Anyone else collect militaria? (including watches)

pdxleaf · Apr 8, 2023

pkaye6
Here is a small sample of my pieces from when I was on active duty.

The compas, Master EOD badge and JCRC knife award were from my last tour in Thailand, Viet Nam and Laos.
The watch is a Hamilton like the one I was issued but, I foolishly turned in mine when I mustered out.
A fellow OF member kindly helped my find this replacement a short time ago.

Some souvenirs from my job.

Some of the knives I carried and patches from the units I was associated with.

😲 more than a little intimidating.

river rat · Apr 8, 2023

Nice wrist compass those have went up in Value since they are a good combo for military issued watches. And the larger compass I have one of those. Went to a US Army course on land navigation still got a few things from that class. I use to collect military compasses when I use to spot them at antique shows might post them later. The training booklet like a comic book they did not think we were very smart dam shit heads. Hope they still do this sort of training since they depend too much on GPS today first thing if I was Russia or China knock out our GPS systems like satellites.

pkaye6 · Apr 8, 2023

From river rat:
Nice wrist compass those have went up in Value since they are a good combo for military issued watches. And the larger compass I have one of those. Went to a US Army course on land navigation still got a few things from that class. I use to collect military compasses when I use to spot them at antique shows might post them later. The training booklet like a comic book they did not think we were very smart dam shit heads. Hope they still do this sort of training since they depend too much on GPS today first thing if I was Russia or China knock out our GPS systems like satellites.

LOL, a friend gave me a booklet for the compass than was intended for civilians. I guess they thought civies were smarter than us.
The Lao language booklet was more like your compass booklet, comic bookish.

river rat · Apr 8, 2023

Mad Dog
@river rat …that’s pretty cool that you Brown Water Navy guys have metal reunion devices…

…us AOCS pukes just have stickers regarding our reunions…

When I earned my NEC 9533 and got the metal flash device for my black beret, I was doing some work on our boat (PBR) so I set the beret down because I was working in a tight spot when I came back to pick up that beret the flash was missing your beret looks stupid without it someone who did not earn it stole it. The XO keeps them locked in his desk I had to go to him and ask for another one. So, some puke is out there with my flash who did not earn it. Have not thought about that in years.

river rat · Apr 8, 2023

When we were in you did not need a high school diploma or GED my brother was 17 and no diploma, he had to get dad to sign the papers for him when he went into the service in 1972 and I went in in 1980 without a high school diploma I did get it later and used the GI bill for college. Think since they had a lot of none graduates, they used comic books. We were smarter than they thought we were. Tell you the ones without high school diplomas did a better job we had better commonsense. They're having a hard time getting recruits today stop the high year tenure kicking people out early they started doing when downsizing the military think they do that a few years before your 20 years so not to pay your retirement thank god, I got my 20 and if you can pass the ASVAB test without a high school diploma they should let you in and not getting enough to enlist would be fixed.

pkaye6 · Apr 8, 2023

I agree, I went in in 64 without a high school diploma as well, didn't stay for 20, got out in 73. I've since acquired an
Associates, Bachelors, and Masters Degrees, still don’t have a HS Diploma.

DoctorEvil · Apr 8, 2023

river rat
Here is the M-65 Jacket that I got two for free when a Unit I was with found them in a Conex box it was full of them and since they were outdated since we were using woodland camo instead of green the CO gave two free to anyone who wanted them.

To date them look at the two tags on one there 69 and another 00 one for 1969 jacket issue date the other 2000 liner issue date is how you date them. 1969 they were in that Conex box a very long time and it still looks new. When I was growing up in the 1960's in Calif. you would go into military surplus stores, and they had WW1 and WW2 surplus stuff it was plentiful now tough to find and not cheap anymore. And the m-65 jackets were very cheap. Interesting who made the liner.

My jaw just dropped when I saw that NOS 1969 M-65. What a beauty!

noelekal · Apr 8, 2023

I've got lots of accoutrements, some clothing and gear connected with a military small arms menagerie. I don't have that much of it photographed however. Ought to rectify that.

M1 Carbine, Mark 2 Navy knive with scabbard. The knife was my dad's. He was on a Patrol Craft Escort in the Pacific during World War II. The Carbine has a story connected with my dad during the War. The photo within the photo shows him with the same Carbine shipboard at Pearl Harbor in June of 1945. The Colt 1911 pistol could have seen service in both World Wars I and II. I acquired it in 1978 on my 21st birthday.

The items in this photograph above all have one thing in common. They were all produced in 1944: the Remington Rand 1911A1 in early 1944, the M1 rifle in mid-1944. The Omega Jumbo didn't turn out well in the lighting attempt. I wore it only yesterday though. It's not military, but somehow seemed to fit in.

