If these things could talk

[alta]

the speculation is the soldier died, but this very well could've saved his life too. Based on the wear on it I have no doubt it was in a holster at the time

http://www.guns.com/2015/12/21/this-shrapnel-damaged-m1911-is-relic-from-battle-of-the-bulge-13-photos/

[ArJunaZ]

Wow!  That was an intense read.  The force that propelled the shrapnel to do that damage had to be unbelievably hellish.  I would guess that the soldier wearing it felt no pain.  We have to stop allowing scumbags to force us or trick us into war. 

[DC_1908]

That’s awesome!!


My Grandfather was at The Bulsge

[alta]

Wow!  That was an intense read.  The force that propelled the shrapnel to do that damage had to be unbelievably hellish.  I would guess that the soldier wearing it felt no pain.  We have to stop allowing scumbags to force us or trick us into war.

Did you notice the muzzle? As so often happened, one tool served multiple uses, looks like this was a hammer too

[alta]

That’s awesome!!


My Grandfather was at The Bulsge

I hope he shared some stories, most of those guys wouldn't, or couldn't talk about the war. One of my grandfathers served the entire war in the pacific. The only person he talked to was my brother in law, because they are both navy guys. Even then he only talked about ship operations/ship life. My other grandfather had a very short overseas tour, was deemed unfit for combat. He was put in a factory stateside, and only after he died was I able to add up the things he talked about. Turns out he worked on the optics for the Norden. One of hundreds that did so.

One of the reasons I try to go to this every year;
http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html
is to here the vets that show up talk. I've meet Tuskegee airmen, a couple of the Indianapolis survivors, and in the years after Band of Brothers came out, I met Buck Cropmton, Don Markley and Forrest Guth. Unfortunately Major Winters stopped doing appearances because of his health before I got to meet him. I've met a couple of Army Rangers that climbed Point DuHoc on D-Day. I've met Tex Hill several times, and got to meet Gunny Ermy once while at Reading too. Most don't realize this, but one of the reason WWII became a fascination/history lesson in the last 30 years is because a vast majority of what happened, what our guys did, was still considered classified as recently as 1980.

[Maacoshark]

That’s awesome!!


My Grandfather was at The Bulsge

   I must be old my Grandfather was in WW1.

[ArJunaZ]

My grandfather was a leader in the French Resistance in Paris, France during WWII.  My Mom remembers them hiding weapons and people in the attic. They helped Allied soldiers and other so-called dissidents escape the country. As a child my Mom was a courier for the Resistance. She used to carry messages and sometimes underground newspapers to other underground people, often stuffed inside a baguette.  She remember walking past German soldiers and being nervous. We're talking like 5-6 years old. She also told stories of German soldiers entering their home and searching while there were people hiding in the attic.  Lots of cool stories.  I lived in that house the first 18 months of my life.  I wish I had been smart enough to grab some of those guns when we left. not sure if I could have gotten away with carrying weapons at 18 months though.

I have some cool documents of my grandfather's from that period, many of them are on Ancestry.com.

This past Christmas in my Mom's house  I found the ignition switch and key from my grandfather's motorcycle that he used during and after the war.  He died from complications from a bullet wound he suffered during the war when it was aggravated by an accident on his motorcycle. I never got to meet him.  My Mom always said that I was a lot like him.
On my Dad's side my grandfather worked at the DMV.   

These old stories are cool to listen too.  It's important that we pass them down to our children as best we can.



1943-04-22 Louis Berthault aka Morin During WW2 Louis Berthault had to assume a false name to protect his family while he joined the French resistance, opposing Hitlers occupying German forces. This forged document for Louis MORIN is what he carried.

[alta]

This is always the first weekend of June.





The vehicles roll out fri to “liberate” downtown Reading, sat and sun are more air show as it gets too crowded. Aircraft rides are available, for a price, but highly recommended. When else are you gonna get to ride a B-29, B-17 or a B-25?? I’ve been aboard Fifi twice, hopefully Doc shows up too now that it’s done. Seeing all this in a museum is one thing. To see it, hear it and smell it run is something else entirely.


and those were blanks, obviously, but they fire s couple cannons as well

[DC_1908]

I hope he shared some stories, most of those guys wouldn't, or couldn't talk about the war. One of my grandfathers served the entire war in the pacific. The only person he talked to was my brother in law, because they are both navy guys. Even then he only talked about ship operations/ship life. My other grandfather had a very short overseas tour, was deemed unfit for combat. He was put in a factory stateside, and only after he died was I able to add up the things he talked about. Turns out he worked on the optics for the Norden. One of hundreds that did so.

One of the reasons I try to go to this every year;
http://www.maam.org/maamwwii.html
is to here the vets that show up talk. I've meet Tuskegee airmen, a couple of the Indianapolis survivors, and in the years after Band of Brothers came out, I met Buck Cropmton, Don Markley and Forrest Guth. Unfortunately Major Winters stopped doing appearances because of his health before I got to meet him. I've met a couple of Army Rangers that climbed Point DuHoc on D-Day. I've met Tex Hill several times, and got to meet Gunny Ermy once while at Reading too. Most don't realize this, but one of the reason WWII became a fascination/history lesson in the last 30 years is because a vast majority of what happened, what our guys did, was still considered classified as recently as 1980.

damn that is awesome!!  Ill have to check out going to that. . .


My grandfather didnt talk about it much, other than his dislike for the British and Franch,  About the only thing he did say was the Eagles Nest came up, and he said "yep, Hitler kept all the good stuff for himself". . . heh even got a purple heart and didnt tell anyone.


One of the few, if not only things I got for him when he died was Arminius Deutsche-Industri 32 Auto that he "liberated" from an SS officer.  He had a gun collection you'd of flipped over and kept index cards on all of them.


  My phones restoring now but Ill send you some pics of it soon

[alta]

this gives me warm fuzzies...


I took an ex to the range once with my M1, she didn't want to shoot it, was slightly scared of the big .30-06. After forcing her to fire the shot, before I could do anything else I heard the lovely ping, and I put a full 8 in it for her.


There are quite a few videos on youtube of an old vet getting reunited with his service rifle. This is the only one if seen where the vet gets his actual issued rifle. It's very difficult to trace that information. There were battlefield loses and acquisitions, there are at best guesstimate at least several hundred in the sand under the surf of the Normandy coast. But the biggest reason, and the reason why my grandfathers just have the basic info displayed here, http://wwiimemorial.com/ , is because of this fire. Tons, literally, of information was lost at a time when the primary form of record keeping was paper.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Center_fire

In this country soldiers were allowed to buy their service rifle to take home until the advent of the M14 and select fire. Originally the DCM, it is now know as the CMP. The Civilian Marksmanship Program.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Marksmanship_Program

but I would love to see the same program here for soldiers that Switzerland has , amazingly the Swiss don't seem to have an issue with it and over here it would give a certain political group conniptions
 

[Maacoshark]

  Since we are on the topic of military. I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a company that has a contract fabricating armoured vehicles. They wanted me to come in for a job interview. I said I would talk to them. The job interview went very well but the end of the interview the questions were for security reasons. They said they would have to do a background check on myself, family and anyone I associate with. Seems a bit too personal for my liking.

[alta]

  Since we are on the topic of military. I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a company that has a contract fabricating armoured vehicles. They wanted me to come in for a job interview. I said I would talk to them. The job interview went very well but the end of the interview the questions were for security reasons. They said they would have to do a background check on myself, family and anyone I associate with. Seems a bit too personal for my liking.

assembling armor can be hazardous, you should definately take the job

[Maacoshark]

assembling armor can be hazardous, you should definately take the job

Lol