Why do you collect the WWI era?

[everforward]

As a kid I knew tons of WW1 vets, but it didn't interest me much. Then I visited Belleau Woods and the director gave me a tour of the grounds. It opened my eyes to just how interesting that war was.

 

But the real reason more people are not into it is that to date there has been no real decent movie about it.

+1. When someone makes a blockbuster about WW1, it will most likely generate a wider interest. From a US standpoint, there are many many acts of heroism, but there is no Normandy or Iwo Jima to speak of--nothing so sensational.... Unless they remake Sgt. York or something.

[gunbunnyB/3/75FA]

gotta love that dog team. i think that Passendale or Ypres could be made into some blockbusters.

[mikes militaria]

When I was 11 yrs old my father took me to my Grandparents house. My grandfather died when I was 1yr old so I never knew him. My grandmother died when I was 8. It was a great old row house in Northern KY near Cincinnati. It had stained glass windows and hand carved stair rails. It was to be demolished for the Interstate highway. My father pulled my Grandfathers WW1 uniform from a cedar chest and I tried it on. It fit. My father gave me some of his Brown Shoe Air Force patches. My step father was a recon marine, 2 tours in VN. He gave me some stuff as well. I grew up with this stuff. In the 60's we had "Combat" on TV as well as "No time for Sgt"s etc. My school teacher had just read " All Quiet on the Western Front" to my class. To actually wear this uniform and realize how little these tough SOBs were made an impression. A friend of my older brother stole my Grandfathers WW! canteen from me when I was 9. I was too young to realize that he was the thief. As I grew older I felt a need to replace it as I was responsible for it's loss. I knew I would never get that particular canteen back but wanted a replacement. It was then I found the world of collectors. Before that, I thought I was strange for liking this stuff. Being a teenager in the 60's,and 70's, military was a taboo subject to a lot of my friends. I lost a girlfriend because I felt I should support the guys like my Stepfather fighting in VN. I've always had a pistol belt or something like that. I played Army when I was a kid. I used to ride my bike to surplus stores and dream about that Ammo belt. Helmets were cheap and plentiful. I grew up in Virginia so the Civil War is prevalent here.But the connection to WW1 came that day I put on that uniform. I'm mechanically inclined so the being the first mechanical war makes it even more interesting to me.

[Garandomatic]

Good answer.

 

My family, I suppose, helped out a little. Grandpa was born in 1917, and I always thought that was neat when I was a kid. He was always very interested in anything old. We had a dozen old John Deeres on the farm, a few thousand arrowheads that were mostly ones that he found. He always went to auctions, buying old chairs, farm miscellaneous, but mostly to socialize with other old timers. I remember distinctly being at one when I was about 10, and being fairly bored. I was looking through boxes with him and spied a WWI helmet. I was fairly interested in all things military at that age, so I knew what it was, and he said he'd try to get it. The box went all the way up to $11.00, and Grandma, ever the frugal Scotch-Irish, griped that it was too much, but Grandpa said "He's getting that helmet." and that was that. Turned out to be an early no-rim magnetic steel Brodie. I kept it in good shape, still have it. Only regret is not asking the vet's son what his name was when he spoke to me after I got it. Around the same time, totally inexplicably, he dug up a 37mm shell casing in the garden. How or why in the world it was there, I don't know. I now have it as well.

 

Grandpa's aunt, who was ancient to me at 90 years of age, also contributed. She was a link to so many family members that I wish I was older at the time to ask her about people. Anyways, I want to say she was a Red Cross volunteer or something like that locally. Had a very good friend that served, and when she died, we found his picture. No idea who he was, but they never married because she was a teacher, and back then, teachers had to be single.

 

Accumulating WWI became much more intentional in about 2006 when I looked through an old Colliers Pictorial History of the World's War and ran a search on ebay.

