Greetings to all fellow Forum members, I'm planning a life long dream trip to Normandy this year and will be in the area from the end of May through June 8th. I have never been to this part of France before so have hired a guide to see the US D-Day points of interest and then exploring more in-depth on my own for a number of days as well. I was wondering if anyone from the Forum will be attending this year? Also was hoping for any suggestions for "must see" places to tour, visit, (and eat!) other than the "usual" military sites. I see many events listed during the weekend festivities and was curious if anyone had recommendations for ones I should definitely attend. Are the militaria fairs are worth going to? Any decent shops?  Does anyone there buy or trade? I'd greatly appreciate any and all advice or suggestions. I'm very excited and hope to make it a memorable trip! Thank you all in advance. Best, Jim

I also read that the stilettos without the USMC stamp and no makers mark were issued to the 1st Canadian parachute battalion? Is this one of them that made its way to a Marine Raider?

These maps belonged to my father, Robert T. Cronau, Jr.  I have 11 of them as listed below.  I understand that, in general, these are very common.  Dad served in the CBI theater and wondered what they were worth in general and if any in the list are unusual/rare.  I posted a few pics and can add specific ones if anyone is interested.  One of the maps is single-sided.   NL52, HARBIN, CHINA & NL53, SPASSK-DAL’NY NO. 30, SOUTH BURMA & NO. 31 NORTH BURMA NO. 34, SOUTHEAST CHINA & NO. 35, NORTHEAST CHINA C-32, FRENCH INDO CHINA & C-33, CENTRAL CHINA C-34. SOUTHEAST CHINA & C-40 LUZON ISLAND C-36, CENTRAL EAST ASIA C-41, MINDOR ISLAND & C-42, SAMAR ISLAND C-43, MINDANAO ISLAND & C-44, NORTH BORNEO C-47, SOUTH BORNEO & C-48, WEST JAVA C-52, JAPAN AND SOUTH CHINA SEAS & C-53, EAST CHINA SEA C-384, WEI RIVER & C-495, OMEI MOUNTAIN

New information from the JOMSA issue last Sept. A very well written and researched article. I hope this link works:  https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6ad8491d9e384c310c0b38cacc14a2decdffda302654d3c86f19466f4fabc48fJmltdHM9MTc3NTA4ODAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=044e9b75-7af4-652d-0612-8c797b0064f4&psq=society+of+the+Army+of+the+Philippines+membership+badge&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21zYS5vcmcvZmlsZXMvZG93bmxvYWQucGhwP2ZpbGU9SUI3dEV3YzgxbnFwX0pPTVNBX1ZvbDc2XzMucGRmJnN0cmVhbT10cnVlJnllYXI9MjAyNQ

Thanks for your reply, Scott. I'm inclined to agree with you that any tampering might be very bad for this. Many years ago however, I was involved in restoring antique Louis Vuitton steamer trunks; these had leather trim on the edges that looked like this and even worse. I was able to bring them back to life using gentle heat and rubbing in beeswax with bronze wool; actually got nice polish that way, without disturbing the original leather, even though they were so dried out that they wanted to crumble.   Anyone ever do anything like this?

Thanks much! I’m always very excited to find a new piece from the 442nd, and his story turned out extremely fascinating.   As mentioned, my first 442nd item happened to be this uniform from T5 Ted Hoshino, one of his mortar men, which made it all the cooler. They now sit on display next to each other!  

Fantastic! Thank you!

That’s unfortunate about the knife. Thank you for the info!

The 'real deal', slant pockets, ripstop with theater name tags   Nice score, they're still out there...

These are really great!