Span-Am War/Philippine Insurrection time period Colt military contract .38 revolver with its Rock Island Arsenal holster and a photo showing same on a trooper of the time period.

And another period photo showing a couple of Army cavalry buds with Krag carbine and the Colt in the holster, worn crossdraw.

river rat · Apr 8, 2023

noelekal
I've got lots of accoutrements, some clothing and gear connected with a military small arms menagerie. I don't have that much of it photographed however. Ought to rectify that.

M1 Carbine, Mark 2 Navy knive with scabbard. The knife was my dad's. He was on a Patrol Craft Escort in the Pacific during World War II. The Carbine has a story connected with my dad during the War. The photo within the photo shows him with the same Carbine shipboard at Pearl Harbor in June of 1945. The Colt 1911 pistol could have seen service in both World Wars I and II. I acquired it in 1978 on my 21st birthday.

The items in this photograph above all have one thing in common. They were all produced in 1944: the Remington Rand 1911A1 in early 1944, the M1 rifle in mid-1944. The Omega Jumbo didn't turn out well in the lighting attempt. I wore it only yesterday though. It's not military, but somehow seemed to fit in.

Span-Am War/Philippine Insurrection time period Colt military contract .38 revolver with its Rock Island Arsenal holster and a photo showing same on a trooper of the time period.

And another period photo showing a couple of Army cavalry buds with Krag carbine and the Colt in the holster, worn crossdraw.

Hi
There is a museum WW2 craft that might be the class of ship your dad was on
The Landing Craft Support Museum (usslcs102.org)
Years ago we were checking out Mare Island with some friends of mine was showing them around since I was stationed there kind of sad to see it closed down. We went to the museum they had there because they had a SBU XI exhibit. And we came across this small patrol craft from WW2 and this old guy was painting it he was a WW2 vet and served aboard it. He came up with a big story this little craft had the most fire power of any craft this size. They did fire support in the island-hopping campaign in the pacific. It was given to another country think Thailand and then brought back later to the states as a museum still in its WW2 configuration. Still has the water troves with toilet seats over it that used sea water and in WW2 days went over the side. My Dad told me a story about these were someone at the first toilet seat would roll up a roll of paper light it on fire and let it go down the trove and if you're seating on one further down your going to have a surprise when that float's down the trove. I thought my dad was pulling my leg until I saw a real water trove with toilet seats. Worth a check if it's like what your dad was on so you will see what his life was like on one. The old guy said they hot racked like submariners do on fast attacks subs there not enough beds due to the size of the ship so when someone is working someone else is in your rack you share your bed that would suck.

DoctorEvil · Apr 8, 2023

noelekal
I've got lots of accoutrements, some clothing and gear connected with a military small arms menagerie. I don't have that much of it photographed however. Ought to rectify that.

M1 Carbine, Mark 2 Navy knive with scabbard. The knife was my dad's. He was on a Patrol Craft Escort in the Pacific during World War II. The Carbine has a story connected with my dad during the War. The photo within the photo shows him with the same Carbine shipboard at Pearl Harbor in June of 1945. The Colt 1911 pistol could have seen service in both World Wars I and II. I acquired it in 1978 on my 21st birthday.

The items in this photograph above all have one thing in common. They were all produced in 1944: the Remington Rand 1911A1 in early 1944, the M1 rifle in mid-1944. The Omega Jumbo didn't turn out well in the lighting attempt. I wore it only yesterday though. It's not military, but somehow seemed to fit in.

Span-Am War/Philippine Insurrection time period Colt military contract .38 revolver with its Rock Island Arsenal holster and a photo showing same on a trooper of the time period.

And another period photo showing a couple of Army cavalry buds with Krag carbine and the Colt in the holster, worn crossdraw.

Thanks for sharing. The US Navy knife reminds me a lot of a USMC K-bar knife. Wonder if they're essentially similar but with different markings. Or if they are fundamentally different knives.

noelekal · Apr 8, 2023

river rat;

I'd love to tour a Patrol Craft Escort. My dad never talked about the head. He did talk of giving sailors who were deficient in shipboard social skills the treatment with a bar of soap wrapped in a towel. They must have had large bars of soap. Several would gang up on a sailor who was making trouble and work him over. Said it made believers out of them and there was no more trouble.

My dad was a coxswain. His duty station was involved with manning the helm. His battle station was manning a 20mm anti-aircraft gun.

He said that the ship was fitted with screws that allowed for emergency service as a tug for the largest ships if necessary so its top speed was limited. Said that a .30-06 rifle would shoot through the ship's hull. The largest gun was a single three-inch up near the bow. It was equipped with depth charges and torpedoes.

They did convoy duty. He said that a surfaced Japanese subs could outrun them or chase them down. Said that the Japanese subs were equipped with a larger deck gun and could stand off and blow them out of the water. The small ship though was in its element when the Japanese sub was submerged. Then the PCE could deal a measure of grief to the sub.

