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Lucky streak continues.... CZ27 grouping from 100th Division Vet!


WWIIBuff1945
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My lucky streak continues. I’ve been eyeballing this CZ27 grouping for 14 days and it finally ended with me winning. I thought this grouping would have went for much more and I was willing to bid higher. It was just me and another doing the bidding and I’m glad he quit early. What’s really interesting to me is that he is from my hometown Chicago. You can see he put on the capture papers that he registered the gun with the CPD in 1947. I can’t wait to get the grouping and start my research on the vet. Thanks for checking out my new grouping!

 

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On the pistol certificate there's a picture showing some trucks. Can someone with a knowledge of vehicle markings identify what the numbers/letters mean. Thanks..

 

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Excellent info courtesy of Matt!

 

I believe the stair-step dui you have represents the 7th Army.

 

The 100th Division was under the 7th Army at varying times in Germany as indicated below.

 

Germany

In a lead role in Operation Undertone, the Seventh Army fought its way across the Rhine into Germany, captured Nuremberg and then Munich. Finally it crossed the Brenner Pass and made contact with Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott's U.S. Fifth Army at Vipiteno - once again on Italian soil.

 

In less than nine months of continuous fighting, the Seventh Army had advanced over 1,000 miles and for varying times had commanded 24 U.S. and Allied divisions, including the 3rd, 36th, 42nd, 44th, 45th, 63rd, 70th, 100th, and 103rd Infantry Divisions.

 

The medical collar device makes be believe that Melvin was assigned to the 130th Station Hospital. That, and also the fact that the pistol certificate you have is signed by Captain Lloyd W. DeLauter of the 130th Station Hospital.

 

Also, training for the 130th Station Hospital was held at Camp Barkeley, Texas. The cap you have of Melvin’s shows Camp Barkeley, Texas.

 

On 15 July 1945, the 130th Station Hospital, then at Camp Lucky Strike, Le Havre, France, was assigned to the 7th Army for duty with the Army of Occupation. It arrived at Heidelberg, Germany, on 1 August 1945, and proceeded to Rohrbach, Germany, a small village about three miles south of Heidelberg.

 

The pistol certificate you have is dated November 28, 1945 and was signed by Captain Lloyd W. DeLauter of the 130th Station Hospital. The date is interesting because it’s just before the famous General George S. Patton’s accident in which he was taken to the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelburg and subsequently died. Makes me wonder if Melvin was there at the same time as General Patton.

 

Accident and death

 

Patton's grave in Luxembourg City

On December 8, 1945, Patton's chief of staff, Major General Hobart Gay, invited him on a pheasant hunting trip near Speyer to lift his spirits. Observing derelict cars along the side of the road, Patton said, "How awful war is. Think of the waste." Moments later his car collided with an American army truck at low speed.

 

Gay and others were only slightly injured, but Patton hit his head on the glass partition in the back seat. He began bleeding from a gash to the head, and complained that he was paralyzed and having trouble breathing. Taken to a hospital in Heidelberg, Patton was discovered to have a compression fracture and dislocation of the cervical third and fourth vertebrae, resulting in a broken neck and cervical spinal cord injury that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down.

 

Patton spent most of the next 12 days in spinal traction to decrease the pressure on his spine. All nonmedical visitors, except for Patton's wife, who had flown from the U.S., were forbidden. Patton, who had been told he had no chance to ever again ride a horse or resume normal life, at one point commented, "This is a hell of a way to die." He died in his sleep of pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure at about 18:00 on December 21, 1945. Speculation as to whether the collision and Patton's injuries and death resulted from mere accident or a deliberate assassination continued into the twenty-first century.

 

MORGUE

 

U.S. ARMY 130TH STATION HOSPITAL

 

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

 

DECEMBER 21, 1945

 

7:00 P.M.

 

George Patton’s body is wheeled down to a makeshift morgue in the hospital basement. The room was a horse stall back in the days when this building was a German cavalry barracks. It might have made more sense simply to keep Patton in Room 110, where he died, but the humiliation of his body being stored in a stall is nothing compared to the grisly spectacle that will unfold if a photograph of the dead general’s body is splashed across front pages of newspapers worldwide. Hiding Patton in the basement is the best way to avoid the horde of journalists that has descended upon this tiny military hospital. Sergeant Meeks makes the concealment complete by bringing Patton’s personal four-star flag to the hospital, where he shields the general’s body by draping the flag over his corpse.

 

 

 

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The "7A" on the left side of the bumper on the truck on the right in the picture is definitely a "7th Army" vehicle. I can't make out all the numbers to the right of that though.

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I agree Matt! The shape of those trucks leads me to believe they are military ambulances. I bet Melvin was in charge of the crews that did the patient transports. Maybe one of those was used to transport Patton to the hospital?

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I got a hold of the seller and he did not get the grouping from the family. Thanks to Matt, I may have the son's phone number but I am leery about contacting him and him wanting the group back. This happened with another grouping that I posted recently (FN Browning 1922). Although contacting that family lead to a treasure trove of information on the vet. I'd really hate to lose this grouping because if the family said they wanted it back it would be tough to say no to them. I'll make the decision soon.

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The "7A" on the left side of the bumper on the truck on the right in the picture is definitely a "7th Army" vehicle. I can't make out all the numbers to the right of that though.

 

Matt,

 

I received the grouping this afternoon and took a closer look at the picture. It is the 565 Ambulance company. The lettering on the bumper of the truck to the left is cut off but says MB 10 probably AMB 10 or Ambulance 10. My scanner is not working now otherwise I'd post a pic. The group is cool and what I didn't realize it came with an extra CZ 27 magazine. I thought it was taken out for the picture but no its an extra. Also the pics and DI are attached to the 100th Division patch. Maybe Melvin did it so I'm going to leave it that way. Overall, I couldn't be more pleased!

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Hi Keith, that's great you were able to get the number 565 off the picture. I'm sure you're correct about it being the 565th Ambulance Company. I'm also pretty sure you're right about that MB 10 being Ambulance #10. How wonderful that the pistol came with an extra magazine! Anyway, glad you are so pleased with everything :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

post-158759-0-39619800-1541979149_thumb.jpgpost-158759-0-26485000-1541979179_thumb.jpg

 

Pick this super nice holster for the CZ at the gun show today! I've been looking on line for a nice example and saw this one at the show.

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