"Defending their GHQ"--Boys at War

[siege1863]

Just picked up this nice press photo showing boys at play with their "war" toys. Interestingly, the four are named on the back. The boy on the phone went on to enlist in the Army in 1955! The photo is dated May 1943 and the boys are ages seven and eight.

 

 

[Manchu Warrior]

Boy does that photo bring back some memories and to be honest not necessarily all good memories. That's because them old pop guns sure did hurt when they were packed full of dirt and one your childhood buddies decides to shoot you with it at very close range. :pinch:

[boyt44]

When we played "War" back in the '50s, we always dragged out some piece of military surplus or another-I remember wearing my Grandfather's WW1 pistol belt with a canteen-it usually was almost dragging on the ground. My brother and I were overjoyed when my Dad took us to a surplus store,and let us each pick out a helmet liner-we both still have them-mine's a KW Airborne liner-in pretty sad shape these days.

[Old Marine]

That's a neat photo. I can remember running through the back yards with just a steel pot banging on my head, like the kid on the left. It was quite a revelation when my father got me a helmet liner and adjusted the sweatband so that it sorta' fit. Maybe that steel pot klonking me on the head is why I ended up joining the Marines.

 

Dennis

[blue88s]

GREAT FIND remind me of being a kid again

[siege1863]

Found one use of the photo in a California paper...

 

[m1ashooter]

What I laugh I just had. I also remember sticking the muzzle in the dirt and shooting my friends with it.

[siege1863]

Here is the gun the second boy is holding...

 

[ed101]

LOL!!!! Thanks for posting that great photo.

Regards,

-Ed

[ClaptonIsGod]

Well... there goes three more Hawley liners off the face of this earth along with the "Pup Specials"!

[gparlin]

I just dropped in on this category for the first time, some really good stuff. Back in the 50’s and early 60’s we all wore or used our Dad’s military stuff. I used wear my Fathers flight helmet and oxygen mask. I still have the flight helmet but the O2 mask is long gone. I can remember in the 60’s I wore my Fathers W.W.II Ike jacket and his 50’s L-2A flight jacket. Back then, none of it was collectable.

 

You are so right about the pop guns. I shot my best friends tooth out because there was a small rock imbedded in the dirt. Boy did I get into trouble over that one and when all of kids got BB guns for Christmas I didn’t. Santa Claus was told that I could NEVER have a BB gun because of what I had done. Well, I finally got my BB gun when I turned 40. I bought a 1950 Red Ryder BB at the Great Western.

 

Great photo. I grew up in Long Beach, CA, it was a great place to grow up back then. Gregg

[sgtbrown]

At age 61 I still have one tooth a hair shorter than the others from when my cousin smacked me in the mouth with his Dad's souvenir Japanese grenade when we were playing war back in the 50's.

 

Tom

[tredhed2]

That is one great pic...

 

How many of you remember wearing M-1 Garand ammo belts and pistol belts crossed over your chest like some bandito because the belts were too wide to wear and would trip you if you did try to wear them in the usual fashion? Suspenders were for your sisters, were too wide and if you tried to wear them crossed over, they'd strangle you!

 

I remember how thrilled we all were to get helmets for $1 after collecting pop bottles for weeks/months and our dads laughing their a***s off when we ran around into walls/trees until those who had been in the Army/Marines took pity and bought helmet liners. Not that that helped much.

 

One of my buddy's dads brought home a souvenir German helmet that we used to throw our demilled M-1 grenades, fragmentation, at - thunk - thunk - we hit it! we hit it!

 

Anyone else have a Kadet M-1903 Springfield?

[siege1863]

I have the four Parris-Dunn (maker of the Kadet) rifles. One is the drill rifle made under Navy contract, one is the Army contract, and the third was old as a toy in stores and catalogs. All are about full scale but of differing degrees of accuracy in their representation. The last piece is a scaled-down bolt-action rifle. One might argue it is supposed to be an '03, but it has a magazine attached to the bottom.

[ROCKET]

I love this photo...thanks for sharing! :thumbsup:

 

I thought I'd share a picture of some kids who were playing "war" way back during the Spanish American War of 1898. This picture shows some local kids from Marshfield, WI who called themselves "Cole's Cuban Cadets". Charlie Cole was the neighborhood ring leader who rounded up all his buddies so they could re-enact beating the snot out of the Spanish. Two of the boys pictured actually lived in our house a few years after this picture was taken. (Sorry for the poor quality of the photo...after over 100 years it was rather faded!)

 

John

 

[Bob Hudson]

That's a cool one too. I made it a little easier to see: