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World War I
dcinffxva
Member Posts: 2,830 ✭✭
The story about the last WWI vet prompted me to post this. My Grandfather was a WWI vet, and on the ship returning to the US painted his helmet with the division/campaigns and other personal touches. Figured I'd post it, and hope anyone else who has relics will do the same.
Comments
is there any kind of coating on that to keep the paint from drying out/ flaking off?
Just looking at a map, I can see why the loss of that land stung so bad... many of the towns have Germanic names, and were only french through earlier conquest when the "Germanic" lands were disorganized into various fueding principalities.
This photo is just outside the french town of Neuwiller, which is a very german sounding name.
Many of the germanic names have been made to sound more french.
Stra?burg because Strassbourg... etc (Just how did we end up calling the german city of K?ln "Cologne", like the French do?)
I have a feeling there aren't many pre WWI relics with German writing left on them other than those which are religious
WWI was brutal.
around the base it says:
O Mensch reste deine Seele
O ihr alle die ihr am Wege vor?ber gehet stehet still und sehet ob ein Schmerz gliech sei meinem Schmerze
Mein Jesus Barmherzigkeit
100 Tag Ablass
Which roughly translates to:
"O men, rest your souls
O all that go along this way stop and see if your pain is like mine pain was
My Jesus Mercy
100 days discharge/indulgence?"
Now that I think, I should have looked behind and seen if it said anything on the back side.
I only looked at the front and sides of the base
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
"Meuse Argonne"
Check this web site.
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/bigshow.htm
quote:Originally posted by gary wray
dcinffxva.....what a wonderful family heirloom and a valuable piece of American History. Lucky you[^]
Now that I think of it, a lot of WV guys were in the 80th. Was your GF from WV?
Nope, he was from the REAL Virginia [:D]
Thanks for the comments, and the very cool link Grumpy.
No, there is no coating on the paint, and I figure it has stood up for 90+ years, so rather than risk it, will leave it as is.
When I was a kid I wore this helmet in the yard playing around. Only later did I appreciate it's history. My Dad STILL uses my Grandfathers canteen when he's out in the woods (he is in his 80's now).
I also have his uniform jacket, and his dogtags and ribbons but don't have any pics of them yet. He has a Victory ribbon with three battle stars among them.
I was young when he died, but remember him talking about the German aircraft flying low enough that they used shotguns on them.
I have a mint Doughboy helmet I use to with my full kit manneqin display. Dad gave me the M1917 rifle otherwise I doubt I would have bothered to collect the stuff to make a full kit.