

My WW2 Sauer 38H handgun (.32 Auto/ 7,65) was reportedly "liberated" from a German nurse by an American GI.

Just a random video here. I could not believe or quite follow this. He is a magician. The gun looked like acid had dissolved part of it.

Most of you will not believe this. This is my expression--am still baffled.

That thing was in MUCH worse condition than the long-barrelled one that I found in an old freighter on the Portland, Oregon waterfront that was waiting to be scrapped.
I thought that mine was hopeless and traded it away for some work on another gun... .

 

[I6turbo]

This is one of the best and most interesting threads I've ever read, anywhere. I must admit, some of the stories, even told here 2nd-hand, bring tears. It is incredible the sacrifices that have been made for country and countrymen. There is no way to express the gratitude that every single person living in this country should hold for all that have given their service.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

One of my great Uncles joined the Army Air Corp after Pearl Harbor. Being as he was only about 5'4, he got assigned as a belly gunner on a B-17.

If I remember the story right, him and the crew are still stateside, the bombardier gets drunk and ends up breaking his arm.

Uncle Don volunteers to become the new bombardier. He gets his wish, he becomes so good at the job the Army makes him an instructor. Don spends WWII teaching others how to use the Norden bombsight.

Anyways, maybe about 15 years ago at a family reunion, Don had written a book about his time spent in the Army, along with his uniform, some awesome photos of B-17s and other items out on display.
But on one table, all by itself, he had the instruction manual, some documents marked classified and a complete working Norden bombsight.
I asked Don how he came into possession of this Norden, just a simple smile and the shrug of shoulders.

My paternal grandmother spent the war polishing Hamilton Standard propellers that went on B17s (among many others). When the Collins Foundation B17 Nine-O-Nine came to town, I showed my daughter the H-S stickers on the props and pointed out her great-grandmother may have polished them.
I did a walkthrough of the plane, but my daughter refused to climb the ladder and waited outside- she said it creeped her out. Less than a year later, that same plane crashed on landing, killing seven people in board.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

DustyGmt:

You don't need to apologize. If people don't want to read Your topic, then they can make the decision to avoid the topic. But they also should not own a television or a computer with random global/historic news on the main page.

My WW2 Sauer 38H handgun (.32 Auto/ 7,65) was reportedly "liberated" from a German nurse by an American GI.

Just a random video here. I could not believe or quite follow this. He is a magician. The gun looked like acid had dissolved part of it.

Most of you will not believe this. This is my expression--am still baffled.

Thats crazy, especially where he fabbed a new magazine! I guess Brownells doesn't deliver there....

 

[Terry G]

Rifles and handguns were legal to bring back from Viet Nam in 1969. SKS's were prized and I remember some bolt action French rifles being "papered" also. "AK? NO WAY!" was the sign above an MP' station to process souvenirs. The only thing I got was a Montagnard axe found after some nameless dust up in a patch of forest near Dalat. Friends speculated it was for quiet sentry removal, but I think it was just used to chop firewood. I still have it. I'll post a picture. (SKS NOT a bring back.

 

[Jim Watson]

I read an article by a guy who when departing Viet Nam was shown a pile of captured weapons and invited to pick one for a souvenir.
Most "advisors" were taking home an SKS or Tokarev, no AKs or SMGs allowed, of course.
But he saw a graceful buttstock and pulled out a Darne shotgun. No doubt looted from a French planter. He had it refurbished and had something to hunt with, not just a novelty.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My old man-Army, Quartermaster Corps, WWII-brought home an M-1 Carbine. Remember sneaking up into the attic to play with it, never fired it.

 

[22250Rem]

This intriguing thread reminded me of two other WW2 relics in my possession. The Luger and the P-38 in my previous post both came to America in P-38 holsters. When my uncle got the Luger from the "Mittlewerks At Nordhausen", Germany's V-2 rocket factory, he had nothing else with it; just two non-matching magazines, although the gun itself is 100% matching numbers. IIRC he got the P-38 holster from another G.I. and I don't recall if he bought it or traded something for it. The Luger fits a P-38 holster good enough to stuff it in your duffel bag and that's how it got here. It's Nazi marked and dated 1943 and it held that Luger for decades. .. .... The P-38 also came here in a different model of P-38 holster and I wish I had more of its story but all I know is that it's the holster that the unnamed veteran got with it when he acquired the gun. It only has a small Nazi stamp on the inside of the flap. .. .. It's undated as far as I can tell. Did some research on those holsters and found that these were pretty much the two most common styles used for P-38's.

