Vet bring back

[geopop71]

Vet Bring back

I would like to through this out for consideration. If a GI is in a combat situation
with all hell going on around him, and he kills a soldier. Would that GI pick up another 9 lbs of rifle to carry around? And then what? What does he do with it then? Keep carrying it? Store it some where to be stolen later? I have yet to see any film's of WW 2 that showed any GI carrying any German rifles. I know of a tanker vet that came upon a storage building in Germany late in the war and when they entered, there were rack's and rack's of brand new un fired K98's. He said almost every one in the out fit grabed one. Having a nice place to store one, like a Sherman tank. I saw the new K98 as he sold it to a gunsmith friend of mine, and it was brand new. I am really in the dark about this as I was never in a combat situation. Being in the artillary, I would have had the same transportation and storage space to keep it as the tankers did.
Would like to hear other comment's
Just as a side note, there was the story about the Marine called "shorty" who lobbed a grenade into a Jap bunker at the foot of Suribachi, killing the soldiers inside. He supposably kept a helmet with all the brain matter inside, (a fragment entered his chin and came out the top of the helmet) and bought it home. That story was told to some unsuspecting buyer of a fake Jap helmet!
The story of course was as bogas as the helmet, but I can't imagine a Marine so preoccupied with all that going around, would carry that mess around with him. Trophies I imagine were picked up long after the battle's were over.
geopop

[Suber]

Geo, I have indeed asked myself that SAME very question many times over. I just dont buy the old story of "I took it off the guy I killed". It is all good for Shakespearian lovers, but totally impractical in the heat of battle. I do not believe that ANY rifle was taken in this fashion personally. I can see maybe carrying around a couple Lugers PERHAPS, but a 98k along with all of your own gear seems out of the question. There are most certainly guys who attempted it I am sure, but soon found that they had no means to carry much less mail it, or stash it and get it later.

[Bob in OH]

I have had one K98 with legit capture papers and have seen another. I find it interesting that a relatively low percent of my matched K98s are duff cut, whereas about 40% of my German .22 trainers were cut. A duffle cut stock IS a Vet bring back...

[Alan Smith]

Dag001: Thanks for the scans of the old MG catalog; it is very interesting. IMO, odds are that my friend's import-marked FG (ex-Champlin/Earl collection) likely came from your catalog.

Matt: Glad to hear that you got to see the museum; I never did. As I indicated before, the museum has been closed and the assets disposed of. I think the aircraft went to the Seattle Museum of Flight and the MG's (which were Curtis Earl's) were disposed of by him prior to his death.

[Matt Weber]

Matt: Glad to hear that you got to see the museum; I never did. As I indicated before, the museum has been closed and the assets disposed of. I think the aircraft went to the Seattle Museum of Flight and the MG's (which were Curtis Earl's) were disposed of by him prior to his death.[/quote]


It closed!?! That's very sad. It was a great museum. I would definately take his Fw-190D9!!!

Matt

[Daniel H.]

This is so true! And it's always the Battle of the Bulge for some reason?

Just last week I got a call through an ad I run from a guy looking to sell a Nazi pistol his uncle pulled off a German officer....and yes, at the battle of the Bulge.

Ultimately, I never met a "vet bring back" I didn't like.

Sometimes it really is true; my father was there with the 506th PIR and sent/brought back many things. (And duffle cut the .22 trainers, but couldn't remember why he did, though it wasn't because of the shipping box.) -d.

[bigschuss]

Sometimes it really is true; my father was there with the 506th PIR and sent/brought back many things. (And duffle cut the .22 trainers, but couldn't remember why he did, though it wasn't because of the shipping box.) -d.

No, I know. I was just being over-dramatic. It does happen, sure!

I bet those items your father brought back are precious!

[MauserKar98k]

Matt: Glad to hear that you got to see the museum; I never did. As I indicated before, the museum has been closed and the assets disposed of. I think the aircraft went to the Seattle Museum of Flight and the MG's (which were Curtis Earl's) were disposed of by him prior to his death.

