I have always been interested in history, all periods. I travel a lot both domestically and internationally on business and I always make sure to try to get some historical related visits in wherever I am.

 

I really became interested in WWII after reading Ernie Pyle's Brave Men that I picked up in a used bookstore in the early 90's. My collecting started when my wife and I were on vacation in San Antonio and were staying at my great-aunt and uncle's guest house. He was an ex-career soldier having enlisted in 1937 and retiring in 1962. He never threw anything away. He had a lot of stuff packed away in the guest house and I took the liberty to look at it. I told him that I had been reading a lot about WWII and he volunteered some information. A few months later he was up in East Texas and was visiting some extended family and came by our house for a visit. He came with 3 footlockers of stuff for me. A complete mixture of items; US uniforms, books, magazines, newspapers, documents, pics, patches, bayonets, headgear, personal items, webbing, TR spoils, etc. He told me that there was more but he had already donated it to a museum in SA (I believe it to be at Ft. Sam Houston). The jump start was great. That is why I have such an eclectic collection today. Love every bit of it!

M, what a great topic and your father's drawings are excellent. I will post my contribution to this thread later on.

 

Rene

Hey Guys,

 

Great stories!

 

For me it was all about my late Dad. Out of seven kids I was really the only one he spoke with about his service in the ETO as a Rifleman. I love to ask him about his service and for the most part, he was pretty good about sharing things. Even more so if he had a couple of beers.. He was a mechanical guy and very detailed so when he described things, he was very descriptive and brought them to life for me. He also didn't have much of a filter so he never sanitized his experiences or glorified them. In short, I became interesting in WWII because of him and as far as studying and collecting goes, I think I do it because it sort of keeps him alive to me, if that makes any sense.

 

James

Here is another Anti Nazi picture.

 

Any one from The Netherlands or Belgium translate.

Armband says "Landwacht Nederlander"......Nederlander being German for the Netherlands....LN was a security unit of the SS, designed to combat enemies of Germany in occupied countries....Bodes

 

Can you zoom the picture where the quotes are?......

Armband says "Landwacht Nederlander"......Nederlander being German for the Netherlands....LN was a security unit of the SS, designed to combat enemies of Germany in occupied countries....Bodes

 

Can you zoom the picture where the quotes are?......

 

I meant Nederland....You may want to check out Babel Fish....It might help you translate.....Bodes

 

https://www.babelfish.com

 

 

Should also mention my first helmet. WWI, saw it at an estate sale when I was about 10, around 1990. Grandpa got it for me, $11.00. Grandma was pretty sure it was a waste of money. Come to find out it was an early magnetic alloy rimless Brodie reissued to a local soldier. Didn't get the man's name. Iwas old enough to know it was cool, but not old enough to ask. Didn't make that mistake any more!

Armband says "Landwacht Nederlander"......Nederlander being German for the Netherlands....LN was a security unit of the SS, designed to combat enemies of Germany in occupied countries....Bodes

 

Can you zoom the picture where the quotes are?...…

I don't want to be a smart rump but the German word for Nederlander is Niederländer. The word' Nederlander' itself is Dutch.

The German word for Nederland (the country) is Die Niederlande.

 

The armband reads 'Landwacht Nederland' and I think you are correct in stating that it is part of the SS. It was later renamed into 'Landstorm Nederland' to avoid confusion with the 'Nederlandsche Landwacht' which was part of the NSB (National Socialistic Movement)

 

The text balloons, unfortunately, are not legible (well to me at least) in the current picture.

 

Rene

Well, the next items are instrumental to me for getting interested in the history of WW2 and, although with some delay, in starting a collection of WW2 items.

 

 

There are two books: one that has lots of pictures and deals with the war time years of the area I live in. The other one is in German (the title translates as The Second World War between Rhine and Maas. Both books belonged to one of my Uncles. He himself had to get into hinding in 1944 to avoid the dreaded Arbeitseinsatz. Whenever (as a small boy) I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle I got my nose stuck into those two books. Kept me silent for hours.

 

In the picture there is also a cap badge from the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment. It was given to one of my Aunts by a British soldier during the liberation of Blerick (part of Venlo now). She was a small child at the time and was very scared due to all the hostilities. The soldier probably picked up on that. (My Aunt and the rest of her family were sheltering in a cellar at the time as British soldiers went clearing houses and eventually reached the house they were hiding in.)

 

And last but not least there is a well used (and under new management, hahaha) German canteen cup. It belonged to a Grandfather of mine who used it extensively as part of his shaving kit. It was found in his home after he and his family returned to Venlo from being evacuated to the north of The Netherlands. Venlo became a front line city in winter 44/45 and before that had to endure many bombing runs on the Maas bridges.

 

So nothing of monetary value here but to me these items are priceless.

