Hello everyone,
With the help of this forum I was able to keep my promise I made to a US WW2 veteran. Not only was he a WW2 Army Airborne veteran, he was my Grandfather in law. The man on the left is George W. Plaugher, his brother on the right is Edward "Eddie" Plaugher. George and Eddie were born into a family which had 30 children. Their father, Jacob Harvey Plaugher was a Confederate soldier who rode with the 7th Virginia Cavalry. Jacob outlived 3 of his wives and fathered the last of his 30 children at the age of 82. When Jacob started running out of names for his children, he named them after past presidents. George was named after the first president of the United States, George Washington, Plaugher. Woodrow Wilson, "Woodie" Plaugher soon followed. The picture of the two brothers, George and Eddie, was taken while George was home on medical leave. George was a member of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne division. George, a veteran of operation "Market Garden", was wounded at the battle of the bulge and would sit out the rest of the war stateside in a hospital. That's about the time Eddie was headed off to the Pacific. Eddie promised to bring back some souvenirs for his brothers George and Woodie. Eddie brought back a sword for each of his brothers. This is the sword that Eddie brought back for George. George gave this sword to me 2 months before he passed away in 2002. He gave me the sword because he knew I loved history. I would sit for hours and talk with George about "the war". George told me that the sword was in the same condition that it was in when his brother gave it to him, however, the spring lock had broken while in Georges possession. This bothered George, as he liked to "fix" things. After all, he was a Ford auto mechanic for over 30 years. After he gave me this sword, he asked me if I could fix the spring lock. I told him I would. Having limited computer skills and no knowledge of Japanese swords, my options were limited. I found replacement locks a few times on E-bay, but always got outbid. Today, I was able to replace the spring lock on the sword and keep a 10 year old promise to repair it. I don't like to mess with things, but a promise is a promise. The sword has the double locking scabbard, and the buttons are mismatched, but that's the way it was originally. I plan to keep the original broken spring lock with the sword always. I was told the blade is a Gendaito, and was made by Kanehide. Any information anyone can add about Kanehide would be greatly appreciated. Also, any information about what unit patch Eddie is wearing would be great as well. Thanks!
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With the help of this forum I was able to keep my promise I made to a US WW2 veteran. Not only was he a WW2 Army Airborne veteran, he was my Grandfather in law. The man on the left is George W. Plaugher, his brother on the right is Edward "Eddie" Plaugher. George and Eddie were born into a family which had 30 children. Their father, Jacob Harvey Plaugher was a Confederate soldier who rode with the 7th Virginia Cavalry. Jacob outlived 3 of his wives and fathered the last of his 30 children at the age of 82. When Jacob started running out of names for his children, he named them after past presidents. George was named after the first president of the United States, George Washington, Plaugher. Woodrow Wilson, "Woodie" Plaugher soon followed. The picture of the two brothers, George and Eddie, was taken while George was home on medical leave. George was a member of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne division. George, a veteran of operation "Market Garden", was wounded at the battle of the bulge and would sit out the rest of the war stateside in a hospital. That's about the time Eddie was headed off to the Pacific. Eddie promised to bring back some souvenirs for his brothers George and Woodie. Eddie brought back a sword for each of his brothers. This is the sword that Eddie brought back for George. George gave this sword to me 2 months before he passed away in 2002. He gave me the sword because he knew I loved history. I would sit for hours and talk with George about "the war". George told me that the sword was in the same condition that it was in when his brother gave it to him, however, the spring lock had broken while in Georges possession. This bothered George, as he liked to "fix" things. After all, he was a Ford auto mechanic for over 30 years. After he gave me this sword, he asked me if I could fix the spring lock. I told him I would. Having limited computer skills and no knowledge of Japanese swords, my options were limited. I found replacement locks a few times on E-bay, but always got outbid. Today, I was able to replace the spring lock on the sword and keep a 10 year old promise to repair it. I don't like to mess with things, but a promise is a promise. The sword has the double locking scabbard, and the buttons are mismatched, but that's the way it was originally. I plan to keep the original broken spring lock with the sword always. I was told the blade is a Gendaito, and was made by Kanehide. Any information anyone can add about Kanehide would be greatly appreciated. Also, any information about what unit patch Eddie is wearing would be great as well. Thanks!
PG-
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