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ww1 3rd div officer, 2 full footlockers including letters and pistols


brad k
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Fabulous to say the least! Congratulations and thanks for posting it. Would love to see some of the details as you go through it all.

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BILL THE PATCH

Wow, just read a ww1 book called the Scarlet fields, about a ww1 3rd div Intel soldier. It was great,. Any diary's in footlocker? Would love to read some of you do. Congrats.

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WOW, a real historical time capsule You don't find complete groups like this anymore. Congratulations and thank you for sharing the images of this collection.

Mike

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You have enough material there to start your own museum. Very nice find.

 

I can't believe in all of the uniforms and patches, at least from the photos I cannot see a bit of mothing (except for a couple of stripes) or deterioration. Even the paper items look relatively fresh. The photos look like they were printed yesterday without any yellowing. The firearms show no sign of rust.

The lockers must have been stored under ideal conditions.

 

Congratulations.

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there is some moth damage around the pockets of the best jacket and a few other places but realy not that bad, the shirts were wrapped in 1945 dated newspapers, I assume thats when everything went to the attic, I've heard moths dont like newspaper. the guns have no rust, only holster wear and they were kept in the holsters all this time,thats usually a bad thing but no problem with these. the 1911 was cleaned and oiled when it was put away and the slide was very stiff but works like new after a good cleaning.

there was no diary but lots of letters, he tells about picking up a german officers pistol during the marne, most of the letters aren't as exciting as we would like them to be but still tells his story, one interesting one during the occupation tells about cpt. mayes went home 2 days before he was to be court martialed, then a later one says "the first pay day without cpt mayes, no fist fights or drunken brawls, I guess the men are happy" I wish I new the rest of that story! one sad part in my research is that his youngest son was killed in europe on may 6 1945.

 

some of the pictures were still in the envelopes with the lettersand described so I can actually have a good idea on dates

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This really is an unbelievable grouping!

 

Can I bother you to take some pictures of the personal items (toiletries, pocket filler, etc), I like to collect information on what men had for setting up displays. If the image in Post #4 has the extent of it, than no worries.

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On 10/26/2015 at 4:01 AM, Dr_rambow said:

This really is an unbelievable grouping!

 

Can I bother you to take some pictures of the personal items (toiletries, pocket filler, etc), I like to collect information on what men had for setting up displays. If the image in Post #4 has the extent of it, than no worries.

post 4 is pretty much it

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My Gosh that has to be the most complete WWI grouping I have seen in a very long time. Wonderful that it went to a collector who will keep it together. Thank you for sharing!

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  • 1 year later...

Hey Brad,

This was my first time to see this amazing time capsule - a pair of trunk groups with the pistols , French gasmask, etc. just exactly the way they were put away by the vet! I'll bet you are right that he last put it all away in 1945 with the newspapers of that time, after the death of his son in Europe! I have collected trunk groups especially since I started collecting WWI id'd groups in 1981, and I have never seen such an absolutely complete group! Having the pistols just as he returned with them is especially unique. I have two such groups with the .45 auto, but none with all three!! I'm so proud also that you have kept them all together! Great work, and thanks for sharing this museum collection! It's well worth resurrecting for another look in the Forum to mark the Great War Centennial coming up for the Rock of the Marne!!

 

David

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Brad,

Thank you for sharing this amazing group. This is something I dream of finding. Simply incredible. Glad to know it's all still together too.

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  • 10 months later...

With the anniversary now upon us, I wanted to resurrect this amazing collection!!! Thanks again for being the caretaker for this trove!

David

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With the anniversary now upon us, I wanted to resurrect this amazing collection!!! Thanks again for being the caretaker for this trove!

David

still intact.

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  • 4 years later...
T1gertank519

This group is fantastic! It makes me happy to know that all of it has stayed together over the years. Amazing!

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  • 3 months later...

This is still the greatest WWI trunk group/ time capsule I have seen since I started collecting them in 1981. I'm sure proud of your determination to keep it all together! What a story for preservation it really represents!  Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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