 

There's also something else I'd like to mention here and although it's not an item as such it also contributed massively to my interest in WW2. It's the war museum in Overloon (not too far from where I live.) I've visited many times over the years and it has changed considerably but it is still worth a visit. I've added two pictures from the period when I still had hair . One shows me behind a German PAK 40 AT gun (in the background you can see a Sherman tank (7th Armored Division) that took part in the battles in that area) and in the other one I am in front of a British 17 pounder AT gun. (I apologize for the quality of the pictures but these stem from the pre-digital photography era .)

 

 

Rene

 

 

 

 

 

 

To add to this thread, my father was a career soldier, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, retired after 29 years. Many years after his retirement I acquired his M4 bayonet that he carried in Korea. I went to a gun show and bought an M1 Carbine to put the bayonet on, and added the sling and oiler. Then the pouch and magazines. That led to discussions with various militaria dealers and a collection of Milsurps. Then came the desire to have a WW2 helmet. It was all downhill from there.

I might add that I've always been interested in military history, took advantage of a tour in Germany to visit Verdun, Omaha Beach, Waterloo, and various other historical places. But other than items that I used in the Military, I never acquired militaria to collect.

I was hooked at age 10 after my grandfathers passing. He was a WWII vet stricken with polio and paralyzed from shoulders down; he permanently lived at the VA hospital. Anyway I remember being in the backseat of our car driving home and looking through a cigar box (he loved cigars) full of his insignia and mini medals and his ribbon set.

Id put them in a framed display then take them off and play Army. I had my uncles tan shirt, my dads saucer cap and Id load the medals on the shirt and run around the yard like Audie Murphy

I was done ever since; years later as a junior or senior my mom bought some ribbons and a medal at the flea market and it was game on

As a young LT, Allan Henderson from our forum took me to the Max in Baltimore and I realized this was an actual hobby that other people did.

Thats the long answer to this short question

For me, it was my Father's interest in history. As a young kid on the farm back home, he would take me out the front yard at night and we'd chat and look at the stars for hours. I remember looking at him as he puffed on his pipe or his roll-your-own cigarette talking about various military aspects of history.

 

Being on a farm I grew up using rifles, pistols and carrying knives.

 

He told me about the infamous "Ka-Bar" worn by the Marines in the Pacific Theatre.

 

For some reason......... I don't know why, but from that moment I wanted to start collecting edged weapons from WW2.

 

My first was a German K98. I still have it. Matching numbers, wooden grips, made in 1938 by Elite Diamant.

 

I then started with US bayonets and knives.

 

My father was my best friend, my hero and a kind, powerful and a beautiful man.

 

I was very lucky to have him in my life.

 

I miss you Dad.

 

I hope you are looking after Mum now.

 

Be at peace......

Thanks Dad, I’m always thinking about you.

Manayunkman.  Your Dad’s art work is priceless!  I wish there were captions written by him associated with each drawing.  What a story they could tell.  

 

As a kid early the 70’s, I can remember going into the Army/Navy store with a little cash after cutting neighborhood lawns for $2.00 each, and seeing bucket fulls of Turkish bayonets for $3.00 each (still have one minus the sheath), and the collecting seed was planted.  At that same time you could buy Turkish Mausers for maybe $20, in the local department store chain (Woolco) that has long since gone out of business.  During early married years, kids, military service, etc., there was no excess cash for much of anything.  Years after that, went to a local gun show, when there were lots of reasonably priced milsurps, and the bug bit big time, followed over the years by carbines, Garands, 1917’s, Kraigs, 1903’s, 1911’s, revolvers, bayonets, knives, helmets, etc., and you go down the rabbit hole.  In fact, just yesterday, found a WWII OSS stiletto in a junk shop for a ridiculously low price.  Now 64, and I keep telling myself that it’s time to stop.  Then, lo and behold, you stumble upon something that you don’t need, but you just can’t let pass.  

I’ve mentioned this before on the forum, but it was my Grandad who got me into collecting. He gave me a Soldier’s Manual of Common Tasks, his woodland BDU boonie, and a deck of aircraft recognition cards when I was probably about 10 years old. That was the start. 
 

He recently entrusted me with his uniform and his father’s uniform from WWII, so you can see the influence he’s had on my military collecting career. I wonder if he thought at the time that giving those items would lead to this! 

On 1/27/2023 at 9:34 AM, MinorInHistory said:

I’ve mentioned this before on the forum, but it was my Grandad who got me into collecting. He gave me a Soldier’s Manual of Common Tasks, his woodland BDU boonie, and a deck of aircraft recognition cards when I was probably about 10 years old. That was the start. 
 

He recently entrusted me with his uniform and his father’s uniform from WWII, so you can see the influence he’s had on my military collecting career. I wonder if he thought at the time that giving those items would lead to this! 

Great recollections and influences that got you started.

 

Thanks for sharing their history.

