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What item(s) was the catalyst that got you collecting


manayunkman
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Wonderful artwork!

 

What got me interested / started was watching war movies with my dad and picking up comics at garage sales. I only bought comics related to war. Still have them all to this day.

 

Troy

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When I was in the 3rd Grade I recalled telling my dad I want to find a helmet like the one he wore in the war (he was a Marine with L Co. 3rd Bn 26th Marines from Dec. '67-Nov. '68 and then with Co. G 2nd Bn 5th Marines from Nov. '68-Jan. '69). My father's nonchalant response was, "well they're probably hundreds of dollars, they cost the military a lot to buy." (He was full of BS of course but I didn't know any better) For the time my hopes were dashed and just as quickly forgotten. On my birthday however I recall my mom waking me up for school and then calling me to the breakfast table and sitting on the table was a Vietnam era M1 with liner and Mitchell cover that dad picked up at the military surplus store in downtown Oklahoma City not far from his office. Needless to say I was ecstatic. I wore that thing around the neighborhood for the better part of that fiscal year. Across the street our neighbor who was in the U.S. Army also had an M1923 cartridge belt that was his when he served in the mid-1950's. That along with the helmet was standard attire for playing army throughout the neighborhood. At the age of 34 I still have the helmet and cartridge belt somewhere at my parents house. I also recall seeing my grandfather's WWII Marine stuff as well as my other grandfather's Nazi daggar and being intrigued but it all started with the ribbon-decorated M1 at the breakfast table. My dad still recalls it and after several years of serious extensive collecting he realizes that he created a monster! I also followed his and grandpa's footsteps by stepping on the yellow ones at MCRD San Diego and became a U.S. Marine Thanks dad! (seen in the pics below including the one with mom)

Semper Fi

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A few more of dad in Vietnam. These, from his memory, were taken in about summer of '68 since they were after they broke out of Khe Sanh.

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Rollercoaster ride... started with a WWII era Swiss helmet...then a HJ armband...a whole bunch of misc US items...and my first USMC item I cannot remember, may have been a sweetheart pin...

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When I was 12 (around 1970) I was snooping (recon?) in my mother's cedar chest looking at photo albums and I found my Fathers Occupation Service Medal with Europe Clasp for his service in the early 1950's on a heavy cruiser in the Med. - and it all started from there! - 42 years later I still have it, my dad does not get around very well now, but once in awhile I can get him to come with me to a militaria show.

 

Thanks Dad!

 

Bill

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  • 2 weeks later...
manayunkman,

Simply phenomenal historical artwork!!

 

In humbly describing my own 'collecting catalyst'; it long ago began with an intense interest in edged weaponry.

 

Regards,

Don.

 

 

Thank you for your comment.

 

M

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Red Ball Express

my story is simular to manayunkmans my opa was born in 1931 in holland. He was in grade school when the war broke out. He activly participated in the resistance even at his age. HE would steal steal food stamps out of the mayors office. He would deliver the resistance newspapers around. The reason i started collection because he gave me things that he has had since the war. He game them to me in 2009. They inc. A german gm-30 gasmask his grandfather wwi pilots goggles, and finally a whole set of german wwi cutlery knives. He has so many stories that he has told me that it would take a thread to tell them. I can tell you some of them just reply and ill tell you some :twothumbup:

Thanks

Ryan

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Red Ball Express
Red Ball,

 

Thanks so much for chiming in.

 

Did your Opa have any stories of liberation ?

 

M

Ill have to ask him when i go visit him this winter break.

Thanks

Ryan

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M,

 

Those are fantastic drawings.

 

For me it was my first Marine M1 helmet pulled out of a basement of my buddies house down the road used by his grandad. That was in 2002. I had items at that time but that was my first real collectible. Unfortunately last year I sold the helmet.

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Red Ball Express
RBE,

 

Does he live stateside or is he in the Netherlands ??

 

M

Yes, my opa and oma live the winter months of holland in Paraguay and in the summer they come back and like in a town close to alkmaar. We visit them once every year in both holland and south america. Holland in the summer and paraguay the next years winter break. Were going to parauguay this winter actuly cause its summer there. Skype is also a god sent i can talk to them whenever i want and dont have to use the phone and charge of tons of international fees.

Thanks

Ryan

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Very nice. My father is your Opa's age and it sounds like they had similar experiences during the war.

 

Thanks Ryan

 

M

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Red Ball Express
Very nice. My father is your Opa's age and it sounds like they had similar experiences during the war.

