3 Questions

[pegasus]

collection

1.stories of my father and the fact he was a para.

2.medals of my grandfather and the documents.

3.stil have them because there from my grandfather in the Belgium army but now colect german stuff.

[junior]

Same story here, due my grandgrandfather and Pieter Verbruggen who is a good friend of my dad. That's how I started, my first German item, ...help...help...

Cheers,
Junior.

1.stories of my father and the fact he was a para.

2.medals of my grandfather and the documents.

3.stil have them because there from my grandfather in the Belgium army but now colect german stuff.

[Frank Pacheco]

1. I guess playing with plastic army men and older brothers and friends model kits. I thought German Helmets were cool looking.

2. In my dads toolbox I found an Heer tropical belt and buckle dated 1941. He grew up during the war in Fort Bayard, New Mexico. My grandfather worked for the VA there and they had German POWS from Africa and elsewhere.

3. Yes I still have it. I just wish my dad knew what happend to the trunk he said he had full of POW badges and caps and other items he got from the POWS .

Take Care,
Frank

[TONY GANZ]

I watched "Combat", read Sgt Rock comic books and grew up with friends whose fathers had all been in WW2. Got my first relics from a hole in the wall outfit in Milwaukee WI. IT was a infantry enlisted dress cap with no chinstrap for $20. also bought an NSDAP armband, made out of felt with a stamped on swastika, for $5. The armband was a fake that these Knuckleheads were making in thier basement. That was 1963. Nothings new

[Panzerbär]

Bravo Gary, great idea!

1. I was 15 and had been forced into taking German in High School. WWII came up in the lectures and lessons and it dawned on me that I had no idea what my Grandparents did in the war. I asked my Dad if they didn't want to discuss it, and just assumed they had been through hard combat and didn't like talking about things like that. He assured me that they would love for me to ask what they did in the War. Well, they were very open to talking about it and extremely happy I had shown any interest. My mothers Father had been on a destroyer in the Pacific, and did see many bad things. Her step Father had commanded black trrops in the Pacific, trust me, lots of stories there! It was my Dad's side of the family that really had me hooked. My Grandfather had been in the Corps of Engineers and worked on the Manhattan Project. He was an Engineer before the war and had some expertise in towers. Well, it turns out he built the test tower for the first A-Bomb tested in Los Almos. He and another guy transported the bomb core from the lab to the test site in the back of a pick up truck, with just a shelter half thrown over it! He had tons of great stories from when he enlisted in 42', straight through to life in the 50's and early 60's. This is probably funny to some of you, but having been born in 1972, this seemed such a distant time to a teenager in the 1980's.

2. The first things from WWII I ever owned were the welders glass my Grandfather watched the first Atomic Explosion with, his Manhattan Project patch, bayonett, pistol belt, and the small copper box containing X-Ray film they had to wear to see just how much radiation they were exposed to. It was at this point, when he gave me these things that I realized, "This stuff is still out there!" I have collected GI combat stuff since then. I've only been collection German for about 5 years now.

3. As long as I'm alive, I'll have these priceless things my Grandfather entrusted me with.

[John T]

1. Probably what got me interested in collecting was when during grade school they would show us documentary films about World War Two...which in turn got me interested in the historical aspects of the war itself and that led to an interest in the actual items from that era.

2. I do not remember exactly what my first item was..it was so long ago, but I would guess a Hitler Youth Knife or an SA dagger, or a repro Sub-Badge that was stamped "REICH" on the back.

3. I probably do not have it anymore.

[Ian Hulley]

1) Finding my Auntie Dorothy throwing a Southern Rhodesian Air Force tunic that belonged to her late husband (M.I.A. 1942) on the bonfire when we cleared out my Gran's house.I rescued the tunic,cap and my Grandads' WWI medals from the fire.

2) A brown webbing Garand cartridge belt,(think I swapped it actually for some beer mats)

3) It's in the loft in my Stepdad's R.N.kitbag along with numerous other webbing stuff (and the S.R.A.F uniform is too)

Cheers,Ian.

[skelly]

First of all it is an honor to be with gentlmen and ladys who are so knowledgeable in this field..I have learned much. My father brought back a Luftwaffe M-40 SD helmet and I still have it.........I remember asking him why he did not bring back more "neat" stuff...He replyed "I was carrying 40 pounds on my back and those (deleted) were trying to kill me...never thought about collecting that stuff at the time." Mkes sense to me now Thanks for all the info. on SS items folks.