18 hours ago, ShibaLegend said:

This one's going to be a bit long. I can trace my interest in militaria back to when my dad brought me to some local military museum when i was young. I really enjoyed it there, got to wear some helmets and sit in a jeep. The cool thing about that visit, they were planning on appearing in a local parade that would happen a week later, and i guess they needed someone to help. I don't remember what it was about me that made me a good candidate to ride in the parade with them, but next thing i know a week later im riding a jeep tossing bead's at people! I actually think they were planning on riding a tank, but i think they didn't because it wasn't working or something. My memory is foggy with the finer details. That was pretty much it for a couple of year's. Then i remember going to the national WW2 museum with my parents and subsequently proceeding to name every single gun in the display case, which shocked my dad in particular. I guess playing call of duty WAW paid off. After that another year or two passes. By this point we had moved to a new area and was scouting the local flea markets. My family has always enjoyed going to flea markets looking for whatever i was interested in collecting that year. I stopped in one of the local flea market's and came across a WW2 canteen cup with a 90s canteen. I didn't have anything WW2 era (except a 1944 penny) at that point, so i got my mom to get it for me. After that, it basically sat in my closet for a couple of months. Then i happened to "rediscover" it, starting thinking back to those two previous stories, and subsequently realized i wanted to collect militaria.

 

Below is the canteen cup that started it all. I don't know where i put the canteen that came with it. Even though i don't aim for US WW2 or older anymore, this ain't going nowhere.

Very simple beginning that has led you to find many rich and diverse artifacts for your collection.

 

 Thanks for taking the time to post your story.

A lot of touching things written here. This is a great thread. 
 

manayunkmans dads artwork and memories are priceless. Thanks for this one man. 
 

—————-
 

my dad was in Air Force but wasn’t much interested in history. So I don’t know where it began. But I remember being obsessed about WWII since I was young. I Read and researched to find out all I could about it. Maybe because when life got bad for me. I used these men as inspiration. 
 

oh it’s cold outside and your forgot your coat and you gotta walk a few blocks? ……well what about the guys in Bastogne who had to freeze in foxholes.
 

oh your job stinks and you hate your co workers ? Well what about the guys at Anzio that on any given day could get shot and die. Maybe your life isn’t so bad. 
 

and so on. These men and this history give me inspiration to carry on no matter what life throws at me. 
 

regarding collecting? It was until a few years ago I even knew it was a “thing”. It was always waiting. I just discovered it at 40. When I realized that I could purchase a German Helmet? That I could hold in my hands a piece of history from a vanquished foe of which the world will never see again? Or a helmet from a GI storming the beach at Normandy ….

 

well Bing Bong …. It hit me like a Mack Truck and there is no going back. 
 

😎

Z

On 10/4/2018 at 11:07 AM, Dogsbody said:

M, what a great topic and your father's drawings are excellent. I will post my contribution to this thread later on.

 

Rene

Miss you Rene

45 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

Miss you Rene

😢

The catalyst for me was working with the WW2 collection at my college.

It doesn’t seem like I have seen this thread before. The drawings that started the thread are remarkable priceless windows as seen by an eyewitness to history. 
It’s also great to see the items and stories from everyone else here. 
mikie

17 hours ago, tdogchristy90 said:

The catalyst for me was working with the WW2 collection at my college.

That must have been interesting. What kinds of things did they have?

On 2/10/2023 at 10:19 PM, Paddyd00 said:

A lot of touching things written here. This is a great thread. 
 

manayunkmans dads artwork and memories are priceless. Thanks for this one man. 
 

—————-
 

my dad was in Air Force but wasn’t much interested in history. So I don’t know where it began. But I remember being obsessed about WWII since I was young. I Read and researched to find out all I could about it. Maybe because when life got bad for me. I used these men as inspiration. 
 

oh it’s cold outside and your forgot your coat and you gotta walk a few blocks? ……well what about the guys in Bastogne who had to freeze in foxholes.
 

oh your job stinks and you hate your co workers ? Well what about the guys at Anzio that on any given day could get shot and die. Maybe your life isn’t so bad. 
 

and so on. These men and this history give me inspiration to carry on no matter what life throws at me. 
 

regarding collecting? It was until a few years ago I even knew it was a “thing”. It was always waiting. I just discovered it at 40. When I realized that I could purchase a German Helmet? That I could hold in my hands a piece of history from a vanquished foe of which the world will never see again? Or a helmet from a GI storming the beach at Normandy ….

 

well Bing Bong …. It hit me like a Mack Truck and there is no going back. 
 

😎

Z

Z welcome to the world of collecting.

17 hours ago, mikie said:

It doesn’t seem like I have seen this thread before. The drawings that started the thread are remarkable priceless windows as seen by an eyewitness to history. 
It’s also great to see the items and stories from everyone else here. 
mikie

Welcome to the thread Mikie glad you like it and don’t forget to let us know your catalyst.

 

Peter

5 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

That must have been interesting. What kinds of things did they have?

The Institute on WW2 and the Human Experience at Florida State. They had everything really, uniforms, paperwork, bring backs, flags, posters, little of everything.

 

Here are two of their collections I’ve posted about previously…

 

 

Thanks