Jump to content

WWII US Shoulder Holster by Enger Kress, interesting markings.


Tug1970
 Share

Recommended Posts

Tug........would you show us the INSIDE of the holster too :)

 

Hahaha, DOH!!!! Sure I can, standby.......wait out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tug,I think I'm the one who should be saying........DOH! :)

 

No, its definitely me! I've looked at a few holsters online and realised I hadn't really paid any attention to the name and address stamped along the edge of the holster.

 

Looks like it could be Heidelberg in South West Germany and the name, J. D. HELTAUNT.

 

Not to sure about the rest of the stamping underneath.

 

post-109572-0-58286200-1369601025.jpg

 

Tug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MichaelDecker

Awsome Piece, Usually I say buy the piece, not the story, but this one, the story MAKES IT!! Great find! B)

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Conway

Hard to imagine a G.I. superimposing a swastika over the "US" as I think it would have been really frowned on given the state of things at the time, but you never know. I had a good friend who "walked across" Europe with the 35th Division. He once told me there was an unwritten law among the ranks - a German soldier captured with anything taken off a G.I. was shot on the spot. He told me Germans looked at it pretty much the same way and he often buried things he'd plundered when there was any chance of being captured. These little details tend to be lost to time but were very real concerns in their day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to imagine a G.I. superimposing a swastika over the "US" as I think it would have been really frowned on given the state of things at the time, but you never know. I had a good friend who "walked across" Europe with the 35th Division. He once told me there was an unwritten law among the ranks - a German soldier captured with anything taken off a G.I. was shot on the spot. He told me Germans looked at it pretty much the same way and he often buried things he'd plundered when there was any chance of being captured. These little details tend to be lost to time but were very real concerns in their day.

 

I you're right to be honest, also seems a bit much to go to the trouble of making up a name and town to make it a more plausible story! Its typical of the veterans of the day, I recently traced an RAF Glider Pilot just from a name on a 1st pattern Denison I own. He has since told me all sorts of stories and up until the late 80's had quite a few German items including a helmet, rifle, pistol, hand granades, det cord and PE etc. all stored in the shed. He picked these up around Hamminkeln during Op Varsity and brought them back and said he traveled unchallenged all the way home to Whitby Bay, Yorkshire. My point is he just picked these items up and took them home and stored them away without another thought, his reasoning for taking a rifle and pistol home is because he was convinced the Russians were going to be the next problem! lol Attitudes were definitely different back in those days and life harder, so spending the time stamping details into leather to make something more interesting seems slightly harder to believe.

 

Talking of details lost, and this has nothing to do with the holster but Les who was an RAF pilot seconded to the GPR said he wore both RAF pilot wings and Army pilot wings on his battledress. I've never seen or heard of this before but I'm not about to argue with Les, I've seen so many personally modified and cannibalized bits of kit to know its not unreasonable to believe.

 

Back to the holster, I've written to the museum in Heidelberg with details of the piece in the hope they could perhaps shed some light on the details, names etc. stamped into the leather, its a long shot but as I mentioned I found Les alive at 90 years old just from a name in a Denison smock.

 

Tug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tug could you post a few dozen more photos please so I can get a better look?

Thanks.

Ronnie

 

Hahaha, Ronnie.........you're pulling my pisser aren't you!! :D

 

Sorry shipwreck no more photos this time, I've run out of angles and time. I'm off to sea again for 6 weeks and the taxis is due in hours few! :unsure:

 

Tug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone out there have the resources to research that German soldier?

Yeah that would be great, I haven't heard anything from the Heidelberg museum so will have to explore other avenues.

 

Tug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...