Found this card going through some of the random assorted family photos and letters I rescued from the neighbor’s house as they were throwing things out to sell the house.   I really don’t know much about this type of ephemera, so I was hoping some people here could give whatever info or thoughts they might have.   It’s got some cool Indian/orientalist motifs and a CBI shield. Also interesting being a card specifically for a smaller holiday in 1945, for a smaller theater. Haven’t seen another one like it anywhere.   

Superb indeed.  Congrats !

WOW Matt, you always pull the coolest articles and information and there is certainly some great first hand accounts of the company. That said, what I am trying to figure out are the stenciled markings on the tube. Instead of stating Torpedo, Bangalore, M1A1 with the lot number as shown, it merely states Shwayder Brothers with the tube diameter. This seems at best odd, and certainly not to military standard.     My thoughts range from a corporate wall hanger/decoration to a so called salesman sample, to a company museum piece, or sadly to a fake, though I have no reason to believe it was made to deceive as it doesn't have the markings one would want. My hope is that someone here may have a better idea of why its this way or may have seen another like it.      All that said, and as always, I do appreciate all of the info as it does at least drive home the fact that Shwayder was a major supplier of these in WWII, so again, thanks for all of your research.    Scott

Climax Machinery Company was founded in 1905 in Indianapolis, Indiana. During WWII, the company was located at the corner of Morris and Delaware Streets.     WSC Listing   Packboard Attachment contract 5491 (6/44 - 10/44)  carries footnote "2," which in the Listings denotes "Contractor, Manufacturer and Location of Work Not Determined."               1945 dated CLIMAX Packboard Attachment. Notice that the "5" looks odd, like it was Macgyvered into the 1944 stamp.         Indianapolis News  12 / 17 / 1945       p. 31     Indianapolis News  12 / 2 / 1919          p. 28 (Although not a WWII era ad, it is useful for determining the Climax plant location. Also... I just like the ad.)     