[Too Much WW1 Militaria]

For me, my grandfather got me started. He was really active in the American Legion and 40/8. He was a surgeon in the AEF, and gave me his tunic, painted helmet, and officer's medical belt. I used to go with him to various events and used to wear his uniform to some of them. As a result of this, I got to know a lot of WW1 vets. All of them that I knew were good, decent guys.... Real gentlemen. Well, Grandpop put the word out that I was collecting and items/groups started getting mailed to me. That's how I started. Even though dad fought in WW2 and Korea (I was a year old when he went to Korea) he never talked about either war, so I never asked him. Got closer to both of them after my time in Vietnam, guess I understood both better then.

 

John

[collector]

My Grandfather, here's a picture.

[Bugme]

Because it was the first war where helmets were used by all sides. Seriously, it's because it was the first truly World Wide War. As such, it really get my interest. I think also because there is early film and photo's to back much of what we read which also help kindle the interest.

[Stahlberg]

When I was young I watched Sgt. York with my father, and I've been hooked ever since. I just learned that my great great great great uncle served, and that has made me even more interested

[cwnorma]

It is for me perhaps the most fascinating period of Western History. It is almost like where many river currents meet and change the course. Prior to WW1, most Western Europeans and Americans believed that humanity was inexorably bettering itself. This idealistic humanism led many to believe that anything was possible. Waves of immigrants left their homelands in search of opportunity. Socialists naively believed that they could institute a system that could do away with the excesses of capitalism (it turned out that Socialists could be just as greedy once in power). Industries which had been previously regional became increasingly global as advances in transportation allowed a means to get raw goods to manufacturers and finished goods to consumers. This growth in turn created demand for labor; in turn feeding immigration, and growth of cities. The predominant theme in the humanities were the Beaux Arts. Nature inspired beauty was everywhere. Ragtime and photo-Jazz were catching the imagination of the young, Einstein had theorized Relativity. It was indeed the Gilded Age.

 

Then came the war...

 

Suddenly, and all that was shattered. The industrial growth that fed the idealism of the Gilded Age was now turned full force to produce means of death and destruction. Even warfare changed. Machine guns changed the balance of power on the battlefield and made offensive cavalry obsolete. Aircraft opened a new front (behind the battle line) that previously was unaccessible. Poison gas could indiscriminately kill thousands. Entire European villages ceased to exist. When it finally ended in a rail car in a forest, There was no great battle for victory. The Kaiser quit, and the German Army simply agreed to stop fighting and go home.

 

When it was over, Tommy, Poilu, Sammy, and Gerry went home and found that after witnessing years of death and destruction, the old pursuits and morals didn't matter so much. What mattered was living! They were going to enjoy themselves. The Jazz age was in full swing. Abolition drove revelers into speakeasys. Organized crime stepped in to meet demand for illicit alcohol (along with prostitution, gambling, and drugs). For the allies, the '20s "roared" meanwhile, in Germany, French and English demands to "punish" Germany economically drove that nation to the economic brink. "Gibson Girls" gave way to "Flappers." Art Nouveau gave way to the deconstruction of Dadism and the fever dreams of Surrealism. It all lasted almost exactly 10 years. Friday, October 25, 1929, everything came tumbling down. The economic instability in Europe brought on by the onerous terms placed on Germany finally infected the world financial market. The world entered a "Great Depression" and would not fully recover until a Second World War would finally reset the world's economy. Idealistic humanism had been wiped away. In its place was realism. People no longer felt that humanity was marching toward a utopian ideal. Instead it was (for a decade) living in the moment.

 

WW1 destroyed the old world order. Empires were broken up. The WW1 generation came of age in the slaughter fields of France, Belgium, Turkey, and other far-flung places. The idealism of their gilded age youths was smashed by the war, and further destroyed by the Global Depression. The ultimate takeaway from WW1 lies here: A young American Artillery Captain's memories of the inexorable slog of the killing fields of France allowed him to make the mental calculous that killing 100s of thousands of civilians was an equitable trade to prevent the deaths of (perhaps) millions. The Atomic-age had arrived.