80thdivcollector

This is Frank Luke

eBay ID: 80thdivcollector My feedback score is +1000. I buy WWI 80th Division stuff and sell Swiss Army Gear starting from 1890 until today. Roland

Two Coy E, 318th Infantry Helmets. Both painted by the same Artist. It was not uncommon that the same person within a Company or Regiment painted all helmets of the unit.

HQ, Coy B, 305th Engineer Regiment. The tag on the back side is more interesting.

Two Coy I, 320th Infantry Helmets. Both are traced down to the individual doughboy. And both are obviously painted from the same artist.

The shield looks completely different compared with my other 320th IR helmets. The 1st Bn shield would be red and nor green. I own more than 60 different 80th Helmets and the only Unit that used shields like this was the 305th Motor & Supply Train.

The 159th Infantry Brigade composed of the 317th, 318th Infantry Regiments and the 313th M.G. Bn. The 317th Infantry included men from Piedmont and Western Virginia Area. 318th Infantry from the Shenandoah and Tidewater Areas. The 313th Machine Gun Bn. men from the Erie Area. The 160th Infantry Brigade composed of the 319th and 320th Infantry Regiments and the 315th M.G. Bn. The 319th included men from the Erie, Allegheny and Eastern Ohio Area. The 320th men were mostly from Pittsburgh. The 315th Machine Gun Bn. was drafted from the Pittsburgh and Erie Area. The 155th Field Artillery Brigade (313th, 314th, 315th Field Artillery) were drafted with men from WV. Serving within the divisional troops were the 305th Engineer Regiment with men from east and north of Pittsburgh, the 314th Machine Gun Bn., with men from the Tidewater area. Divisional Trains (305th Ammo, Motor-Supply, Engineer, Sanitary) were drafted with men from Western PA, WV and VA.

The 320th IR saw action in the Somme Offensive of August 1918. The where attached to the Welch Guards for Training. They also turned over their US Gas Mask's, Rifles and other Equipment to British one. That's only one reason you'll find so many British Brodie MK I Helmets with painted 80th Div./320th Unit Insignias. By end of August the Division was moved to the St. Mihiel area. The 320th was held in Corps Reserve. Afterwards they moved to the Béthincourt Area, Meuse-Argonne, near the famous Mort-Homme and Hill 304 (both French Battlefields from the 1916 Battles). During the First Phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive they attacked direction north and where relieved by troops of the 33rd Division by the night of Sep. 28th. The Regiment was held in Reserve in an old german trench system south of Cuisy. German and Austrian Artillery shelled these positions all day long.

Transport Passenger List. Departed from Norfolk, VA, May18th, arrived 9.A.M., 31th May, in the harbor of St. Nazaire, France.

Draft Registration Card

Headstone application

PVT FINN Joseph Patrick, ASN 1829187, Coy C, 1st Bn, 320th Infantry. He's buried at Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA. The 320th recruited their men from Pittsburgh.

The Panzermuseum is within the Perimeter of the Tank Corps Barracks. You have to ask the Guard at the Entrance Gate for Permission. The Jagdpanther, Königstiger and some other WWII Tanks where moved to the Festungsmuseum Reuenthal a couple of years ago. The Panzermuseum is a Open Air Museum. Rain and Snow had damaged a lot of the Substance of the Tanks. So they where moved for Restoration and later donated to the Festungsmuseum. At the Militärmuseum, a part of the Festungsmuseum, you can visit the MOWAG Tank Collection. But unfortunately the Museum is closed during the Winter month. www.festungsmuseum.ch/englisch/

For swiss army surplus stuff. Starting from Stgw 57 bayonets turned over into BBQ forks and swiss Army blankets, etc. You have to visit www.dicks-armyshop.ch/welcome