It is said that the PCE was horrible on rough seas. While the ship was capable, it was very unpleasant. I may be relating this wrong, but he said the ship could recover from rolls of 65 degrees. He said the mast could touch the water and the ship would right itself.

Here's the photo seen within the grouping above.

Here's my dad with the carbine at 84 about ten years before he passed in 2020.

A PCE

1024px-NH_45335_OK_PO_%28South_Korean_patrol_escort%2C_1943%29.jpg

DoctorEvil;

My son has two Marine Corps knives, one from World War II and one from his enlistment 2009-2014. He carried the World War II knife as a 2021 Machinegunner during two tours in Afghanistan.

They are very similar, effectively the same knife. I'd have to see them together again to tell the differences.

river rat · Apr 9, 2023

When you wrote about your dad and some of the crew teaching some social skills. One ship I was on we had a guy who did not change his bed with clean sheets and did not shower regularly we had a garbage can in the crews lunge with cigarette butts and other nasty garbage we dumped it on his rack after that he started changing his sheets more often you live so close together smells travels. My dad also a WW2 veteran he was on the USS Bunker Hill when it got hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa, he was a ball turret gunner on Avengers torpedo aircraft. He lied about his age to join the navy at 16. They were the greatest generation don't think we will have another as patriotic as them.

river rat · Apr 12, 2023

A few things from WW1 a Zenith pocket watch issued to the US Army Corps of Engineers and a US issued marching compass a odd compass.

river rat · Apr 13, 2023

Here is something interesting I got a few months back. A Borgel trench watch worn by a British Soldier in WW1. I can put a face on that soldier was in the battle of Gallipoli. And in Greece later in the war drove small boats for beach landing and delivering supplies. Came with other stuff also like pay records and a few personal items.

Mr. Cooper wearing the watch.

Military driver's license.

The shoehorn easy to ID. But the other thing I had to do homework it's what called a button stick you put it between the brass button to shine your buttons on your uniform so the brass cleaner don't dirty your uniform.

Original strap.

Diary.

Got more but posted too much. But it's cool to wear a watch that has history and military watches got me to really become a better watch collector and keeps me from getting bored with it. The gems you can find.

river rat · Apr 14, 2023

Mad Dog
@river rat …that’s pretty cool that you Brown Water Navy guys have metal reunion devices…

…us AOCS pukes just have stickers regarding our reunions…

Here is from the last reunion cloth patch.

river rat · Apr 14, 2023

Both these are German military. A Mauser P-38 from WW2 I guess a war prize brought back from a US WW2 veteran no import marks wished I known the story of how this was captured and brought back to the USA wish I had the govt paperwork that authorized the soldier to bring this home it's in mint condition. And the other a Hanhart 417 issued Bund from the German air force after WW2. Today US veterans can't bring stuff back like the P-38. But I bet we can still bring back watches from POW's remember when a bunch of Iraq issued pilots watches hit the market after the first gulf war. Was reading about some WW2 Hanharts issued to German pilot that went up for auction sold by the kids of a WW2 British veteran who guarded German POW's he had taken 3 Hanharts off German POW's some were found in a search found hidden up their behinds the pilots knew their watches would be taken from them if found. Wonder how many Hanharts were not found and the POW's got to take them home.

DoctorEvil · Apr 15, 2023

river rat
Both these are German military. A Mauser P-38 from WW2 I guess a war prize brought back from a US WW2 veteran no import marks wished I known the story of how this was captured and brought back to the USA wish I had the govt paperwork that authorized the soldier to bring this home it's in mint condition. And the other a Hanhart 417 issued Bund from the German air force after WW2. Today US veterans can't bring stuff back like the P-38. But I bet we can still bring back watches from POW's remember when a bunch of Iraq issued pilots watches hit the market after the first gulf war. Was reading about some WW2 Hanharts issued to German pilot that went up for auction sold by the kids of a WW2 British veteran who guarded German POW's he had taken 3 Hanharts off German POW's some were found in a search found hidden up their behinds the pilots knew their watches would be taken from them if found. Wonder how many Hanharts were not found and the POW's got to take them home.

From what I can tell, a lot more war trophies/ souvenirs were brought home by troops in WW2 compared to the first Gulf War. According to a chapter in the book pictured below, it was expressly forbidden by CENTCOM for US troops to take home any souvenirs, even a jar of sand, from Iraq. This really ticked off a lot of people as there was a well known picture of General Schwarzkopf holding up such a jar:

Image taken from the book "Crusade" by Rick Atkinson.

According to the book above, some troops tried to dispose of their forbidden souvenirs in dumpsters around camp. Items found included AK-47s, ammo and grenades. Yikes!