Hello Laurent,   You know you really might want to think about learning how to do research yourself if you're going to have so many items that need researching.  The nice people on this forum don't mind helping people occasionally but there comes a point when you have to help yourself.  I hope you don't take this personally but we're here to help but you need to at some point do your part.    Here's some posts to get you started on becoming a researcher of your own items.  See the items pinned to the top of the link below. https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/88-individual-and-unit-research/   https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/413493-how-to-find-wwii-morning-reports-on-naras-website-using-service-number-or-name/#comment-3173251   ALSO,   When generally conducting research I usually stick to Newspapers.com (which by the way is the best I've found out of the three major paid subscriptions), a FREE newspaper article website is fultonhistory.com (which I've found is mostly for newspapers on the east coast of the U.S. and sometimes will have articles that you can't find on the paid sites), Ancestry.com (which I get access to for free online through my local library, otherwise it's a paid subscription), the FREE alternative to Ancestry.com would be FamilySearch.org (which contains most everything that Ancestry.com has and occasionally might have a few tidbits more, although less user friendly than Ancestry), Find-A-Grave.com (A free site, which I've found to be extremely helpful when conducting searches on items were you might only be able to see partial names and for their obituaries and photos sometimes), NARA (for Morning Reports and Award Cards/Info, as well as other documents and photographs).   Below, I've copies all the URL's for websites I have used to conduct research from time to time and sometimes more frequently than that in the past.  I have them all save under a folder in Google Chrome called Military Reference.  I believe anyone can copy and paste some or all of these into your own bookmarks folder on Chrome or into your Favorites folder on a Windows machine.   https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q="Award Cards"&f.recordGroupNoCollectionId=64 https://archive.org/details/1945ServiceRibbonGuide/1945 Service Ribbon Guide.jpg http://www.watchcount.com/#serp http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/124230 https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/wwii/infantry/27thInfDiv/Pictorial_History/27thInfDiv_PH_A.htm https://www.511pir.com/ http://accident-report.com/officers/usa/30_35/3035dir.html https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/504/504.html http://www.joebaugher.com/ http://amache.org/ http://www.americanairmuseum.com/ https://www.americanancestors.org/index.aspx http://aafcollection.info/items/list.php http://www.ww2wings.com/ https://www.ww2wings.com/main.shtml http://www.b26.com/ http://www.cdnmilitarycollectors.com/ https://www.nps.gov/wapa/learn/historyculture/guam-armed-forces-casualties.htm http://www.cbi-history.com/part_iii_adg.html https://sites.google.com/view/ccc-uniforms/home https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ https://www.ancestrypaths.com/military-records/civil-war-military-records-colored-troops/ https://www.classicfirearms.com/ http://www.criticalpast.com/ http://hglanham.tripod.com/metalinsignia2/datingclutches.html http://encyclopedia.densho.org/ https://thechaplainkit.com/history/general-military-history/determining-dates-of-historic-military-clothing-equipment/ http://dscdatabase.com/ https://www.etohistory.com/members?utm_source=so&configurationId=7b6d98dd-919d-40d8-b9d5-ada3ce5f9949&actionId=8adaa0b8-8a25-49e1-90ab-e9ac0ad45ef7&cid=5cadfdb9-dbb6-4207-946a-cfd41be71b1d&utm_content=a3bfe6a9-402d-486a-bb76-52ef79df458e&utm_campaign=8e77cc7f-d03d-47e8-8a25-7253a8f21ce4&utm_medium=mail http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp http://www.findagrave.com/ https://www.fdmuseum.org/researchers/digital-archives/ https://firstdivisionmuseum.nmtvault.com/jsp/PsSearchResults.jsp https://www.gutenberg.org/ http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html http://www.gaylord.com/ https://jref.com/forums/good-luck-flags-militaria.206/ https://ddr.densho.org/browse/facility/4/ https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/ngl/ https://griffinmilitaria.com/ http://gunstands.com/index.htm https://valor.militarytimes.com/ http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/ https://www.honorstates.org/ https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Hough_The Assault on Peleliu.pdf https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/how-to-decode-a-wwii-army-serial-number/ https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/index.html https://archive.org/search.php?query="Charles L. Goodwin" Agromeck&sin=TXT https://www.aircraftinformation.info/JB_AIF/index.htm https://www.koreanwar.org/ http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/war-diaries-ship-logs-operations-records.aspx#c https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/Research-Tools-Facts-and-Figures/Casualty-Card-Database/ https://www.goldenarrowresearch.com/marine-corps-veteran-locator/ https://achh.army.mil/regiment/root-valor https://www.etohistory.com/members?utm_campaign=8e77cc7f-d03d-47e8-8a25-7253a8f21ce4&utm_source=so https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/601682 https://www.militaryfightingknives.com/ http://www.wartimecollectables.com/hallmarks-of-us-badges---insignia.html https://www.usamm.com/pages/military-medals-and-ribbons-precedence-chart https://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/topics https://catalog.archives.gov/advanced-search https://catalog.archives.gov/ https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/WWICards.aspx#military https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin.html https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=Official military personnel file&f.oldScope=(descriptions or online)&SearchType=advanced https://www.archives.gov/research/military/veterans/online https://history.army.mil/documents/ETO-OB/ETOOB-TOC.htm http://grams.pacifichistoricparks.org/index.php http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp http://mypatchplaque.com/products/ http://remembrance-project.janm.org/ http://www.ruddlesmills.com/index.html https://www.vetfriends.com/search/search_veterans_and_personnel.cfm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_number_(United_States_Army) https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/WWIIAccounting/united_states_army_air_forces.html https://sortedbyname.com/index.html https://sortedbyname.com/ https://stewartsmilitaryantiques.com/ https://dissolve.com/ http://tankdestroyer.net/ https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/camph.htm http://www.coffeltdatabase.org/ http://www.genealogycenter.info/military/wwii/index.php https://blog.atthefront.com/the-field-jacket/ https://www.vfw.org/ https://tioh.army.mil/Catalog/RecentlyAdded.aspx http://www.usarmypatches.com/ https://www.med-dept.com/articles/u-s-army-ww2-dog-tags/ http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/Table of Contents.htm https://www.universityproducts.com/ https://www.armydivs.com/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/844493674289480/ https://www.usww2uniforms.com/armyindex.html https://www.omsa.org/us-medal-rolls-2/ https://www.omsa.org/MedalRolls/US_MexBdr.php http://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasaaDB-USNBPbyDate1941-42.htm https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=*:*&f.ancestorNaIds=643795&sort=naIdSort asc http://usafupt.com/default.htm http://www.usafpatches.com/ https://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Agencies/USMC-FOIA/WWIISSCitations/ https://libguides.usna.edu/sca/digital https://www.cem.va.gov/nationwide-gravesite-locator/ http://www.loc.gov/vets/ https://www.vietnamgear.com/equipment.aspx?cat=2 https://www.vpnavy.com/index1.html https://www.etohistory.com/ https://wetransfer.com/ https://www.med-dept.com/ http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/338106-wwii-hospital-admission-card-files-1942-1954-now-on-ancestry/ https://wwiiregistry.abmc.gov/search-the-registry/ https://29thdivisionassociation.com/morning-reports/ http://wwii-enlistment.com/   Take care and have a blessed day! 🇺🇸