 

[MacAR]

The Old Man was in Korea, in an artillery unit. He always liked talking about going through basic, being in Germany with his buddies, and shooting off the 280mm gun firing the Atomic shell somewhere in Nevada (I think). One of his favorite things was the 105mm howitzer he crewed, stating that he could "drop a shell in your hip pocket at 13 miles". What he wouldn't talk about was the time he spent "over there"; he did relate one anecdote, however. I'd traded for an M1 carbine and brought it by for him to look at. He took one glance at it and said "throw that GD thing away". When asked why, he explained that while the carbine was likely suitable for rabbits and smaller deer in Arkansas, it was NOT suitable for heavily-armed Chinese wrapped in wet woolen overcoats at the Chosin Reservoir. He went on to state that after his first "go 'round" with them, he "chunked that SOB in the first creek I came to" and scrounged up an M1 rifle.

In 1954, he mustered out to come back to the hills. In the mean time, he'd made good friends with the armorer on the base he was stationed at (I can't remember which one), and some how or other the Old Man got his hands on a 1903 Springfield in almost new condition. He kept it for a long time, I even got to fire it at the tender age of 12, whereupon it promptly broke my nose. Not too long after that, he traded the rifle for a d@mned horse (he liked horses a lot more than guns), and I've never been able to track it down. Oh well, at some point I'll add an '03 to my collection, for the fond memories of his shooting lessons if nothing else.

Mac

 

[Sovblocgunfan]

My wife’s grandad brought home many souvenirs from his time in the Pacific at the end of war 2. His are largely personal and not martial. Many snapshots from Korea, tattered utilities, train ticket stub home from Fort Ord, even a souvenir flag he bought in Korea that was made up to look like a Japanese flag with Japanese kanjii on it.

He did bring home a Type 26 revolver in holster (which I have)-he said he won it in a drawing in Korea, where they had mountains of Japanese equipment abandoned during their departure. No reason to doubt him, but he did things in the Phillipines, so there’s a possibility he could have told a harmless fib.

My own grandad brought home all of his leather flight gear from his time in the Pacific. Sold in a garage sale in the ‘60’s.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I have the M1888 45-70 I carried up San Juan Hill in 1898

 

[eastbank]

i did a test with old heavy hunting coats soaked and dry years ago with one of my m-1 carbines with 53 LC ball ammo and it went thru them out to 125 yards. but we have to remember the m-1 carbine was not a front line rifle, it was for cooks,truck-jeep drivers, radio men and others who may become involved in combat. the m-1 garand was the main battle rifle.

 

[MacAR]

i did a test with old heavy hunting coats soaked and dry years ago with one of my m-1 carbines with 53 LC ball ammo and it went thru them out to 125 yards.

A fair assessment, and good information. Of course, I can only relate what he'd told me and whether or not it was the "whole truth" I cannot say. I would think that artillerymen were issued the carbine since they weren't exactly right in the thick of the fighting, but back a few miles. Again, I could be wrong. In the end, I traded the carbine off not long after that, and while I'd still like to add one to my collection, that little inkling of doubt (real or imagined) is still in the back of my mind.

Mac

 

[theotherwaldo]

I was always amused at some of the oddly placed memorial guns that I've seen over the years, like the brace of M1895 Colt potato-diggers at the foot of the Confederate Soldier's Memorial Statue in the middle of Jacksonville. Alabama's town square back in the '80's.
They may have crumbled away since, as they were mostly rust that was held together by many layers of paint.
I sometimes wondered about their history - and who decided that they were appropriate for a Confederate memorial.

-Or the eight inch howitzer in an abandoned park in a condemned eight-block-wide strip that ran through the middle of Lynwood, California, now the site of a major highway.
I never saw it in daylight and there were few lights still working in the area, so I don't know what it was supposed to memorialize.
The whole area was very post-apocalyptic, like something out of Fallout 4.
I wonder if rhat old gun still exists.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I have often thought the stories about the M-1 Carbine's shortcomings in Korea were due to groggy, exhausted, sleep deprived GIs and Marines fighting off Communist hordes at 0200 in sub-zero temperatures. howling winds....

 

[PWC]

Not a bring back, but something I remember reading years ago about the Choson withdrawal, I think, I've read many books/stories about Korean War after being stationed there at Osan AFB 1969-70.

Morning after a US won firefight, a Sgt. Called his Capt. over to look at one of the wet cotton batting clothed Chicom soldier, and asked if he saw anything strange. " No" said Capt. Sgt said the Chicom wasn't wounded; look at his eyes, they followed movement, but because of the soldiers frozen clothes he had lost the use of his limbs and couldn't move.