 

Thanks Ryan

 

M

Yeah, one of the stories that he told me that him and i thought was halarious is that a german bf-109 crashed/shot down by bombers right out side in his field. Once he went to go inspect the damage he ripped the swastica off the planes tail and brought it too school the next morning and thought nothing of it. Well while he was about to enter the school a german gestapo officer took him by the hand and brought him to the station for questioning. The asked him the simple questions and they took the tail away and gave him a "warning"... lol

Thanks

Ryan

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For me it was living in Germany during my summers in college. History really comes alive when you can visit the actual places events took place.

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  • 1 month later...

My very first item was a WW2 M1 Garand Bajonet my grandfather gave me.

He had gotten it from the guy he was working with not to far from where we live and he told me the bajonet came from the Market Garden DZ at Son where he lived as a young boy. He told me he would go out after the battle ended and just return with more stuff he could carry within 10 minutes. Unfortunately most of it has dissapeared/been thrown away the past sixty years but the bajonet survived because they kept on using it after the war.

Will post some pics when I have some more time :)

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Here is another Anti Nazi picture.

 

Any one from The Netherlands or Belgium translate.

 

 

Do you still need a translation? I could do if you took a more detailed picture of the dialogue because these are a bit blurry.

The 'Landwacht Nederland' were Dutch guys joining the German Army so it's probably not nice what they're saying :)

Anyhow I would love to help you but can't read the text on this picture.

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I've always seemed to be collecting something. For a while, I collected railroad conductor uniforms. Then in the 80s, I collected jet fighter pilot flight gear (had a complete set with everything for either a USN or USAF fighter pilot, circa the late 1980s). I eventually got rid of all that.

But I can say exactly where my insanity for US WW2 collecting came from. I found a set of enlisted Class As at a gun show in Tallahassee Florida and the jacket fit me exactly. There were no shoulder patches or a spot where one had been sewn on, but it had E-6 stripes. I rook it home and the shirt and pants fit like it'd been tailored to fit me. I was very thin when I was that young. So I decided I needed the shoes, tie and hat to go with that. It took a while to find any reference books and the internet wasn't around then.

I lucked up as Military Marketplace was in the same town at that time, so soon i had a place to go to find the stuff I needed and at decent prices as US stuff hadn't gotten big in the collector market then.

The rest, as they say, is history. I was really a re-enactor foremost for a long time before I started 'collecting' as anyone here would define it. Most of the stuff I re-enacted with was original other than footwear and M-41/A2 jackets at that time (same as almost everyone).

I long ago got rid of that Class A when I outgrew it. There are times I do wish I'd kept it, though.

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I think my first piece was an M1 Garand. The neighbor was with the 7th Division in Korea, and let me shoot a clip out of his. Life changer, there. Found a pair a town or two over when my dad hopped off the interstate just in case a statey didn't appreciate his speed, and we stopped at a gun shop where I found the one I picked up. Sold my pig at the fair, and I had myself an M1. Then I found out the uniforms and things were still out there. Snagged a WWI uniform at the antique store, and it went from there. I was 14.

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  • 5 years later...
wartimecollectables.com

Happened across this old thread. For me it was a set of kid reading level hardcover history books given to me in grade school by my parents. The publisher I have forgotten but titles were Tarawa, The Alamo, PT 109, D-Day, Belleau Wood, etc. I read them over and over! Paired with John Wayne movies... I haven't stopped yet!

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BILL THE PATCH

This is s great thread, i love reading these stories. For me it started when i was in grade school i used to look at the nuns history books, me and couple of school buddies always liked history. Actually a forum member "patches" and i we're in the same school. But then i found out my father was in WW2 and he showed me some stuff he had CIB, abn cap patch, his 11th abn graduation book. The rest is history. I was ordering patches from places like Quincy sales out of Tulsa Oklahoma. Plus the neighborhood was full of vets. What stories i heard.

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

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Being an air force brat, my father used to bring me military related books from the base...I mostly remember " History of the violent century" Balentine paperback books.......This plus watching history documentaries on television fueled my interest in WW2.....

 

Later upon finding out I had an uncle who was KIA during WW2, I wanted to find out more about the historical events surrounding how/why the war came about....

 

Lastly, my first job was that of a paperboy....My brother and I would thumb through the Unique Imports catalog, picking items we could buy on our meager earnings.....I was hooked, Bodes

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I originally just wanted to build a genuine vintage correct shadow box for my late father in Army service during WWII - that got done with USMF member help every step of the way.

 

But then, I could not stop myself.

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