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More fake KIA airborne dog tags.


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268th C.A.

It never ends...Thanks for letting us be aware! Sad that these Heroes' are being exploited. Karma will strike back! Mark my word......

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BILL THE PATCH

I'm not doubting your knowledge about this fake dog tag, can you tell how you find out there fake?

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I'm not doubting your knowledge about this fake dog tag, can you tell how you find out there fake?

There are many red flags on this set. The most obvious being that it was stamped upside-down on the dog tag.

 

Next having the incorrect spacing. It should not be in between the soldiers name and serial number, but rather between serial number and NOK. (See the original example next to the fake).

 

The tags also have no religion listed which raises another flag.

 

There is absolutely no wear at all and the tags look brand spanking new. Doesn't always mean fake but should raise concern.

 

You can also notice that the lettering on the tags are pretty sloppy in that there are gaps in words that shouldn't be there.

 

Lastly, I looked up his name on ancestry.com and his NOK address on the dog tag was actually incorrect. It was 1 digit off.

 

I think this should about sum it up. If anyone has anything to add please do.

 

Here are the fake tags...

post-93633-0-56622300-1430766985.jpg

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His actual address.

 

Name: Joseph C Fitt

Residence Year: 1942

Street address: 3378 S State

Residence Place: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Occupation: United States Army

Publication Title: Salt Lake City, Utah, City Directory, 1942

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BILL THE PATCH

You guys should be on CSI militaria , fake stoppers. Or something like. Great detective work

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Also just noticed his fathers name was spelt wrong on the tags too!

 

Name: Cyral Fitt

Age: 43

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1897

Gender: Male

Race: White

Birthplace: Utah

Marital Status: Married

Relation to Head of House: Head

Home in 1940: Salt Lake, Utah

Map of Home in 1940: View Map

Street: So State

House Number: 3378

Farm: NO

Inferred Residence in 1935: Salt Lake, Utah

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USMCman01

Really wish you could somehow attach this to the listing to show the bidders to bid accordingly! Good work spotting this one.

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bellasilva

I saw that one too Connor- good call. There's absolutely no wear, no indication of even having been sitting around for 70+ years. That and the stamping..110% a fake.

 

A couple years ago I saw a set exactly like this on ebay (a KIA paratrooper, of course). I looked at the sellers other items and you guessed it..he had a WWII dog tag stamping machine listed. So I sent him a message letting him know that it's horrendous that he should try to exploit the name of a man who died in battle for a few hundred bucks and that I'd let the collecting community that I know that they are fakes so no one I knew would fall for them. He removed the listing for the tags afterwards.

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He seems convinced (or trying to convince someone) that these are the real deal in his description. Would probably get heated if someone sent a message. Maybe report to ebay?

 

Anyways, here's the description.

 

"SAVE ME AS A FAVORITE - BECAUSE I AM ABOUT HALF WAY DOWN ON SELLING OFF MY 40+ YEAR COLLECTION OFF MY WEB SITE - ALL TOP END ITEMS AND ONLY THE VERY RAREST.

 

Payments to be received within 5 days of auction end. OVERSEAS BIDDERS SHOW POSTAGE COSTS FOR PRIORITY MAIL INTERNATIONAL. THIS PROVIDES COUNTRY ENTRY TRACKING (A PAYPAL REGULATION)!

 

Your invoice is sent by Ebay. I WILL ONLY SEND AN INVOICE IF YOU HAVE MULTIPLE WINS - TO PROVIDE A COMBINED SHIPPING RATE!

 

Postage is flat rate same for all bidders as stated in the ad.- ALL ITEMS THAT SELL OVER $250.00 NOW REQUIRE SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION IN THE USA SO THAT ADS COST TO SHIPPING - ANOTHER NEW EBAY REGULATION!

 

A0505 - Last year on ebay then in private sales here and in France, I sold this man's photo album, reinforced jump jacket and medals all with documentations. this is the last of the items. Joseph's brother told me that his brother left tags with all the siblings and never came home. This is one of the sets. had an extra tag that I sold a few years ago in France (via ebay as well). That is the fact. I realize that there are zealots out there, as well as harlots that think they know it all on WWII para items, but having owned a lot of WWII para items myself and getting this set of tags right from his brother ROGER FITT, I believe the brother. That is all there is to report on the pedigree of this item.