Anyway, here are some of my own souvenirs from Iraq (circa 2006):

Australian military issue Boonie hat in desert camo pattern.

A couple of patches. The left hand one was made by a local tailor. These were quite popular amongst the troops as the official issued flag patch was in full colour and hence a bit more conspicuous when worn with desert cams. The US rank patch was one that I wore on my body armour alongside my Australian rank patch, a practice that was commonplace as the US troops we worked with were often unfamiliar with our insignia.

Australian flag patch. Official military issue.

An old copy of Stars and Stripes.

Playing cards purchased from a PX in Baghdad.

Edit: photo of flag patch added.

Guy0783 · Feb 8, 2025

Here's a couple at Adolf's expense

pdxleaf · Feb 8, 2025

DoctorEvil
From what I can tell, a lot more war trophies/ souvenirs were brought home by troops in WW2 compared to the first Gulf War. According to a chapter in the book pictured below, it was expressly forbidden by CENTCOM for US troops to take home any souvenirs, even a jar of sand, from Iraq. This really ticked off a lot of people as there was a well known picture of General Schwarzkopf holding up such a jar:

Image taken from the book "Crusade" by Rick Atkinson.

According to the book above, some troops tried to dispose of their forbidden souvenirs in dumpsters around camp. Items found included AK-47s, ammo and grenades. Yikes!

Anyway, here are some of my own souvenirs from Iraq (circa 2006):

Australian military issue Boonie hat in desert camo pattern.

A couple of patches. The left hand one was made by a local tailor. These were quite popular amongst the troops as the official issued flag patch was in full colour and hence a bit more conspicuous when worn with desert cams. The US rank patch was one that I wore on my body armour alongside my Australian rank patch, a practice that was commonplace as the US troops we worked with were often unfamiliar with our insignia.

Australian flag patch. Official military issue.

An old copy of Stars and Stripes.

Playing cards purchased from a PX in Baghdad.

Edit: photo of flag patch added.

I've got a bunch of sand that I put in Tabasco bottles that came in MREs. I had an armored vest that I later traded to a Dublin police officer for his uniform when he was visiting Washington DC and we met at a party during St Paddy's day. I got the vest off a pile that was being torched because they wouldn't pass the cleanliness standards and it was easier to pour jet fuel on them.

I've also got my bayonet and of course my hat too. I could have kept my M-16. We were detached to a temporary unit and then another and another and another.

When we came back we had to find our own flights on a space available flight as the unit we were with left without us. The Army chartered commercial flights with civilian crews out of Kuwait. When we got to our first destination in the states, the passengers split up and caught different connecting civilian flights. My small squad got a normal commercial flight the rest of the way. When we got back to our regular units, no one knew what to do with our weapons. The unit that we had deployed from was disbanded. There was no record of our gear. The armorer didn't know to do with our weapons. Before we turned them in I had a brief thought that if I could keep it and one would know or care. The thought of going to jail kept me from doing something stupid. But just the idea that all that gear was destroyed and lost track of was troubling.

I don't think anyone cares about my sand.

DoctorEvil · Feb 9, 2025

pdxleaf
I've got a bunch of sand that I put in Tabasco bottles that came in MREs. I had an armored vest that I later traded to a Dublin police officer for his uniform when he was visiting Washington DC and we met at a party during St Paddy's day. I got the vest off a pile that was being torched because they wouldn't pass the cleanliness standards and it was easier to pour jet fuel on them.

I've also got my bayonet and of course my hat too. I could have kept my M-16. We were detached to a temporary unit and then another and another and another.

When we came back we had to find our own flights on a space available flight as the unit we were with left without us. The Army chartered commercial flights with civilian crews out of Kuwait. When we got to our first destination in the states, the passengers split up and caught different connecting civilian flights. My small squad got a normal commercial flight the rest of the way. When we got back to our regular units, no one knew what to do with our weapons. The unit that we had deployed from was disbanded. There was no record of our gear. The armorer didn't know to do with our weapons. Before we turned them in I had a brief thought that if I could keep it and one would know or care. The thought of going to jail kept me from doing something stupid. But just the idea that all that gear was destroyed and lost track of was troubling.

I don't think anyone cares about my sand.

Wow. Sounds like it was pretty chaotic when you rotated home after Desert Storm.

I'm guessing the little bottles of Tabasco you're talking about are similar to what I have here. This is the remnants of an old MRE that we got trading with some Americans during a field exercise in north Queensland circa 2005:

Don't know if this brings back fond memories... or not! 🙂

Anyone else collect militaria? (including watches)

pdxleaf

river rat

pkaye6

river rat

river rat

pkaye6

DoctorEvil

noelekal

river rat

DoctorEvil

noelekal

river rat

river rat

river rat

river rat

river rat

DoctorEvil

Guy0783

pdxleaf

DoctorEvil

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