36th Fighter Group pilots wartime shipping box

[Bob Hudson]

Yesterday as I was getting ready to leave an estate sale, my wife called me over to the front yard where a bunch of wooden boxes were on display including a couple of fruit boxes. She pointed to one that was not a fruit crate, but rather a solid box with nice dovetail corners and a sliding top and on the top was this:

 

 

The box measures roughly 18X13X10. It has the shipping addresses painted on them, a paper label to certify he wasn't stealing government property, and there is the faint postmark.

 

 

 

It would be interesting to know that he shipped home in this, but whatever it was, the box served a very mundane purpose in its post-war service according to this tape label on one end:

 

[Bob Hudson]

AFTER we paid for the box and as I was loading it in the car I noticed something on the bottom:

 

 

Apparently this was liberated from one of the three Luftwaffe bases the 36h Fighter Group occupied. The this same type of stamp was used on Luftwaffe plates, forks, spoons and other dinnerware.

 

CW Ralston turns out to be Chester W. Ralston, who was born in Iowa in 1920 and died in 1970. I found photos online of him and his aircraft - named Sugar Report - from his days in the 23rd Fighter Squadron:

 

 

[Steindaddie]

Pretty nifty find !

 

~Will

 

PS. The German markings stand for "Flieger Unterkunft Verwaltung" - Flight Barracks Administration

[Bob Hudson]

Pretty nifty find !

 

~Will

 

PS. The German markings stand for "Flieger Unterkunft Verwaltung" - Flight Barracks Administration

 

It was nice to see our WWII troops were pioneers in recycling.

[ww2_1943]

Neat. I have an officers foot locker that was made from a German crate. No German markings are left. It has the same dove tail construction. The officers name and serial number are all over the locker, but I have not been able to find any info on him.

[Bob Hudson]

The officers name and serial number are all over the locker, but I have not been able to find any info on him.

 

Let me know what they are and I'll run a check on the paid databases we subscribe to with part of the forum donations.

[ww2_1943]

Let me know what they are and I'll run a check on the paid databases we subscribe to with part of the forum donations.

 

PM sent

Thank you

[Bluehawk]

Based upon, and credited to, your research on this airman I have started a Remembrance for him at this link:

 

http://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/...n&ID=108365

 

It is not complete yet, so suggestions for improvement would be welcome.

 

Soon a link back to it will also be posted in the Tribute Gallery of the USAF National Memorial.

[terry.ralston]

I will post more later but my son sent me this and i was shocked to see the box. I am Terry Ralston, CW Ralston's oldest son. I would be very interest to know where the estate sale was located. I will look in his paperwork this weekend as i am sure the contents of the box was inventoried before being sent. What an amazing find! I had never seen that box before. - Terry Ralston

[Cobrahistorian]

Great find Bob! I love seeing 36th FG stuff. I've got two groupings from the 36th and there really isn't a lot out there on them.

[Bob Hudson]

I will post more later but my son sent me this and i was shocked to see the box. I am Terry Ralston, CW Ralston's oldest son. I would be very interest to know where the estate sale was located. I will look in his paperwork this weekend as i am sure the contents of the box was inventoried before being sent. What an amazing find! I had never seen that box before. - Terry Ralston

 

I have not owned the box for a couple years now and don't remember who I sold it to. I found it at a yard sale in Chula Vista, California, a San Diego suburb.