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Help returning some personal items


Historycollector61
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Historycollector61

Hello I have had some Nazi medals, insignia and photos that where captured by a guy named Robert Taylor. These items where in a Nazi envelope with Robert Taylor written on the back. Also something that looks so say Germany 1945 but it’s blurred and faded. Above his name is the unit insignia of the 3rd infantry. Also I had some us machine gunner gloves that belonged to him during the war. So my search for a machine gunner in the 3rd infantry named Robert Taylor began. I ended up finding him on find a grave. Here is a link to it

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28962037/robert-lowell-taylor

I am certain this is him I want to return the items to his family. I’ll include pictures in a bit. I think I found his step daughter I texted her but she won’t reply. I know some of his children are still alive 

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I have found, in all my collecting years, sometimes families sell the stuff to get rid of bad memories [of the war and of the veterans themselves], sometimes cuz they need the money. These sound like bring backs that for whatever reason made it out to the GP and may have been sold by the family or the veteran. While I am not against people who want to try to return things to families, I have found that in MANY cases it's better to leave well enough alone. Especially when you think you have found family and they're not responding. Just my two cents. Do what you think is right.

 

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dhcoleterracina

I'll take your word for it that this is your guy but Robert Taylor is a pretty common name. 

 

Why do you think the family wants this back? It looks like something that families commonly sell. If there were a Purple Heart then perhaps the family might want it back. 

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I'm kind of scratching my head here as to why you would want to return German war souvenirs to the family that probably got rid of them in the first place? I just had some interaction with a family who found grandpa's Nazi flag in a box at his house when they were cleaning it out. They were actually afraid that their grandpa was a closet Nazi! I explained that it was a souvenir that he brought home from the war. They were repulsed that anyone would want ANYTHING with a swastika on it. They couldn't even fathom that people would want to collect it.

 

If you were trying to return a pair of dog tags, or some personal correspondence, I would cheer you on, but I think you are only asking for aggravation in trying to return war souvenirs to the family of someone whom you THINK they MIGHT have once belonged to.


My two cents,

 

Allan

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iron bender

Though a noble cause, I'm not sure how much effort I'd put into it. I've found more times than not, the family has no interest unless there's money involved. If you're not interested in it sell or trade it as a lot for something you are interested in. Two years ago some family friends were going to throw away all of their uncles bring backs and uniform items, letters, paperwork etc. Until one of them remembered I might be interested so I bought the lot from them. Jeez. My .02, and I'm sure some won't agree.

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Historycollector61

I was more into returning his gloves and seeing if they wanted to buy the Nazi souvenirs. Here is a picture of the items

284760A9-C519-4348-9D8B-014C6C015E40.jpeg

5C33F2B8-5E92-4A70-9A68-2885B914C1B3.jpeg

4A288F13-D336-4C47-A4A6-77FF36B8C0CA.jpeg

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manayunkman

In this day and age I would not attempt to return anything nazi.

 

Who knows how they would take it, they could be offended or worse.

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Historycollector61

I know some forums don’t like to put a price on stuff but how much would y’all think all this is worth? The medal and insignia are both very common and both sell for around 100$ combined. The Nazi  envelope has a stamp and some German writing on it but no letter. I don’t know much about the gloves but they have a trigger finger and his name written in them.

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Historycollector61
3 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

In this day and age I would not attempt to return anything nazi.

 

Who knows how they would take it, they could be offended or worse.

I see thanks everyone for the fast replys

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Historycollector61

I did have all the stuff checked out though and it’s all 100% authentic 

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