 

DOG TAGS ON 1ST ISSUE CHAIN D-DAY KIA NORMANDY “C” CO 1st BN. 550TH PIR 82ND

 

82ND AIRBORNE FAMILY PURCHASED ORIGINAL WWII DOG TAGS ON EARLY CHAIN

 

This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime items that I was fortunate enough to come across. As received from the estate of the great private Joseph Cyril Fill, of the 505th Parachute Infantry regiment who was fatally shot during the Normandy campaign.

 

Feast your eyes:

 

Joseph joined the paratroopers early on, and was with the unit from the 4TH of February in 1943 and onward, when the Regiment was first assigned to the 82d Airborne Division. The Regiment arrived at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 12TH of February of 1943. Joseph took part in three of the Regiment’s four Regimental airborne assaults. He was part of the unit that on the 28TH of April in 1943, left from the New York Port of Embarkation for Casablanca, North Africa for training. They flew to Kairouan, Tunisia for training and then on to the invasion of Italy.

 

Joseph participated on the 9TH of July of 1943 Regimental night-time parachute attack at Gela, Sicily. They fought past into Vittoria, and they fought off the famed German Herman Goering Panzer Division. He was also in the night-time parachute attack on the 14TH of September in 1943, into Paestum, near Salerno, Italy. After arriving in England in 1944, Joseph prepared with the rest of the 505TH for “D-Day”, where the entire 82ND and 101ST Airborne Divisions would leap into destiny at DZ “O” on the 6TH of June in 1944, at 0300 hours along the Normandy Peninsula. During the liberated the first town in France, St. Mere-Eglise, many will remember that Pvt. John Steele of 3/505 was immortalized when his chute snagged on the church steeple. It was even made into a movie that John Wayne starred in.

 

Joseph was awarded the Silver Star for single-handedly jumping atop a German Tiger Tank and destroying it with grenades. One of Joseph’s friends from Normandy was Elmo Bell. I have spoken with Elmo about my brother in length. Elmo also mentions Joseph’s courage in the face of enemy fire at Normandy, in a fine web article that I will paraphrase/cite here. He begins with the horrendous jump into Normandy:

 

“As their plane made its way to the drop site, the aircraft was hit by artillery fire, and began dropping several hundred feet. Though the pilot managed to gain control, the plane vibrated terribly. We didn’t think it could stay together. Everyone was thrown to the back of the plane in a big tangle.

 

The temptation was strong to go ahead and jump, since the plane had been damaged, but I knew the plane was too low, just treetop high. I and Sgt. Herman Zeitner, the jumpmaster, screamed, “We’re too low!” to the men rushing the door to make the jump. The prevailing concern was to get out of that crippled bird. After a while, the plane gained altitude, climbing higher and closer to an acceptable jump point. We jumped and our chutes opened in the same instant our butts hit the ground. It was that close. Miraculously, the entire group landed safely, despite the short drop and was very close together, allowing us to assemble in a matter of minutes.

 

Our objective, a bridge across the Merderet River, was lightly defended and seized without difficulty, but we staved off two separate enemy counterattacks, one of which involved the use of captured Allied paratroopers forced to march as human shields ahead of a group of German soldiers and tanks. The German infantry crowded behind the tanks, and they kept coming across the bridge with the captured paratroopers ahead of them at gunpoint. We knew we had to fire sooner or later. Someone fired an anti-tank gun and hit the tread on the lead tank, disabling it, and causing the tank behind it to roll over it. Their infantry then ran for cover. Their third tank backed down the road, as the bridge was now blocked, and they knew their mission had failed. But the disabled tank was still able to continue firing rounds. Shots we fired at the tank failed to pierce its armor plating. Finally, one of the paratroopers, Joseph Fitt, dropped a grenade in the tank, killing its crew.”

