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One man's Trash is Another Man's Trash


mikie
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The City of Santa Clara is having one of it's cleanup days where homeowners can put almost anything and everything out on the curb and the city will pick it up.  The blocks around my house are lined with piles of all kinds of stuff waiting pickup.  Hoards of pickers like sharks roam the streets looking for stuff to grab.  On my evening walks, I keep a sharp eye out for anything military, like a footlocker full of fixed bail helmets or war bringback samurai swords.  Never have found anything good yet, nothing, nada zilch.  A few years ago I thought I saw a corner of one of those brown mortar ammo boxes under a huge pile of crap.  But there wasn't a way of digging it out without having the whole thing fall over.  Didn't seem worth the trouble. Oh well I can dream.  Maybe next time!  

Junk .jpg

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My first German uniform came out of the trash on North Way in Bronxville NY. 1968.

 

The same pile produced a cartridge belt, an M-43 jacket and gas mask in its carrier.

 

Guess what I was for Halloween.

 

 

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That sure is a lot of junk. But continue to keep an eye out. You‘ll probably run into something when you least expect it. Or if you happen to have a conversation during one of your walks, that could possibly lead to something as well.

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8 hours ago, manayunkman said:

My first German uniform came out of the trash on North Way in Bronxville NY. 1968.

 

The same pile produced a cartridge belt, an M-43 jacket and gas mask in its carrier.

 

Guess what I was for Halloween.

 

 

Wow! Sounds like you hit the mother load! Can't imagine what your Halloween costume have been. 

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8 hours ago, Reforger said:

That sure is a lot of junk. But continue to keep an eye out. You‘ll probably run into something when you least expect it. Or if you happen to have a conversation during one of your walks, that could possibly lead to something as well.

I'll keep the old eyes peeled. One neighbor did put out a footlocker with a free sign I grabbed a couple of years ago. He is a veteran, but it wasn't his from his service. 

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Looks like fun! My first service coat came out of a curbside trash pile, along with a nice Melton wool overcoat, in CT back around 1990.

429433a2837e5e0d06ad05e89e279aa2.jpg


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1 hour ago, urbanminer said:

Looks like fun! My first service coat came out of a curbside trash pile, along with a nice Melton wool overcoat, in CT back around 1990.

429433a2837e5e0d06ad05e89e279aa2.jpg


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Nice.

What is your connection to the 27th Infantry division?  My Dad served in the 106th Regiment from 1940 till the end of the war. That's him in my profile pic.

Mikie

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My grandfather was a S/Sgt with the 105th on Saipan and Okinawa. He volunteered with the 102nd (43d Div) in 1941, was transferred to 105th in 1942.


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If memory serves, I pulled a pile of FM's and TM's out of a rusty footlocker on a trash pile, all named to the same guy.

 

I think I also got an early war 38R EM wool overcoat and three WWII mountain rucksacks off of trash piles at various points as well. 

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Mikie, I would have taken one of those curb side parked cars home. They  still look okay to me..............................................🙃

 

Rene

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20 hours ago, Dogsbody said:

Mikie, I would have taken one of those curb side parked cars home. They  still look okay to me..............................................🙃

 

Rene

.

Hi Rene,  I agree with you, it must be an affluent area if they can throw cars like these away . . . . . . . . :lol:

 

lewis.

 

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On 8/13/2020 at 6:16 PM, mikie said:

The City of Santa Clara is having one of it's cleanup days where homeowners can put almost anything and everything out on the curb and the city will pick it up.  The blocks around my house are lined with piles of all kinds of stuff waiting pickup.  Hoards of pickers like sharks roam the streets looking for stuff to grab.  On my evening walks, I keep a sharp eye out for anything military, like a footlocker full of fixed bail helmets or war bringback samurai swords.  Never have found anything good yet, nothing, nada zilch.  A few years ago I thought I saw a corner of one of those brown mortar ammo boxes under a huge pile of crap.  But there wasn't a way of digging it out without having the whole thing fall over.  Didn't seem worth the trouble. Oh well I can dream.  Maybe next time!  

Junk .jpg

.

Hi Mikie,  there's always stuff to be found when you nose around the neighbourhood, my first few weeks living here I spotted two German tank wheels leaning against a barn wall, another throw-out I found back then was a complete German field phone including the original 1942 battery.

 

keep your peepers skinned . . . . . . 

 

lewis.

 

.IMG_0087.JPG.9203a76539da8379429c2e498241b885.JPG

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On 8/13/2020 at 7:19 PM, urbanminer said:

Looks like fun! My first service coat came out of a curbside trash pile, along with a nice Melton wool overcoat, in CT back around 1990.

429433a2837e5e0d06ad05e89e279aa2.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice. I see your 

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Everything is gone. The last bunch was picked up yesterday.  In the past I've grabbed odd bits of furniture, tools, etc. But nothing at all this time. And never anything military so far. 

 

As for the cars, nah, I drive a 12 year old Prius with 120000+ miles on it. Hard to upgrade that. 

 

Thanks for all the great find stories. You can bet I'll keep looking! 

 

Mikie

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