Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "That's the gun I used in the war."

I have seen WW II US issue M1911A1's with a bill of sale from the War Department to the officer that carried the weapon in WW II. It is still common for General Officers to be presented their GO model sidearm upon retirement, usually paid for by their fellow GO's.

A very touching & poignant piece of family history...

the only contraband my dad brought back was a "knee mortar" shell with the explosive washed out of it. Still have it. also a couple of jap swords which are long gone.

after the Spanish American war, the Texas militia boys were allowed to take their trapdoors home, probably because they were already obsolete and being replaced with Krags. My great uncle (child of my great grandfather's first wife and twenty years older than my grandfather)....brought his home, and we still have it, shown here with a contemporary Martini-Henry...a pair of single shot slayers of indigenous peoples:

I will say first off that I mean no offense to anybody here or their relatives by my comments.

My Dad and several of my Uncles fought in WWII. I knew quite a few of Dad's friends who were also vets of that conflict. From what I've seen and heard, the ones who really had the most claim on legit battlefield souvenirs were the least likely to get home with one. Rear area types and officers were much more likely to get home with a memento of their service (or somebody elses) than grunts were.

Dad and the guys in his outfit were set to disembark on an old WWI troop ship to come home. They all had brand-new leather flyboy jackets that were surplus. The officers ordered them to deep-six them all so they could get more troops on the ship. The Army piled them up on the tarmac and poured diesel fuel on them and burned them.

My Uncle was a no-shixt hero and vet of Tarawa, Iwo and several other Island campaigns. I know of no weaponry that he got home with. Guess he had his memories of being a noncom in the Corps until the cancer got him.

OTOH, another Uncle of mine was an army vet of the European theatre. No offense to him as every effort was needed...but he was a truck driver and involved in support services rather than on the front lines. He was able to get home with a Luger which he traded for a .22 or something some years later.

Don't know for sure but my boss has a 1911 he says was his dad's service gun. A high school acquaintance had a German MG his dad had smuggled home. (Wonder how you would legalize or get rid of that!) My high school best friend wasn't asked to turn in his 1911 in VietNam, he did, but wonders what if he had just shipped it. His stepdad has an Arisaka and samauri sword we know came home with him.

Nowadays souvenirs are full auto, so can't come back.

A Marine Vietnam vet I know stuck his 45 in the bottom of his dufflebag for the trip home. His duffle made it but the 45 didn't. Another Vietnam vet (he was a helicopter door gunner) told me he bought an M2 carbine over there to use when his regular MG got too hot. He used it extensively and stuck it in his duffle for the trip back. The carbine made it, only without the full auto parts.

I have a souvenir of a much more recent conflict. There a lot of places on an aircraft to store and retrieve small item if you work on that aircraft on both ends of the trip.

At request of my sister I helped an elderly friend of hers get ready for an auction. I did not know the WWII vet prior to the request.His health was not good but he visited with me while I worked. Had guns on the auction and told me that his two sons were not interested in them. He told me while stationed on a sub in WWII, a Japanese sub surrendered to his sub. He was in charge of searching the engine room and found an officers sword and dress dagger. He hid the dagger in his boot under his pant leg an attempted to carry the sword to his sub. His executive officer made him turn the sword over to him. He made it home with the dress dagger.

I helped him for a day and half. When I had finished, he handed me $50. and thanked me. He asked me to come inside as he wanted to show me something. Inside he showed me the dagger and told me the story again. Stating that his estranged sons had no interest in the dagger. I told him to call me if the boys didn't want the knife as I would purchase it. As I was about to leave he pulled the dagger from his back pocket and handed it to me saying I want you to have this as you assisted me without question. I was totaly shocked at his expression of gratitude.

He moved away after the auction and died one month later. I recorded his story of the confiscation on the tagged dagger. Needless to say I was greatly honored by the gift of the dagger and his friendship. GW

Have you got a pic oldtimer? My father was in the pacific theater in WWII. I have a dagger of his made by a Filipino. It is pretty unique.

I have in my (perhaps temporary) possession a rifle issued in WWII to Charlie Sheldon, an Eskimo Scout out of Pt Hope/Kotzebue region, by Muktuk Marsten himself. Charlie retained the rifle after the war, and used it for hunting- after modifying it to his taste.

Poor thing needs a little work.... the current owner bought it from Charley's widow (whom we both know and worked with - we both knew Charley also, before he croaked), and is planning to restore it to as near original condition as possible (the bore/barrel is shot!!!, the stock has been whittled, and the sights modified into buckhorns, by charley, of course - and we ain't throwing anything out...). Haven't seen any money yet - and since he is a bit older than me, I may get this thing yet!

my brother is an antigue freaque, and knew a man, long dead, named Sam Green.

when you drove up to his place, there was a 2x8x1 piece of wolmanized wood nailed to the top of the gate and painted green.

he always said that was the only sign his friends needed to know.

he came out to the ranch one day for the 4th, and late in the afternoon, after too much barbecue and a little cold beer, i metioned that i liked guns a lot, had a couple pistols handy, and some ammo, and i'd like to go out and pop a few caps, asked him if he'd like to go along... we then got collecting cans and other targets... he asked me if i'd like to see the .45 auto that he carried through europe... at that point in my life, i was about 25-ish, not particularly concerned about history...

he brought out a real GI .45. had the original holster. this was in the early 80s, and when i saw it i was sure it was the real deal. holster was **old**, and the gun was weird looking... i ran a mag through it and he prounounced me a real sharpshooter, since i rang a lone star can through with it about 4 times...

"how'd you get that back, mr. green."

"well, when i was mustering out, i had enouth points, and i put it on the quartermaster's table, and he said that if i'd lost that in battle, he'd have to take $25 of my last paycheck. i told him that i didn't lose it, it was right there...his response was "IF YOU LOST THAT PISTOL IN BATTLE I'D HAVE TO TAKE $25 OFF YOUR LAST PAYCHECK!!!"

he said he didn't say another word, and put the pistol and the holster back in his duffel and took the $25 hit on payday.

don't think sam had any kids. wonder what happened to that pistol?

-tom

Here's a pic link to the WWII Dagger made by a Filipino friend. It has one purpose ... the Filipino's had no love for the Nips. Water Buffalo hand grip, artillery casing brass and jeep spring steel blade. 1944.

My dad was a mortar man (he said they called them plumbers) in the battle of the bulge. I don’t know how he did it but he brought home a 98K sniper rifle with scope, a .22 training rifle, two P-38s, a French revolver, two smaller semi-auto pistols, and a French WWI bayonet. He didn’t bring home his service M1 carbine. I do remember him saying everyone was so glad it was over they let them bring just about anything home. I heard him say a guy in front of him was leaving the ship with a duffle bag that had the butt stock of a German machine gun sticking out of it. He gave all the guns away to relation except for the .22 training rifle which he said he could use. My grandfather gave me the 98K sniper rifle back years later but he had had it sporterized so he could hunt deer with it. Another uncle returned one of the p-38s to my dad because he didn’t want it. I have it too. My dad told me he would have kept the stuff for me if he knew he was going to have a son. He’s been gone for 24 years now. :-(

That thing would smart...

Dagger is 18" standard fancy military issue. Wire wrapped shark skin handle with fancy brass fittings. Not familiar with the picture posting process. Great looking Filipino folk art dagger.GW

It would indeed. But not as much as this Swiss made bayonet. I never did get the story behind it from my father who has long since passed. It seems to match the Model 1914 Pioneer Bayonet. In fact, it may have no connection with WWII at all. But it is interesting so here is a pic link below.