It closed!?! That's very sad. It was a great museum. I would definately take his Fw-190D9!!!

Matt[/quote]

Yes, I can attest to this. The Champlin Fighter Museum collection is now displayed at the Seattle Museum of Flight in what is called "The Personal Courage Wing." It rounded out the collection that the SMoF already had because it was kind of lacking in military aircraft before. I saw it last in 2004 and it is an excellent display. Defiantly worth a visit.

[Michael Page]

From what I understand, many bring-backs came from privately-owned firearms which were confiscated in the initial occupation. GI's were surprised that ordinary Germans were allowed to privately own firearms.

As to the duffel cut, I wonder if any of them have been recently cut as a sort of implied provenance, by unscrupulous sellers.

[Daniel H.]

From what I understand, many bring-backs came from privately-owned firearms which were confiscated in the initial occupation. GI's were surprised that ordinary Germans were allowed to privately own firearms.

As to the duffel cut, I wonder if any of them have been recently cut as a sort of implied provenance, by unscrupulous sellers.

All things considered, I would pay more for an uncut rifle. The dufflecut has gone from avoided to tolerated to sought out by some, strictly on the basis of conferred authenticity. I haven't seen any evidence that cutting is happening now for profit motive...but people can do amazing things to lower the value of their possessions.

Regarding private firearms, my father said in spring 1945 his regiment had required villagers to bring all firearms to the street to be laid in front of the tanks for destruction. He said that very ornate and beautiful arms and old antique rifles were destroyed. As much as he thought that was unfortunate, the prevailing feeling was it was better than taking any chance of getting a homeland defender's bullet. -d.

[pitts duncan]

my thoughts

capture papers are pretty easy to forge. and tougher to verify. however i think a duffle cut stock is definitely a bring back by a vet. where he got it when overseas is really irrelivant. i think i would trust a duffle cut even more than capture papers. and the stories are usually a far cry from the truth.mine is a duffle cut all matching m marked ar41 , stamped n for nordsee. i know the guy that brought it back and i restocked it but kept the original stock well marked and all for future collectors to see.i only had to buy a front band and a cleaning rod. all other parts were perfect. i can't imagine anyone going to the extreme of duffle cutting an import to make it look more like a bring back!

[tgn]

Getting back to vet acquired 98's, I owned a military surplus/antique store for about ten years. I got a lot of weapons, mostly japanese rifles. But just before I closed the store for good, an old vet walked in with an all matching dou43 K98 that he brought back. It was cruddy and dusty from hanging on his wall for many years. The old fellow walked slowly into the store (didn't think he would make it up the front step), openly carrying the rifle (no bag covering it) along with a 98 dress bayonet. No capture papers, but I am positive it is a vet bring back. All matching and cleaned up very nice. I almost sold it at an SOS show, but am now glad I didn't.

BTW, it is not duffel cut...

Tom

[MikeP]

The G33 40 and Drilling I got were mailed back by a neighbor.
They were short enough to avoid the saw.

The Drilling was being carried to a destruction pile by an old man who was happy to give it to my friend rather than see it mashed by a tank.

It is a hammer gun that shows honest blue wear from being carried a lot, but no abuse.

It was apparently highly prized.

My neighbor thought a lot of it and I only acquired both pieces after he died.

Having spent a lot of time in the bush in RVN I absolutely agree that an extra rifle is the last thing you want to hump around for a few days.

Most of the vets I got stuff from said they got it from piles or arsenals.

Also the guys with the most stuff were REMFS or postwar guys.

I had a Jap NLF helmet as a kid another neighbor brought-it was like new, but had two bullet holes and heavily stained with some hair and crunchy bits stuck inside.

He had shot the guy which I believe and at the time it was a trophy-like a scalp.
I live in a hunting area and animal scalps and bits are preserved by some.

He had tired of having this around, though.

I had some bloody NVA stuff that I eventually threw away.