 

This medal was awarded for that feat, and is to the man that is famed for that exploit, as web recorded by Elmo! This set of tags being represented, belonged to that great American Hero, Joseph Cyril Fitt, who was killed a few days later on June the 13TH of 1944 in the vicinity of St. Mere-Eglise by a German sniper. Simon Hannig (Pathfinder) sent some of Joseph’s effects back to the family (this is in a letter from Simon to the mother that I have), to include his paratrooper’s jump jacket worn in Normandy and other clothing and effects, to his mother, and were passed down to the youngest son, Joseph’s brother Roger Fitt, from whom I purchased them over time. Unfortunately, the final purchase came under dire circumstances for the brother, who was terminally ill. I lamented his passing, he was a fine man and the greatest of souls. Always up-beat and truthful in every dealings. Laughed out loud often, told those around him of his love and friendship with un-hesitating sincerity.

 

By the way, Joseph was very good friends with a paratrooper who was later transferred to Headquarters, 505th a Private Joseph E. Fant. Roger tells me that Elmo Bell stated that when both of these men were together in Company “C”, that they were known for their fierce playfullness and earned the pun-nicknames of,

 

Fitt and Fant - the Fabulous Foul Up’s of Company “C”

 

Units of the 82d Airborne Division were in various stages of reorganization on 12 June. With the Merderet bridgehead mission completed, the 505th Parachute Infantry remained in the le Ham area until the morning of 13 June, when they were relieved by a battalion of the 359th Infantry. On this day, Joseph Cyril Fitt was shot and killed.

 

Bidders are welcome but when I set up my PayPal account it said that I need to do two things. First is I need to ship only to the address that you have listed in PayPal. Next I need to make sure that all items are sent with delivery tracking. For USA mail that is called delivery Confirmation and .85 cents worth of the postage in the ad is for that (along with my physical packing costs of materials and all). For overseas to other countries I checked at the post office and they tell me the same that the PayPal site says that they list Priority Mail International as the cheapest way to guarantee delivery confirmation (or more expensive is Express and the other Overnight and Two day type services but we will not use that). So I am sorry to report that for overseas and to other not USA bidders the cost to mail by Priority Mail International is what you see in the ad (along with my physical packing costs of materials and all). Thank you very much and I hope all is well."

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Jeez, this is bad. The fact that they try to make a buck off of a name of a dead hero makes me sick.

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ocsfollowme

Good detective work. Hopefully people will google "frogsbitehard" and see this thread for future auctions.

 

If I ever list something on eBay and a fellow forum member notices that I have something incorrectly listed, please tell me and I will instantly pull it to gather further intelligence work.

 

But when someone tries to peddle a fake...that is just wrong. I know what assuming does, but one has to assume this seller knows what they are doing if they are selling this story...some internal red flags would have come up when they did their history lesson.

 

Once again, I am glad for this forum and the combined knowledge that our users share and offer.

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Hello,

 

I agree about the authenticity of the dog tags ... too much red flags :rolleyes:

 

About the seller ... perhaps could we also imagine that he just doesn't know anything seriously about real militaria, just like so many.

 

E

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doinworkinvans

Found that out first hand - I called him out on it and he blocked me....oh well at least he knows one person knows his scheme

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They must have been thinking that was one sleeper of an auction

Indeed. I'm just sad over $300 was shelled out for these :(

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268th C.A.

We need A militaria SD. Track them down and Tar & Feather them.....(To be nice) its disgusting how low people will stoop to make $333.00 He sold those Tags!

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Good detective work. Hopefully people will google "frogsbitehard" and see this thread for future auctions.

 

 

 

The guy has actually listed a few good pieces in the past that of course didn't sell because for the most part his prices are friggin insane!!!!! He's hittin' the crack pipe pretty hard when coming up with prices. :rolleyes:

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  • 8 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Unreal. Even if there was the slightest doubt that the first pair was fake, the relisted one confirms he knew exactly what he was doing. Whatever one's beliefs are, he's going to have to answer someday, somehow, for exploiting this hero's name.

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