Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Share #1 Posted September 6, 2015 BAUMHOLDER Bahnbrecher/Trailblazers was the name of a US/German Volksmarch club that existed from the late 1970's to the late 1990's in the Baumholder garrison near my hometown. Today I was lucky enough to require this set of Steins, a former member of this club collected over the years. He told a lot of stories about the different marches with about 3000 - 4000 participants then. These were the days! Beside the year the Steins show the coat of arms of the town, where the march took place and of course the Division's insignia. Notice that it changed from 8th Inf Div to 1st Armor Div, when the 8th ID was disbanded/reflagged in 1992. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #2 Posted September 6, 2015 These were the Steins issued in the last years with the very last one far right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted September 6, 2015 He wanted to get rid of all of his memorabilia so I took the not Baumholder related ones as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #4 Posted September 6, 2015 Another one with a fancy painted bald eagle's head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted September 6, 2015 Ach ja,...his Volksmarch "medals" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra 6 Actual Posted September 6, 2015 Share #6 Posted September 6, 2015 Very cool items, sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #7 Posted September 6, 2015 Thanks, Cobra! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted September 6, 2015 These two Beam Whiskey bottles came with the lot. I think these came from the local "PX shop" ??? Didn't get the joke with the "Democrat" bottle yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share #9 Posted September 6, 2015 Okay, google helped a bit. There was a donkey decanter for the democrats and an elephant one for the republicans in 1976... http://www.lotnut.com/app/item.html?guid=a2762565-9bcd-43eb-8280-f7703cf0d799 HEY; THIS THREAD IS NOT GOING TO BE POLITICAL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted September 14, 2015 Share #10 Posted September 14, 2015 Geez, it did not even occur to me that the Baumholder Bahnbrecher Volksmarch Club was gone as well. I figured Neubrucke's had been gone for awhile. As I mentioned on the other thread, "Bahnbrecher" was about as close as you could come in German to "Pathfinder", which was the 8th ID's division nickname. It's funny how the 1st ID kept the same name for the club. Yes, the Volksmarches in Baumholder were a big draw. I think the US themed medals were a novelty for the German participants. Plus, the Baumholder club was pretty big on its own. Thanks for showing these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proud Kraut Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share #11 Posted September 19, 2015 Yes, the Volksmarches in Baumholder were a big draw. I think the US themed medals were a novelty for the German participants. Plus, the Baumholder club was pretty big on its own. Thanks for showing these. Thank you for sharing your "cold war memories" I really enjoy reading all those stories from the time long before we moved to this area! Very interesting the "Bahnbrecher" translation. It never came to my mind that this very unusual world could be the German word for pathfinder! IMHO the obvious German translation of pathfinder is "Pfadfinder" (path = Pfad; finder =...). Pfadfinder is also used for all (boy)scouts organisations over here. Maybe someone wanted to avoid this "civil" meaning... Interestingly I'm obviously not the only one with that translation.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted September 19, 2015 Share #12 Posted September 19, 2015 Keep in mind this was probably written by Americans who did not have a full understanding of German. I remember there were a lot of things lost in translation. Many Americans tried to use literal of translations of English that produced some rather fractured meanings in German. It probably worked the same way in reverse as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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