I remember that REFORGER (though is was up in the NORTHAG area of responsibility).  Was in a FA battalion that was part of the 1st Inf Div (FWD) --  permanently stationed in Germany, while the rest of the 1ID was back at Ft Riley. The 1st ID (FWD) was the 'reserve' for VII Corps -- until the rest of the division arrived. However, artillery is never "in reserve," so we had multiple other possible missions -- providing GS or GSR fires for the three FA Brigades in VII Corps or GS fires for a German panzer division.   A lot more fun than the January 1979 REFORGER which was along the Czech border. That one was bitterly cold. For that one, our battalion coordinated all the fires for the Corps' covering force -- meaning my FDC was coordinating fires of more than six FA battalions.   Relatively good history of the REFORGER exercises:  https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Books/Browse-Books/iBooks-and-EPUBs/Rapid-Reinforcement-of-NATO/    

Hi Scott, Shwayder Brothers were the largest manufacturer of luggage in Denver, CO.  During WWII they made bombs and obviously bangalores as well.   Perhaps the some of the articles below will explain the military connection of Shwayder Brothers and even some that specifically mention bangalores.   Matt                                    

There were various versions, depending on where you were stationed:   Eighty-second All-American Pick up your 'chutes and follow me I'm the airborne infantry One-oh-one Screaming eagles Pick up your ropes and follow me I'm the air assault infantry Twenty-fifth Tropic lightning Pick up your rucks and follow me I'm the light infantry First division Big red one Jump on your tracks and follow me I'm the mechanized infantry Seventy-fifth Black beret Pick up your weapon and follow me I'm the ranger infantry Sixth ID Patch on my shoulder Pick up your snowshoes, follow me Arctic Light Infantry

Very nice. Hard one to find This nice. 

One I've been chasing for a while.  Troop E, 114th Cavalry from the 69th Infantry Brigade.  Made up of Kansas (and Iowa for the mobilization) National Guard, the brigade was called to active duty and assigned to the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson.  Many individual personnel then went to Vietnam themselves.   Troop E was ultimately reassigned to the divisional reconnaissance 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry to temporarily replace their Troop A which had gone with the 1st Brigade to Vietnam.   The ghost of the 69th IB patch is visible under the red diamond and of course there's an armor triangle on the chest.  114th Cavalry did not have their own DI at the time and as seen in the contemporary newspaper photo below wore the 69th Infantry Brigade HQ DI and pocket patch.  Troop E was from Manhattan and McPherson, KS.